It can be hard to get plants to grow in shady gardens as they require lots of sunshine in order to thrive, but one gardener has shared a simple way to encourage some lovely blooms
Alice Sjoberg Social News Reporter
05:01, 15 Nov 2025
It’s not too early to start growing next year’s flowers in your garden (stock image)(Image: intek1 via Getty Images)
While your garden might be preparing for the colder months ahead, with certain plants entering their winter dormancy period, it’s actually not too late to plant additional varieties that will flourish beautifully come spring and summer.
If you’re dealing with a shaded garden space, it can seem like a daunting challenge to encourage anything to thrive and flower, given that most plants and bulbs need sunlight to develop properly. However, one gardening expert is now encouraging people to plant a particular bulb this November to achieve lovely floral displays in their shaded garden areas next summer.
Posting on TikTok, Lee Bestall, who goes by ‘the Northern Designer’, has shared there’s still time to introduce fresh plants to your garden this year, as it could serve as excellent preparation for next summer’s flowering period.
In his video, the gardener demonstrated planting a particular variety of bulb in his shaded garden border to promote attractive blooms for the following year.
“Today, I’m planting into this partially shaded boarder,” he explained, disclosing he was going to plant some Allium siculum bulbs, also known as the Honey Lily.
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He continued by explaining that introducing these plants also serves as an excellent method for deterring squirrels and rabbits from your garden, since they dislike the plant’s onion-like fragrance, which stems from the plant being distantly connected to the onion family.
Lee continued by noting it’s rather late in the season to be introducing these bulbs to your garden, which means you’ll need to perform one straightforward check on each bulb prior to planting them. Just give them a quick squeeze to ensure they’re still firm, and check there’s no mould growing on them.
“Pop a few into your planters or borders now with your trusty dibber, forget about them over winter, and then, six months later, you’ll be greeted with elegant, drooping bells in soft tones of cream, plum, and green,” he advised his viewers in the caption.
The bulbs should be planted about 10 centimetres deep into the soil, spaced approximately 15 centimetres apart from each other.
“The great thing with these is that they will flower longer in the semi-shade, which not many plants and bulbs do at that time of the year,” Lee explained.
He also cheekily suggested people to secretly plant the bulbs in the gardens of friends and family members for a pleasant surprise when summer rolls around.
In the caption of the post, he added: “So yes, not all bulbs demand full sun and a Mediterranean climate. The Honey Lily is here to prove that even the shady corners of the garden can put on a show.”
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