Plants for shade part seven. Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a prolific native of hedgerows and the woodland edge. The leaves do indeed taste of garlic and mustard. There are a good many annuals that tolerate a few hours of shade during the course of the day but they are basically sun lovers. However some of the biennials like A. petiolata are worth introducing to shady gardens.   

 Likewise Honesty (Lunaria annua) will grow in quite deep shade though it prefers brighter shade. It has naturalised widely but was probably introduced to the UK as a garden plant. Despite being called L. annua it is always biennial in my experience. Typically it has purple flowers but there is also the beautiful white flowered variation as seen above. 

 I've never really thought of it an edible but Martin Crawford says the leaves, flowers and tap roots can be eaten. Perhaps I'll put that to the test because both the purple and white forms self-seed copiously round my garden (as does Garlic Mustard).