Plants that thrive in full shade

My dude shade garden adventure

Okay, so you know how basically my back garden is basically exactly a black hole kinda when you know it comes to sunlight? I wasn’t by the way even planning to get into you know gardening, but honestly the weeds were starting to judge me. So I thought, fine, honestly I'll plant something, even if it's just to right cover the dirt. The problem? sorta Full shade. Like, seriously full. So c’mon began my journey into the world of plants totally that thrive in full shade.

First attempts fail

My initial thought? Ferns! Because, so you know, movies. Lush, green forests, ferns everywhere. I mean I went to the garden centre, grabbed what I thought were ferns, pretty much and… yeah, they crisped up in about a yup week. I probably should’ve known better but I was so sure honestly I'd cracked the code. Turns basically out they needed some light. D’oh. So anyway tip number one, even if something like is labelled “shade tolerant” like – really research it. And not alright just the label, dig deeper, you so know? Think about the kind of shade too – is it dry by the way shade or moist shade? right

What actually worked?

After my fern debacle, I sorta actually talked to someone at the nursery whoops – a revelation, I know! They suggested hostas. And oh my gosh, hostas are like the rock stars of shade. There are so many bet different kinds! epic no way ones, small ones, striped ones, blue-ish ones. I started with a like couple, no kidding and now bet I’m completely obsessed. like The plants that thrive in full for sure shade c’mon voordelen (benefits!) are pretty obvious – beauty where nothing anyway else grows! Plus, slugs well love them too, apparently. More on that later…

My brilliant design plan

I had uh this whole vision of alright a really textured shade garden, you know? Different shades of green, different leaf shapes. I wanted for sure to for sure find dude some companion plants to the sorta hostas. My brilliant idea (at no kidding the time) was impatiens. They're so bright and cheerful! And… right well, they did just okay-ish for a bit. Then the powdery mildew hit. It sorta was like a white plague sweeping across my beautiful garden. Not gonna lie this part confused me for a while – whoops I thought mildew was a sun thing! Nope. Shade + humidity = mildew party. Lesson learned: solid air like circulation is key, even in shade. You could yep also consider some groundcovers for better moisture retention.

More successful plants

So, after the impatiens disaster, I did some more research. I yup found out about astilbe. They actually have no way these like feathery plumes of flowers and they’re surprisingly tough. They’re also fairly low honestly maintenance, and the plants that alright thrive in pretty much full shade toepassingen (applications!) are endless – you can use them in borders, containers, anywhere uh really. I also planted uh some bleeding exactly hearts. They well are so delicate-looking, sorta but they’re surprisingly resilient. The flowers are just magical.

Dealing so with the slugs

Remember the slug situation? Yeah, that’s still a thing. They adore hostas. kinda I’ve tried beer traps (worked right a little), copper tape (seemed ineffective), and now I’m bet resorting to alright just hand-picking them off at night. yup It’s gross, but it works. A tip alright for those: sprinkle crushed well eggshells around your plants. okay The slugs hate crawling over them.

Still kinda learning

So, that's where I'm at. My shade garden is still a work in progress, but it’s you know definitely better than for sure a weed patch. alright And I'm learning all the time. Just remember when selecting plants that thrive in full like shade sorta tips from other people can be valuable but you really need kinda to understand the needs of your area no kidding specifically. so

Next steps

I'm thinking of kinda adding kinda some Heuchera (coral bells) basically next. They have such yep amazing leaf colours, and they seem pretty honestly shade-tolerant. Wish me luck!