Come to the dark side: the best shade-loving plants to brighten up a gloomy garden

Hello darkness, my old friend: plant shop owner and author Susanna Grant shares her green-fingered wisdom

(Picture: Handout)

Outside space in London is a prized amenity, but all too often that sought-after courtyard, balcony or postage-stamp lawn faces the wrong way or is surrounded by walls and other people’s houses.

Thankfully, there are fantastic options available for gardeners of shady spaces, a corner of the market that was overlooked (forgive the pun) until Susanna Grant came along.

Grant sees shade as an opportunity rather than a problem, opening up a new world of plants to explore and enjoy — which she does at her courtyard shop, Linda (@hellotherelinda).

Open on Sundays at 1 Scawfell Street near Columbia Road, the shop is dedicated to plants for spots that don’t see much sunlight. Grant has also published a book, Shade: work with the light, grow the right plants, bring dark corners to life.

It offers indispensable advice to shady gardeners and suggests unusual and rarely seen plants alongside tried-and-tested shade lovers such as ferns, heucheras and tiarellas.

Here, Grant shares her tips for brightening up shady areas.

Take a walk in the woods

Jack Frost and winter wildflower will grow happily together in low light (Handout)

Obvious but often overlooked when thinking about shade, woodland plants that grow naturally in low light conditions are a great place to start. Try a combination like Jack Frost (Brunnera macrophylla) with winter wildflower (Anemone blanda).

Make a statement

Choose big plants, like green fingers, with contrasting foliage (Handout)

In a small space, go big or go home. Start with three large pots of contrasting foliage, for example green fingers (Fatsia polycarpa), canary spurge (Euphorbia mellifera) and fuchsia “Hawkshead”. Tiny pots are rarely worth the hassle.

Fight the fear and have a go

Don’t be scared to experiment. If you like something, try it. Many plants aren’t fussy and might surprise you about where they are happy growing. On the flip side, things will die — don’t let it get you down.

Try these shade-loving favourites:

Welsh poppy, Meconopsis cambrica

Inject some uplifting orange into a dark corner with low-maintenance Welsh poppies (Handout)

Welsh poppies are such a good addition to a shade garden. They bring a lovely pop of golden colour growing among grasses and ferns. They can also unite tricky spots with the rest of the garden as they’re very unfussy. They do self-seed but are easy to pull out and the filigree foliage is pretty.

Chocolate vine, Akebia quinata

The hardy chocolate vine produces year-round foliage and spring-time flowers (Handout)

A useful, vigorous climber for a shady spot — delicate foliage that curls easily around supports and a really subtle pinky-maroon scented flower in April and May. The foliage is the main thing though and lasts most of the year in a sheltered spot. It doesn’t like to be moved once established, but other than that, it’s really hardy.

Green dream, Mathiasella bupleuroides

Green dream’s architectural blooms turn a soft pink later in the year (Handout)

A bit of a mouthful and not for everyone, this is a beautifully architectural plant with long-lasting, jade green bell-shaped flowers that gradually turn a dusky pink in late autumn.