Plants for deep shade, where little else will grow.
Deep shade – a sunless passage, the base of a north wall, under dense evergreens – is where most plants give up. But a handful of shade-loving survivors positively prefer it, and the right plants for deep shade can turn the darkest corner into a calm tapestry of green.
First design free · no card needed · UK plants
After
BeforeDesigning for the darkest corners
In deep shade, flowers are a bonus – the design has to be carried by foliage: leaf shape, leaf colour and evergreen structure. Think of it as a woodland floor. Layer the bold leaves of hostas and the fine fronds of ferns, add evergreen shrubs for winter presence, and use variegated or silver-marked leaves to bounce what little light there is around.
Pale gravel, a light-painted wall or a mirror can lift a deeply shaded spot further. Done well, a dark corner reads as cool and restful rather than dead.
Plants for the deepest shade
Your planting plan lists them in full, with how many to buy and where each goes – so the garden in the picture is one you can actually plant.
Ferns
the champions of deep shade – all texture and no need for sun
Hostas
bold leaves that hold up in very low light
Elephant's ears
evergreen, glossy and unbothered by gloom
Hellebores
evergreen structure and winter flower in the darkest border
Sweet box
a shade-happy evergreen shrub with intensely scented winter flower
Ivy (ornamental)
evergreen ground and wall cover for the shadiest spots
Epimedium
dainty spring flowers and tough evergreen ground cover
Wood spurge
an evergreen woodlander with lime-green spring heads
Lungwort
early flowers and silver-spotted leaves for deep shade
Butcher's broom
an architectural evergreen that copes with dry, dark corners
See a deep-shade border on your own garden
Upload a photo of that dark, difficult spot and get it back designed with real plants that will genuinely cope – a photorealistic picture of the corner planted up and green. Your walls, fences and paths stay exactly where they are.
When you love it, the planting plan names every plant, how many to buy and where each goes. Your first design is free, so you can see the fix before spending anything.
Good to know.
Everything people ask about plants for deep shade.
How does the AI garden design work?
Upload a photo of your garden or a single border, and tell us what you'd like: refresh your borders, keeping your garden's shape, or redesign the whole space with new layout, paths and planting. Pick a style, and we generate a photorealistic redesign of your actual garden. When you love one, unlock its planting plan – every plant, how many to buy, and where each goes.
Are the plants real – can I actually buy and plant them?
Yes. Every design can become a planting plan of real, available UK plants, with quantities, each plant's mature height and spread, where it goes and a month-by-month flowering guide. The plans are built on real horticultural data and shaped by a professional gardener – not generic AI guesses – so the garden in the picture is a garden you can genuinely plant.
Is the first design really free, and what does it cost after?
Your first design is genuinely free, with no card required. After that, subscriptions start at £19 a month. The professional planting plan is a separate one-off you only buy if you want to make a design real.
Can anything flower in deep shade?
Yes – hellebores flower through winter, epimediums and lungwort in spring, and sweet box carries scented winter flower. In the deepest shade, though, the design leans mostly on foliage: ferns, hostas and evergreen ground cover.
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