Of course, when choosing new plants to grow in sheltered spaces, it’s important to choose varieties that actually need a lot of shade.
The most popular “shade-loving” plants include a variety of woodland, bulbous, annual, biennial and perennial species, many of which can be planted today.
Gillen says: Spring flowers and wonderful evergreen winter.
“For mottled shades, evergreen Daphne is gorgeous with lovely lemon-scented pink flowers that bees go crazy for. Gallia has elegant winter catkins hanging, and Acer has wonderful leaf shapes, autumn Color, and good winter shape.”