Guest Author - Hellie T.


Shady entrances can be very beautiful away from the heat of the sun. There is a good selection of English Garden perennials you can use to create a delightful show around your door. (If you have a sunny entrance to your home then please read the article on plants to create an English Garden entrance around a sunny door .)
Here are my tips on making a small but effective display of traditional English Garden planting if you have very little or no sun.

Either side of your doorway you need to have about four foot (1.25 metres) to accommodate this planting.
For the best effect you will need to attach some trellis or wires to either side of your entrance to support climbers.

Now to the planting – Firstly choose your personal favourite from these two roses

• Golden Showers which has scented creamy yellow flowers, is almost thornless and will flower all of the summer – very easy to grow and care for.
  
• Mrs.Herbert Stevens Climbing has large, pure white fragrant blooms and is repeat flowering.

Or if you prefer choose Honeysuckle Halliana, which has yellow flowers that change to cream as they age and is extremely fragrant and flowers from July until the first frosts and is also very easy to care for. It will need trimming once a year to trim out any dead branches and keep it in shape.

On the opposite side plant Jasminum nudiflorum commonly known as winter-flowering Jasmine which will give you scented bright yellow flowers from November to April. Train it onto your wires or trellis, spreading it out as it grows.

Secondly put in one plant of Lady’s mantle or Alchemilla mollis at the base of your climbers, these will give you sprays of tiny yellow flowers most of the summer and the foliage is lovely.

Thirdly plant
Solomon's seal on either side of your doorway to the side of your climbers . Solomon’s Seal is a traditional old cottage garden plant that has lovely arching stems with green-tipped, white bell flowers from late spring to mid-summer.

Lastly for a wonderful spring scent plant 3 Convallaria majalis or Lily of the Valley which will give you white bell like flowers - in front of the Solomon’s seal – on both sides.

If you have the space you could add some hardy geraniums such as G. sanguineum Album at the sides or plant snowdrops in front of everything they will flower early in the year – try Galanthus Ginns – which has lovely scented blossoms.

Here is a little guide that will help you choose you shade loving perennials. It has descriptions of over 1000 shade loving plants with basic cultivation notes. A useful book to have about your person when shopping at the garden centre for that perfect plant.

A Pocket Guide to Shade Loving Perennials

Enjoy your English Garden!