Forum home Garden design

tested bulbs for dry shade please

Hello. Can you recommend a bulb that you have in your own garden that thrives in dry shade/semishade? 

I have a small patch of about 3 square metres shaded by a very happy big holly tree. There is also what looks like a ground cover eleagnus with gold edges. Another plant that is happy there is ivy and this year I have some self seeded box which is already about 30cm high. 

Except for the box I would want to keep the others. Would cyclamen coum cope with acidic soil? 

I suspect the soil tends towards acidic. Thank you guys.


Luxembourg

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,237
    Snowdrops.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,208
    Cyclamen hederifolium in this garden.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,025
    Cyclamen hederifolium in this garden too. Also Iris foetidissima (which is much nicer than it sounds) https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/08/stinking-iris-brighten-up-a-winter-garden

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,000
    @coccinella I am concerned about my Snowdrops this year. They can die during August if ground dries out. I think Cyclamen hederifolium is the only corm that will cope. Just coming into flower here. Not to be confused with the houseplant that is arriving in garden centres now. Cyclamen plants are tubers. Other tubers that you might want to consider are Dicentras and Wood anemones.
    RETIRED GARDENER, SOUTH NOTTS.
    Building a garden is very personal. It's not quite the same as installing a boiler.
    James Alexander Sinclair 
  • I have a similar bed and just this year discovered Epimedium grows as nice ground cover under there.The cyclamen are good but vanish in summer. 
  • coccinellacoccinella Posts: 1,006
    edited August 2022

    @coccinella I am concerned about my Snowdrops this year. I am not surprised.

    I too am worried about the fritillaria meleagris. Only time will tell.

    I am also considering Japanese Anemones. What do do you think?


    Luxembourg
  • coccinellacoccinella Posts: 1,006
    This is said sad patch. I only want to go up to the end of the wall of the stair landing. It is dry there, no sun in winter but sheltered. Yew drinks it all I am afraid! 



    Luxembourg
Sign In or Register to comment.