AusBonsai

Hey all. Wondering who may have identified what species grow well in no direct sunlight? That's for both Natives and Exotics please. A possible future opportunity has arisen for me to grow in a dark corner at home. Being in city Melbourne I only have a small place, so with two dogs space is limited.

Backstory for you. My wife has asked me to put in a small veggie patch down the side of the house, so she can try grow something. Her thumbs are about as green as the colour red, so I do not anticipate this venture of hers will last long. While I would love for her to succeed, I know her all too well. So why would I let the space go to waste? This is when I'll swoop... I'll console her, tell her how well she did and then blame it on the lack of sun. She'll never bother going down that side of the house again. Meanwhile I'll be turfing the remains of the dried up shriveled veggies and planting what we all here like to grow most, bonsai.

So back to my original question, what have people confirmed grow well in no direct sunlight? The space I have currently receives only a couple of hours direct sunlight in the morning, but is completely gone by lunch time. As winter approaches, I know the sunlight will only continue to dwindle further as it is being blocked by my house. The garden bed is down a narrow, eastern side of the house that never gets used so why not make the most of it. The rather minute grow bed is only 4m X 0.5m so nothing fancy, but in all the same better than nothing.

Looking forward to hearing people's experiences with what species grow best.

Cheers,
Pearcy.
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If it was me I’d be looking at Azaleas, maples, terrestrial orchids plus shelves on the fence for pot storage.
Cheers
Kirky

KIRKY wrote:If it was me I’d be looking at Azaleas, maples, terrestrial orchids plus shelves on the fence for pot storage.
Cheers
Kirky

Thanks Kirky!

I'll also add that this is accessible from my front yard, not the rear - it's already full haha. Plastic pots would be fine but no good pots.

Keep the suggestions coming guys, hopefully if we can get a proper list going it can be utilised by others too for low light species.

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I have made a couple of timber shelves from left over decking.
By lifting you pots higher you may gain some extra light.

fae wrote:I have made a couple of timber shelves from left over decking.
By lifting you pots higher you may gain some extra light.

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Thanks Fae, and great idea. At my last house I made a floor outside my second story window for trees to fit on so I could chase the sun.

Unfortunately in this scenario I'm wanting to make use of the grow bed on the floor, so won't be able to raise it up the fence.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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I hope you don’t leave yourself logged onto this forum bro.

If its accessible to the front definitely no pots. No good trees either

I would suggest, after the wife's veges etc have failed, that you paint the fence white, and perhaps put some semi-reflective material against the house. Reflected light is all you need for many trees, and while some trees thrive in low light (eg Japanese maples are lower-storey trees, so developed in low-light conditions), you might want more than these. With added light from reflected light, you may be able to grow more than just maples etc.

If my experience translates from Canberra to Melbourne, Japanese maples will not do well in the low light you have described. A couple of years ago, I moved a J maple grove to a table in a garden shelter with a metal roof but open sides (see photo) where it received a small amount of direct sun in the early morning and late afternoon. Although it had good light all day, it slowly went backwards. So I moved it back to a sunny spot under shade cloth and it is once again growing gang busters. Clearly, the lack of sun meant it could not photosynthesise sufficiently. I would rule out J maples ... but you could give one a go and see what happens.

Hi Pearcy,

Basically any tree that is an under story plant under a dense canopy so rain forest plants are my first pick but there are many to choose from. Maples, elms, schefflera, Carmona (Fukian tea), figs, bottlebrush, melaleuca, serrisa etc.

Edward