Plants for Difficult Situations

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C - Climber P - Perennial S - Shrub T - Tree

Burglar Proof Plants

Lots of nasty spikes to put off all but the most determined. Use these to make a hedge or grow up against a vulnerable garden wall or downstairs window. Not really suitable for formal neatly clipped hedges, best allowed to do their own thing for the best deterrent effect. If you don't want to give the impression of a hedge i.e. you want a shrub border instead, then mix up different types of Pyracantha and Berberis for functionality with beauty.

Berberis - Barberry S

A very varied group of evergreen or deciduous flowering shrubs with a variety of leaf colors especially in the deciduous types where autumn color may also be very good. Not obviously spiny at first glance, the numerous needle-like thorns are borne just underneath the leaves so a harmless looking plant can give a quite unexpected "bite".

Apart from this they're also an exceptionally useful group of shrubs for their ornamental value too!

Berberis darwinii is a real star, smothered in dark orange flowers in mid to late spring with sometimes a further show in the autumn evergreen, particularly good for hedges, to 10ft high and wide. B. stenophylla is similar with some varieties such as "Claret cascade" giving red tinged orange flowers.

Berberis thunbergii is a good deciduous form that comes in a variety of leaf colors from the vibrant yellow young foliage of "Aurea" (to 6ft x 6ft) to the speckled rose and purple forms such as "Rose Glow" and "Atropurpurea" the last one has fiery red autumn foliage. Flowers of red, pink or white depending on variety.

Best in sun especially for foliage color and flowers, will tolerate some shade.

Pyracantha - firethorn S

One of the most useful garden shrubs, evergreen, tough and resilient to most things (though fireblight disease can be a problem as can woolly aphids to a lesser degree) and usually unfussy about situation and soil. They can be pruned pretty hard and made to grow in the directions we want without sulking. They're evergreen, produce loads of white flowers in the spring and thousands of brightly colored long lasting berries in the autumn of shades from red through orange to yellow until the blackbirds come and eat them. They also have lots of long, sharp and strong thorns.

There are a great many varieties available some being upright and some more prostrate and in different berry colors.

Plants for Dry Shade

One of the most difficult areas in the garden to find plants for. There are plenty of plants that grow well in dry conditions but they tend to be sun lovers, and there are quite a few that can put up with shade if there's a lot of moisture available. For dry shade though, in the lee and shadow of a wall or fence or beneath a tree or hedge there are far less options.

Firstly be realistic. If your dry shade is beneath a large evergreen such as yew, then virtually nothing is going to grow there. It will be shady all year round and as well as the branches and leaves intercepting the rain and channeling it to the trunk, there will be strongly competitive roots just below the soil surface to contend with. It's therefore a question of trial and error to some degree.

If you can't get plants to grow as close to the area that you would like (up against a hedge bottom for instance), then try coming just a little bit further away. If the area has proven particularly difficult in the past try just one or two plants at different distances rather than consigning lots of them to certain death early on. If things still don't grow, then it may be time to withdraw gracefully - as a rule of thumb if grass or weeds won't grow very well in a particular area, then something prettier and more ornamental almost certainly won't!

Any shady soil can be given a boost by incorporating compost, leaf mold and

Lets not give up before we've started, these are some plants that have more than a sporting chance.

Aucuba japonica - spotted laurel S

Evergreen shrub, with glossy leaves to 8" long spotted yellow. Plants are either male or female, females have bright red berries in autumn. Tolerant of quite deep shade and indeed requires some shade to be really happy. Will grow in difficult situations and tolerant of dry soil. To about 10ft high and wide but easily controlled. Frequently sold as three or four rooted cuttings in a pot, separate them and you instantly have more plants!

Iris foetidissima - Stinking gladwyn P

What does a plant do to deserve such horrible names? A member of the iris family, though the flowers are easily overlooked. It produces very attractive bright orange seeds in large number that shine in the autumn when the pods split open, and it is very tolerant of dry shade.

Lamium - cultivated dead-nettles P

A group that spans very pretty plants with lovely variegated foliage to ones that are not far short of looking like weeds. Difficult to give recommendations, because difficult conditions often make good looking plants appear weedy, the best bet is to try one and see if still looks good when up against the odds. The darker the green of the plant, the more chlorophyll and so the more likely it is to withstand shade, don't bother trying the almost completely white types.

Mentha - Mint P

As in the herb. Mint is a notoriously vigorous plant and if it didn't have its flavour as a saving grace, I'm sure that it would be considered as a weed. This vigour makes it an ideal plant for difficult conditions which also serve to calm it down somewhat. I've grown mint in the shade of a Lleylandii hedge within about 18" of the trunks, so it's tough and keeps going! Pink to purple flowers that the bees love and flavouring for new potatoes and lamb chops, Brussels sprouts too, but that's an acquired taste.

Vinca major and Vinca minor - Periwinkle S

Variegated ground cover plant with blue spring / summer flowers. To about 20" tall, spread indefinite, roots as it goes. Very tough once established, and tolerates sun or shade. Vinca minor is equally unfazed by novice gardeners or shade, will confine itself to about 8" and a much reduced spread.

Wild / wood Strawberry P

I have grown these in and amongst mint in the least promising of all conditions and they have performed admirably. The leaves are a fresh green and the plants produce tiny white flowers and tiny strawberries.

Don't think that these will get you through Wimbledon week in traditional style however, difficult conditions mean that there's little energy to spare for such fripperies. Wild strawberries also have the advantage that they root as they go by runners so they find their own preferred place if you plant them a bit too close (or even too far away) to the gruesome places.

Seasonal underplanting

Most of the trees providing summer gloom admit plenty of light in winter. The opportunity should be seized for underplanting them with winter and early spring-flowering bulbs. These can provide a sheet of color in their season but complete their growing in time to be at rest once more when the shade thickens.

autumn flowering Cyclamen The autumn-flowering Cyclamen will oblige, with pink or white flowers. The foliage, a great asset in itself with its different shades of green, will not develop until late autumn and will be at its best through to April; then it withers quite naturally.

In January, winter aconites, Eranthis hyemalis , will flower in sheets - cupped yellow blooms surrounded by a ruff of leaves. If they take to you, they will spread with their own seedlings. (For me, they have always been an abysmal failure) These can be joined, in February, by another great self-sower, the little mauve Crocus tommasinianus.

Tiny daffodils such as Narcissus cyclamineus and the hoop-petticoat, N. bulbocodium are good and there'll be blue Scilla siberica and Chionodoxa sardensis , none of them dying with obtrusive foliage. Spanish bluebells, on the other hand, so common in London gardens, die horribly in May, but you might think them worth it for their April display.

In summer there is a place for dignified bareness if all else fails. Keep it tidy and not scruffy so it looks like a definite decision rather than having ended up like that because you can't do any different.