Finding something special to plant in a garden’s dark & shady spot is tough. The usual list of candidates – ivy, hostas, ferns and palms – are OK, but sometimes (ho hum) that’s not enough. Here are some plants for shaded areas in your garden…

1. Graphic relief: one of the tricks to dealing with a low light area of your garden is to give it a punch with some highly visible plants. Monsteras, philodendrons and fatsias are great examples. They lift a gloomy position just by being bold with foliage that’s oversized with graphic shapes and cut outs. Stick to one type for a statement, or mix up a few species for more of a collector’s vibe. And if you’re planting in a light well or courtyard, consider painting the walls white to emphasise the leaf textures.

2. A dark horse: strange as this sounds, planting dark foliaged plants in a shaded area in your garden is a clever way to build mood into a garden. Something like the Tuxedo® Hydrangea is a perfect example of how you can create a vibe that’s distinct from the rest of the garden. It’s a professional landscaper’s trick done deliberately to make a garden seem much bigger than it is because it breaks the space down into mood zones that feel quite different from each other. Tuxedo hydrangea’s purple and black flushed foliage is glossy and stylish, and when the flowers arrive in spring, the whole space is transformed by the massive mop head or lace cap flowers in vibrant pink or red.

3. The fragrant surprise: dark garden corners rarely offer up a lovely surprise – instead they’re usually filled with problem solving plants like ivy, planted as a ground cover around the base of a shading tree. You can resist the default and add a bit of “ooh!” and “ahh!” by mass planting some Daphne Perfume Princess™. This particular daphne is a solid performer that it will give you green leafy cover, and in late winter and early spring, its pink or white flowers (there are two options) will pump the air with that glorious daphne scent, making the dark and mysterious part of the garden well worth visiting.