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Shade lovers for pots

Pots in shade tend to be filled with leafy plants. They can either light up a dark corner, with their variegated or golden foliage, or provide a rich all-green tapestry of texture.

If you’re going variegated use hostas on their own. They come in many hues, but the blue-leaved ones, which tend to prefer brighter light anyway, can look dull in shade. Instead opt for a dazzler such as the white and green ‘Patriot’ or the the luminous lime-green ‘June’, which is a muted combination of jade, lime and sage. Choose a pot without a snail and slug-hiding rim and check under the foliage at the first sign of attack.

Another option would be to make up a mixed collection that will cast some light. The hardy maidenhair fern with tiny lime-green leaves, Adiantum × mairisii, with the toning leafy Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly' (PBR) will put on a great show.





These share similar colours and a rounded leaf (though of different sizes) so separate them with a contrasting spiky plant like the dusky black Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, or the deciduous golden grass Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' planted at the edge. This light and shade combination can be completed with the lime-green heads of Hydrangea paniculata ‘Little Lime’ ('Jane') (PBR). Ferns are always good in pots in shade, because their emerging fronds are plant studies -changing day by day.

Fuchsias also do well in shade and you can opt for full-skirted rich-reds and purples, or elegant chandeliers in pearly colours. ‘Mrs Popple’ is a heritage hardy with red and purple single flowers. ‘Hawkshead’ is pale and interesting and both will survive outside although they must never be cut down until the shoots reappear in spring.

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