The (very shady, damp, clay) flowerbed beneath the window

Above is the plan for this bed which gets about two, maybe three hours of direct sunlight a day but is otherwise plunged into darkness.

It is complicated by clay soil which gets waterlogged and then dries out hard. So far, I have solved this by digging loads of grit into the soil and by using plants which are generally reasonably happy in this environment.

Primroses love my garden and so multiply in a biblical fashion - unfortunately they look really tatty once their flowering is over - the below photo was taken this morning which shows most of the planting in. It was beautiful in the spring with the blues and purples of the pulmonaria and the lovely primroses and primulas but, as the image shows, it means A LOT of green at this time of year.

In the back of this bed I have recently planted an Acer Palmatum Katsura which I got for £14 from B&Q. The plan is to take the Hosta Blue Mammoth out and put it in a pot - the slugs and snails are far too organised in this part of the country! I have already transplanted two of the three hostas which I put in last autumn (the first picture shows Hosta Twilight) so that there is room for other plants as the plan above shows. The hydrangea by the door is Hydrangea Petiolaris which has been in for two years and is climbing but not flowering this year. The top picture shows some very happy ferns including Dryopteris erythrosora which is a Japanese shield fern: the new leaves are a beautiful coppery colour. Other than than I am awaiting the flowering of some lamium and an astilbe.

My focus for this bed is really to give some all year foliage which looks interesting whilst the other, sunnier, parts of the garden can show off with spring and summer colour. I am hoping to crack it with the plan I have and I will put more photos up as this bed develops. I adore hellebores and there are three in this bed - I actually can't remember which ones though one is definitely a Harvington Picotee. I usually head to my local garden centre "seasonal reduction" section first, and I got six hellebores in varying conditions for under £20 which would usually have cost a small fortune. They are such a joy in the early spring.