Wildlife plants for dry shade

Small shrubs and climbers

· Mahonia

· Escallonia

· Common jasmine

· Shrubby honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima

· Honeysuckle

· Privet

· Sallow (small willow varieties)

Perennials

· Ivy ( Hedera helix or H. hibernica

· Wood spurge

· Red valerian

· Common teasel

· Evening primrose

· Clustered bellflower

· Sweet cicely

· Sweet woodruff

· Red campion

· Betony

· Wood sage

Bulbs

· Crocus

· Autumn crocus

Grasses

A bed full of native grasses, left to grow naturally, would be a good food source for various butterfly and moth caterpillars and many other invertebrates. To add interest you could add bedstraw, dead nettle, foxgloves (if poisonous plants are not an issue) to the mix.