What to do with underneath a hedge

[Julia_IE]

We have a very shady, damp garden and some very small hedges around a shed. We keep them neat and high off the ground.
I would like to plant some nice flowers underneath or some other plant, keeping in mind it's very shady. I was thinking alyssum, I planted some today in a corner to see how they get on. Ideally, it would be a flowering plant that can carpet the whole area. One consideration is that it will only flower for a short time once a year, so what will it look like the rest of the year...
Another school of thought in the house is to put some nice pebbles underneath and move on...

Not into bulb flowers for that area, as some online article suggest.

Any suggestions? Do you do anything with that area underneath the hedges?

 

[cntrlwagdnr]

I have an idea what you can do under the hedge - but it would get censored.....

 

[Tetters]

We have a very shady, damp garden and some very small hedges around a shed. We keep them neat and high off the ground.
I would like to plant some nice flowers underneath or some other plant, keeping in mind it's very shady. I was thinking alyssum, I planted some today in a corner to see how they get on. Ideally, it would be a flowering plant that can carpet the whole area. One consideration is that it will only flower for a short time once a year, so what will it look like the rest of the year...
Another school of thought in the house is to put some nice pebbles underneath and move on...

Not into bulb flowers for that area, as some online article suggest.

Any suggestions? Do you do anything with that area underneath the hedges?

Hiya Julia, I've always found that the only stuff that grows really well under hedges is weeds. To save lots of hard work for nowt, I think your idea of pebbles is a good one. If you stick a long piece of ground cover underneath the pebbles it will suppress the weeds quite well. The soil is rather depleted anyway under there, because the hedge sucks up all the goodies. The alternative that might work would be celandines and violets that would spread under there, but with weeds as well don't forget

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Cyclamen don't mind the shade and have interesting foliage when not in flower.