10 Plants to Make Your Shade Garden Shine
What do you love most about your garden? Whatever your answer, I bet it wasn’t “the shady part.” Most gardeners have at least a small part of their garden that just doesn’t get as much sun as the rest.
But have you thought about grabbing some of the best flowers for shade? That the shady patch in your garden can shine as brightly as the other parts? Once you see it for yourself, you won’t be able to unsee it.
This sounds excellent and terrifying all at once, right? Well, here are ten of the best flowers for shade to make your shade garden shine and help you see through the darkness.
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1. Astilbe
Whenever I see the plume flowers of the astilbe, I can’t help but think of an Impressionist painter’s paint brush. The dramatic flowers add soft texture and vibrant color to an otherwise boring shade garden. The sturdy, stiff stems of the flowers make astilbe a great flower for your floral arrangements.
2. Begonia
Begonias come in such a wide variety of sizes (from six inches to three feet tall) that they easily meet the confines of your shade garden. Due to their size variety, begonias work best in both container gardens and garden beds.
Perhaps you remember begonia from your grandmother’s garden. Generations ago, gardeners could only choose from green or bronze foliage, but today, we have far more diverse color options to choose from.
3. Dead Nettle
This low-growing plant will spread but not become invasive. It has silver foliage, which offers a great contrast to other garden foliage, and has purple, pink, red, and white blooms in early summer.
4. Foamflower
This plant’s matte leaves offer a visually interesting contrast to other garden plants. Most commonly, you’ll find varieties that have bottle brush-type flowers that are pale pink-white (which bees love). Some newer varieties have burgundy-red leaf veins.
5. Hakonechloa (Japanese Forest Grass)
The graceful foliage of the hakonechloa reminds me of water flowing in a summer stream. The green leaves will get a hint of pink as summer turns to fall. What’s even better is that this plant spreads gently, so it won’t overtake your garden in a year or two.
If given too much shade, the golden portion of the leaves will turn lime green, but that just adds even more color to an otherwise dark area.
6. Heucheras (Coral Bells)
Heucheras offer such a variety of leaf colors for a pop in every garden. You’ll see silver, burgundy, purple-black, chartreuse, salmon, and rusty orange. In addition to these fabulous leaves, some varieties offer showy flowers on tall, slender stems.
The “chocolate ruffles” is a favorite variety, both for its scrumptious name and foliage.
7. Hosta
This hard-working shade garden staple is reliable year after year. Known for their attractive foliage, hostas are a staple in shade gardens. These tough plants transform your shady garden into lush landscapes to replace those trees and shrubs that struggle to thrive.
8. Hydrangea
These showy plants look the best in pots. Spruce up your garden with one of the best flowers for shade by planting hydrangea in pots and then placing the pots on top of the soil. This way, the plant grows roots in the soil to retain moisture after establishing itself in the pot.
9. Japanese Painted Fern
This plant will offer a wonderful contrast to the deep greens of your shade garden with its silver fronds that have hints of blue and deep red stems. If you live in an especially hot area, be sure that this plant is in the shadiest part of your shade garden.
10. Lungwort
Like the Japanese painted fern, Lungwort’s long, narrow, silvery leaves make it stand out from the pack. In the spring, it blooms with showy pink, white, and blue flowers. Sometimes, these three colors will all appear on the same flower.
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