After 2 years of hard effort of carefully not mowing, or doing anything to, a corner of my garden this is the result:

It faces North and is permanently in the shade due to the fence behind and the tree canopy above, and it was quite mossy until I let the grass do its own thing.

So, what plants / flowers should I plant which are going to thrive in that environment and attract pollinators in their swarms? Bees like our garden – I left a couple of patches of clover to flower and they loved it.

I thought about cutting the grass back and chucking down some wildflower seed to see what happens, perhaps not much due to the shady aspect?

Ta in advance.

Get some Lavender, Sedum, Allium

All of them are unfussy on soil type

Lavender, Sedum, Allium

All of them are unfussy on soil type

But won’t like a shady site.

If you’ve got plenty for bees in the rest of the garden leave this patch as long grass for other wee beasties, they’ll be beneficial in other ways.

Geranium, lungwort, and dead nettle are all thriving in the darkest corner of my garden. All pollinator-friendly.

Lavender is an incredible plant. Our two plants at our caravan must have over 50 bees on them at any one point. Our lavender at home isn’t as big but attracts them.

We have a very shaded area at the back of our garden, I ordered a few plug plants from these guys. I’ve made sure there is a bit of all year round interest along with a few homes for bugs and creepy crawlies in the form of broken pots and a good log pile.

Home

Buddlejas – IME the stuff will grow anywhere! It used to love growing out of our chimney stack!

And they are always covered in insects when flowering.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/buddleja

A shady spot under a tree is never likely to be the best for flowers to attract pollinators. You could get some yellow rattle seeds to help suppress the grass a bit. Also stick in some bulbs for spring interest. Daffodils, crocus, maybe snakeshead fritillaries.

Wildlife Gardening Forum

Cheers all.

As a rule of thumb pollinators like colorful flowers, and colorful flowers like the sun, so a shady spot isn’t ideal.

That said we’ve got a few lavenders on a north west facing wall and they’re doing Ok with just a few hours direct sunlight a day. just not as crazy as the ones out in the open or south facing are this year.

Throw down some logs to rot, it’ll attract insects, worms etc which will help out the small mammals, bats, hedgehogs etc.

The shady aspect shouldn’t be a problem, most hay meadow vegetation types are remarkably similar to woodland understory vegetation. Might be harder to do than throwing about some cornfield annual type seeds for polinators. I would be looking at larger perennial species like meadow cranesbill, water avens or wood avens, great Burnett, pignut etc you would need to strip the turf and then plant established younger plants. You could buy them from seed and grow in pots first or buy plugs. Try emorsgate seeds or similar

You could try planting trees too, we have a Prunus that blossoms really early* and gets absolutely mobbed by bees.

*there’s less food for them earlier in the year so plants that flower early are a bonus.

Can I suggest the book I am currently reading.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781905811144/Nettles-Required-Reassuring-Truth-Wildlife-1905811144/plp

It’s basically the write up of a study of what works in garden wildlife. It’s good to read and might give you some idea of what works and what make no difference.

Can I suggest the book I am currently reading.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781905811144/Nettles-Required-Reassuring-Truth-Wildlife-1905811144/plp

He was the external examiner for my PhD, nice bloke

Blue Ensign (Pulmonaria)
Abraham Isaac Jacob (Trachystemon Orientalis)
Hydrangea.

That’s the only 3 I know, I looked some up a while ago but haven’t actually got any yet.

Anything other than buddleia unless you want them self seeding over you and your neighbours garden.

Link to site with suggestions. Pick what you like but try and get as much of the year covered as possible. Early flowers are particularly useful.

I’d chuck in some thistles as I think they look great and the seeds are good for birds in the autumn / winter.

Thanks again for the responses.

I’ve got a copy of that No Nettles Required book. Very interesting indeed. I think I need to read it again.

Polyanthus for Spring and later winter