Dark corner of garden - suggestions welcome!
Hi all,
Brand new to this forum, and gardening generally, so apologies if this is in the wrong section.
I have a section of my garden that has me stumped for ideas. Its probably and 1.5m x 1.5m, and in the middle is a rather large tree. two sides are the fence and the third side is the shed, so it's a rather dark little corner for most of the day/year.
I was wondering what to do with it. At the moment there's just a pile of twigs that have built up from the tree over the years but I was wondering if there was anything else I could do. There's also a smal holly bush in there, on the fourth edge of the dark square that I quite like and will keep. As for the rest, what would people do? Whether there's a good wildlife idea, or perhaps a brambley fruit that could be put in and trained round/up the shed, or anything else, I'm up for all suggestions! The ground is heavy clay too, I imagine that will affect the final idea.
Thank you!
LB
Posts
Hi Loopy - when you say 'tree' do you mean the trunk of it is dominating the area, with a canopy of foliage above? Also, what kind of tree is it?
It's a small area, but there will be something suitable. Is it wet shade or dry? That will also determine what you can grow. The holly will get big if it's happy there, so it won't leave much room unfortunately.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have a similar problem: a cupressus hedge about 10ft high, and about 5ft between it and some espalier or cordon apple trees. New gardener has no suggestions as to what one can plant in this gap but surely there must be something. Primroses self seeded there doing well at the moment, Our side of hedge faces East.
I'm coming to the same conclusion, Verdun.
Hi!
Sorry for not replying faster, I didn't get any emails telling me people had responded, so I assumed noone had!
Trid to attach two photos above, not sure if it's worked.
I think it's quite dry back there - the tree has a large canopy. Not sure what type of tree it is either (sorry for being so unhelpful!!) But it's definitely large - taller than the house. The holly would probably have been there for years, and isn't that big (but I can't imagine my boyfriend will have been pruning it...he's only getting into gardening as a result of my moving in!!)
Ahh photos have attached but wonky... tilt heads to the left! :P you can kind of see what's going on...
I love ferns, brightly coloured euphorbias and variegated euonymous. They all add brightness and structure into a dark area. Foxgloves are great too.