I planted a Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus) in the back garden in London. It's a dry shady spot under the canopy of a large Sycamore and several other mature trees. The number of plants that can tolerate dry shade is limited and Butcher's Broom is noted for it.

 R. aucleatus is native and grows wild in the UK, for example see my entry back in February 2017 when I went searching for it in Epping Forest. Apparently the stiff stems with spiny bracts were indeed used as a broom by butchers to sweep their chopping blocks. 

 I bought this excellent specimen from the plant sale at the South London Botanical Institute back in May but only just got round to planting it. Butcher's Broom is typically dioecious i.e. has both 'male' and 'female' plants. Each has tiny greenish/white flowers and need to cross pollinate to produce the small, very red globe-like berries (poisonous) on the female plant. Then again there is a form referred to as 'hermaphrodite' which has male and female flowers on the same plant so will fruit. Not sure which this is! 

 When I dug the hole I was struck by how bone dry the soil was despite the wet weather we've been having. I disturbed a few bulbs and they were still 'succulent', the dormant bulb is a storage organ for water and nutrients so they can make it through the summer. 

 Shady areas need to be planted with woodland species as they are adapted to these conditions. Even so I lost some very hardy woodlanders in the drought of 2022. In fact this part of the garden seems to have become drier since then, not sure why exactly because the period following the drought has been wetter than average.

 Only plants that tolerate the driest of dry shade have been able to tough it out: for example Stinking Iris, Greater Periwinkle, Oriental Borage, Cyclamen etc.