COLUMNIST: SCOTT GALLOWAY
I am delighted that the Albizia julibrissin ‘Summer Chocolate’, that I picked up at Great Dixter’s Autumn Plant Fair last year, has come through the winter and after taking some time to come into leaf has finally unfurled its highly attractive, purple, mimosa-like foliage. This is one shrub I can absolutely recommend if you have a warm, sheltered spot in your garden. It appears unperturbed by the heat and doesn’t seem to require very much water, unlike the Sophora ‘Little Baby’ and Tilia endochrysea which have both suffered severely in the south facing aspect of my garden. Showing signs of burnt foliage I’ve had to move them into the shade of a Cotoneaster and Forsythia and keep my fingers crossed that some respite from the sun will allow them to recover.
Learning which plants can tolerate our ever changing climate is a challenge and requires us to be much more observant throughout the year to ensure we provide the right conditions for optimum growth. This is particularly important when we design new gardens and growing spaces and was at the forefront of my mind when I was asked by a local community group in Glasgow to design a planting scheme for some wooden troughs they had recently had installed.
The Berkeley Terrace Lane Group, who formed following the availability of funding from Glasgow City Council to transform under-utilised lanes across the city, asked me to design and plant up three troughs they had constructed against the north-facing wall of their back lane.
Taking in full consideration of the conditions of the site, I took a holistic approach to the design, carefully choosing suitable plants that would thrive in the full and dappled shade conditions. Each trough carried its own unique challenges, receiving variable amounts of light throughout the day with some areas significantly more shaded than others. I had never worked with such a shady site before but found it presented an opportunity for me to experiment with an unusual mix of shade loving plants and produce a distinct planting scheme for each planter.
To brighten the darkest part of the lane, I chose a mix of white flowering perennials to instantly lift the gloomy atmosphere of the space. I used a Rodgersia podophylla ‘Flowering Fountain’, with arching panicles of cream-white flowers that last throughout summer and create a dramatic effect with their large, distinctly serrate leaves, particularly when planted against a backdrop of ferns. In this case I used the shuttlecock fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, to add height and structure to the border and act as a foil for the other plants.
At the base, I planted Pulmonaria ‘Opal’ to form a carpet of pale blue-white flowers that sit neatly above silver spotted, dark green foliage. I also incorporated the North American woodland saxifrage, Boykinia aconitifolia, a weedy perennial which may sound alarm bells for some but when planted carefully forms patches of attractive incised, palmate foliage with upright stems of delicate Saxifraga-like white flowers throughout summer - a plant I just couldn’t resist including in the shadiest corner of the lane.
Working with a predominantly green plant palette, I found it beneficial to add in a mix of glaucous foliage plants, such as the large leaved Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans and Dicentra ‘Langtrees’ to add both textural and colour interest into the planting mix. Dicentra ‘Langtrees’ is an excellent cultivar with gorgeous glaucous silver-grey foliage with a strong pink tinge and cream-pink heart shaped flowers that really helps to bring the scheme to life and break up any monotony.
At the opposite end of the lane, the trough that receives the most sunlight required a completely different planting approach to accommodate the prolonged periods of shade in the morning and sun in the afternoon. I chose an Enkianthus deflexus to create an architectural book-end to the planting scheme - its young, pink-tinged branches, and cream, pink-veined campanulate flowers hailing the transition between late spring and early summer.
I underplanted this with a mix of Dryopteris wallichiana and more Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans to create a semi-shaded woodland mix that also incorporated Bowles’ dramatic golden sedge, Carex elata ‘Aurea’, and Omphalodes nitida, a relative of borage with arching sprays of small, pale blue, star-shaped flowers, that are reminiscent of forget-me-nots, to break-up and brighten the scheme.
To add foliage interest at ground level, I used Bergenia ciliata ‘Wilton’ for its large, rounded, soft, hairy leaves and the spreading North American foam flower, Tiarella cordifolia, for its palmate foliage and attractive spikes of foamy, cream-white flowers in spring.
I repeated the use of Dryopteris wallichiana and Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans in the central trough to help maintain continuity between each planter and in the scheme overall.
I used the large leaved, pink flowering, Rodgersia pinnata as a dramatic dot plant around which I planted a bright mix of white, pink and yellow flowering perennials, such as Actaea, Dicentra, Thalictrum and Uvularia to provide both textural and colour interest throughout the season. I also planted strips of the Chinese perennial Epimedium ecalcaratum along the front of the trough so the spiny edged leaves could trail over the edge and provide an important nesting material for leaf cutting bees. The bright yellow flowers are also highly attractive in mid-late spring.
I’ve always believed in Beth Chatto’s philosophy of ‘right plant, right place’ and that taking the time to choose the most suitable plants for the specific conditions of a site is the best way to create a healthy and resilient garden. I hope this project inspires you to embrace the dark corners of your garden and grow some interesting shade tolerant plants!
Scott Galloway is a Glasgow based horticulturist and plantsman specialising in kitchen garden herbs, and the cross-cultural relationships people have with plants. Working with the National Trust for Scotland, he created a Scottish naturalised herb garden at Greenbank Garden, and is an RHS Plant Profile Writer.
Scott is building a National Collection of bergenia in conjunction with Plant Heritage and hopes to be an authoritative voice on the genus. Follow Scott on Instagram for more chat and watch his bergenia collection grow on @thebergenlist!