GrowingHQ

Shrubs for a shady border

The north-facing border is the commonest difficult position in a British garden and the one most planting advice quietly ignores. The useful list is the shrubs that actually flower or hold good foliage in shade rather than the ones that merely survive there — sarcococca, mahonia and fatsia do the first, and a great many popular shrubs do neither.

How this list was built

Generated from the catalogue by the same engine that powers What can I grow? — 13 of the 26 shrubs qualify. It is published because it names a question people ask, returns enough plants to be useful, does not return most of the group it is about, and rests on fields that are actually populated. Lists that fail any of those are on the coverage page instead.

13 plants
PlantTypeLightSpacingMin. pot depthIn a container
PierisPieris japonicaOrnamentalSome care neededDappled shade, Partial shade120–180 cm40 cmwell suited
RhododendronRhododendronOrnamentalSome care neededDappled shade, Partial shade150–300 cm35 cmwell suited
CamelliaCamellia japonicaOrnamentalSome care neededPartial shade, Dappled shade150–250 cm40 cmwell suited
Christmas boxSarcococca confusaOrnamentalStraightforwardFull shade, Dappled shade, Partial shade75–100 cm40 cmwell suited
CotoneasterCotoneaster horizontalisOrnamentalStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade, Dappled shade120–180 cm50 cmworkable
FatsiaFatsia japonicaOrnamentalStraightforwardFull shade, Dappled shade, Partial shade150–250 cm40 cmwell suited
FirethornPyracantha coccineaOrnamentalStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade, Dappled shade120–200 cm70 cmmarginal
FuchsiaFuchsiaOrnamentalStraightforwardPartial shade, Full sun, Dappled shade60–100 cm25 cmwell suited
HydrangeaHydrangea macrophyllaOrnamentalStraightforwardPartial shade, Dappled shade120–180 cm35 cmwell suited
MahoniaMahonia × mediaOrnamentalStraightforwardPartial shade, Dappled shade, Full shade150–250 cm40 cmmarginal
OsmanthusOsmanthus × burkwoodiiOrnamentalStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade, Dappled shade75–150 cm60 cmworkable
SkimmiaSkimmia japonicaOrnamentalSome care neededPartial shade, Dappled shade, Full shade75–100 cm40 cmwell suited
ViburnumViburnum tinusOrnamentalStraightforwardFull sun, Partial shade, Dappled shade150–250 cm45 cmworkable

This is one cut through shrubs, which compares every one of them on foliage, size and container suitability — including the ones this list rules out, and why.