Boxtrees Nursery

Garden Design

• Shade Garden
• North-facing Garden

Experience of a mainly shady/woodland garden and also of an exposed mediterranean garden has led me to appreciate which plants will grow in difficult conditions, as well as plants with particular colours and so on.

A sunny, sheltered site with well drained and moisture retentive soil, will support most plants, as is confirmed by selecting 'Light Requirements: Sun' on the left.

It is usually possible to improve drainage and soil, and to water when it is dry. But it is often not practical to make a shady site sunny. So there is commonly a need for plants that will grow well in shade.

Often a plant will do much better or much worse than expected in a particular site. So it is rewarding or frustrating to experiment with different plants.