Shady areas in town gardens are a natural result of living in an urban environment. Every garden will have some shade, caused by fences, garden buildings, or trees. Depending on which way the garden faces, the house can cast shadow for a large part of the day, too, and, with the recent hot weather, shade has become an important part of enjoying the garden. Plants come with varying appetites for sun or shade. Some plants will thrive in a semi-shady bed given the right conditions. In the garden featured here, the tendency is for dry shade under the canopy of a beech tree.
Digging in reasonable amounts of compost or well rotted manure helps to retain any moisture in the bed, as well as feeding the plants. In dry conditions it is only fair to water the plants regularly in the warmer months. If this is something you are unable to stick to, a simple irrigation run can be installed and, with a battery-powered timer, can be set to water once or twice a day. The added advantage of this set-up is that it can be set to water when you are on holiday. This garden in Redland rests on the side of a hill facing due south, so you might expect it’s a very sunny garden.
However, lower down the slope, a 100-year-old beech tree looms large and, during the summer months, casts a considerable amount of shade on to the garden during the middle of the day. During the morning and evening, however, the sun does get in and a patio up near the house takes advantage of the setting sun. From this existing feature, we decided to create a gently sloping set of curved steps, leading down and round to a lower patio sitting under the canopy of the beech tree. As the path drops down, we created a “landing” halfway down the steps in order to accommodate a small bench. This gets the benefit of morning sun. The path is built using beech sleepers and paving slabs matching the main patio.
We also used beach cobblestones to fill the triangular spaces between the wood and the paving. The lower patio had to be built up to a reasonable level and is paved with a mixture of reclaimed terracotta tiles and grey stone paving slabs. Although Indian sandstone has become the material of choice in recent years, the paving slabs we used here were a better match for the reclaimed tiles. A small curved lawn leads off the main patio and a stepped retaining wall forms a curved and raised bed that wraps around three sides. The choice of plants for shaded areas is critical. There are plenty of plants that will do well in shade, so choose carefully, build up slowly and you can develop a border of healthy, happy plants that will give you pleasure for many years to come. A good reference for choosing plants is The Dry Garden, by Beth Chatto.
Digging in reasonable amounts of compost or well rotted manure helps to retain any moisture in the bed, as well as feeding the plants. In dry conditions it is only fair to water the plants regularly in the warmer months. If this is something you are unable to stick to, a simple irrigation run can be installed and, with a battery-powered timer, can be set to water once or twice a day. The added advantage of this set-up is that it can be set to water when you are on holiday. This garden in Redland rests on the side of a hill facing due south, so you might expect it’s a very sunny garden.
However, lower down the slope, a 100-year-old beech tree looms large and, during the summer months, casts a considerable amount of shade on to the garden during the middle of the day. During the morning and evening, however, the sun does get in and a patio up near the house takes advantage of the setting sun. From this existing feature, we decided to create a gently sloping set of curved steps, leading down and round to a lower patio sitting under the canopy of the beech tree. As the path drops down, we created a “landing” halfway down the steps in order to accommodate a small bench. This gets the benefit of morning sun. The path is built using beech sleepers and paving slabs matching the main patio.
We also used beach cobblestones to fill the triangular spaces between the wood and the paving. The lower patio had to be built up to a reasonable level and is paved with a mixture of reclaimed terracotta tiles and grey stone paving slabs. Although Indian sandstone has become the material of choice in recent years, the paving slabs we used here were a better match for the reclaimed tiles. A small curved lawn leads off the main patio and a stepped retaining wall forms a curved and raised bed that wraps around three sides. The choice of plants for shaded areas is critical. There are plenty of plants that will do well in shade, so choose carefully, build up slowly and you can develop a border of healthy, happy plants that will give you pleasure for many years to come. A good reference for choosing plants is The Dry Garden, by Beth Chatto.