Thorny problems: What are the best plants for shady areas? Every November, my front garden becomes a source of horticultural angst. Surrounded by evergreen hedges, the thin patch of lawn (this year freshly compacted by roofers and thus easily waterlogged), becomes obliterated under the mass of leaves that hail down from a huge overhanging oak. When all the leaves are down, the rain stops and the ground dries, I will get out and restore order. But the dismal situation this month brought to mind a reader wanting low-maintenance ideas for a similar site where, she said, not much thrives. I burrowed around and found the email - from Linda Salt - and decided to look on the bright side and give her some guidance, citing my own efforts as proof that there is indeed life under oaks. It is hard to imagine now, but parts of my currently sparse lawn break out in spring to reveal snowdrops, aconites and other spring thingies that do well under deciduous trees. The grass perks up after a feed - I start mowing it and it stays green for most of the year despite the shade. Close to the oak trunk there is a colony of the easiest native fern, Dryopteris filix-mas (the only one that thrives in summer-dry soil), as well as mats of white-flowered sweet woodruff, Galium odoratum and pink Geranium macrorrhizum. There is also the evergreen Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae, whose lime-green "flowers" illuminate the gathering gloom as the oak leafs up. I have also planted some shade-tolerant and good-looking shrubs. Leaf contrasts are important and flowers are few, although martagon lilies thrive and white-flowered honesty and foxgloves self-seed here and there. Around the shrubs clusters of cyclamen flower in autumn and early winter, following on with wide rosettes of beautiful foliage. An urn containing a big stripy hosta is a focal point, and during the summer I also heave large pots of pale lilies into strategic positions. Giving up so much sun to the tree has drawbacks, not least the annual leaf cascade. We are, in effect, gardening in a wood, so it is important to make the most of this resource that otherwise lies in drifts, choking hedges. I pile them up (with a battery-powered blower from Bosch) and chop them with the mower before composting them in wire cages. Mixed with a little bone meal, the resulting mould improves my rooty, slightly acidic soil for planting. I also use it to mulch around the newer shrubs and rhododendrons in spring. After at least two seasons of careful nurturing to get them established (i.e. clawing back the mulch to deeply drench their roots once or twice in high summer before replacing it), my new shrubs are, five years on, growing well. While November will never be anything other than frustrating, the little area has earned itself a grand, if somewhat ironic, name: "The Leaf Garden." The dappled light out there is particularly enchanting on hot midsummer afternoons. Remember them? Shrubs that cope with my root-y soil and dappled shade: Leycesteria formosa, Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum "Mariesii," Hydrangea quercifolia, Hydrangea macrophylla "Mme. Emile Mouillere, Hydrangea macrophylla "Merveille Sanguine," variegated Portugal laurel, Hoheria "Borde Hill," Abelia grandiflora, Cotoneaster lacteus, Corokia x virgata "Bronze King, Pittosporum tenuifolium "Tom Thumb" Pittosporum tenuifolium "Irene Patterson," Daphne odora "Aureomarginata."