Shade tolerant woodland border ideas from Dunster Castle Gardens

Having decided that, come the damper Autumn weather, I will force myself to tackle the 'elephant in the room' of the scary woodland border revamp (before allowing myself to get distracted by fiddling with the 'easier' parts of the garden), I have been thinking more and more about this area and keeping my mind and eyes open for inspiration.

Today I took the children for a day out to Dunster Castle on the West Somerset coast, actually our main purpose was to see the sheepdog display but of course I couldn't miss out on a leisurely stroll through the amazing gardens and the obligatory cream tea at the water mill....

I love the sub-tropical planting up near the top of the garden, which is sheltered in its own micro climate and so the planting is full of agapanthus, salvias, red hot pokers and crocosmias.  But today my eye was focussing on the many many stretches of shady, woodland floor planting, so I thought I might take a few notes to remind me later for my planning.

Lovely berries on this Hypericum, which looked fab with the fern fronds growing up through

Asplenium scolopendrium, together with what might be a Dryopteris of some sort? and I was surprised at how attractive the Spotted Laurel looked - perhaps it was a different variety to the more garish one we have by the school car park wall? or just less brightly spotted because its in the shade?  Must research further...

Delightful hydrangea with white and limey green flowerheads on at the same time

I have always liked this delicate dangly pale pink fuchsia ever since I first saw one at Heligan in Cornwall

Noting the useful contrast in texture between the fern and the pale pink hydrangea

Just to prove to myself that shade can be colourful in summer as well as spring!

Shame the camera didn't really manage to capture the deep velvety carmine rose pink of this lovely dark hydrangea - thankfully labelled by those thoughtful NT gardeners! Hydrangea macrophylla 'Rotschwanz'. It would make an interesting element of variety amid the usual paler shades of the hydrangeas

That trusty stalwart Euonymous Emerald Gaiety (I think) doing an excellent ground cover job whilst at the same time adding some lightness and contrast

Here's that chi chi spotted laurel again...I must discover what its called

Another pretty hydrangea with a pleasingly more airy growth habit

A shot to remind me that I liked the idea of creating a relaxed log branch edge to my 'path' through the back of the border for maintenance - but could this idea also possibly be helpful in 'edging' the border itself to help stop the lawn encroaching into the border? Or am I really going to have to resign myself to edging all the way along with shears every time the lawn is mowed?

Well, lots to think about and ponder on.  It's probably a good job that my gardening hands are effectively tied by the children off school at the moment.  Or I might be dangerously tempted to start wading in and brandishing my fork about in the border now - which would be disastrous as its way too dry to move plants about and expect them to survive! And I really do realise that planning, planning, planning, is the only way to deal with this particular 'elephant'! xxx