Plants that have it made in the shade
Shade-loving plants thrive in your garden when you match them to rich, well-draining soil with regular watering and your specific light conditions.
Your plant selection depends on USDA hardiness zones, soil moisture needs, and whether you need ground cover, shrubs, or trees for structure.
You can create year-round interest by choosing plants with varied foliage colors, seasonal flowers, and textures that complement your existing landscape design.
Hiring a local landscaping professional takes the guesswork out of plant selection and placement, ensuring your shade garden thrives with proper soil preparation.
You’re looking to fill in the shady parts of your yard. But you want to include more than the omnipresent hosta. Read on for a garden variety of the best shade-loving ground cover, tree, and shrub options. Then check that your picks will thrive in your USDA plant hardiness zone before heading to the nursery.
Low-growing ground cover plants will add a bottom layer of texture and color to your garden. Here are the best options for a shady garden.
These shade garden mainstays are popular for a reason. With attractive foliage in a range of colors, shapes, patterns, and sizes, these reliable and hardy plants thrive in rich, well-amended soil with regular watering.
Among the oldest living plants, these perennials add texture and form to woodland gardens. Plant them in rich soil and provide plenty of moisture.
With blue, purple, or white flowers, this evergreen plant can rapidly fill in spaces in your garden; just be sure to contain it to manage its spread.
A semi-evergreen perennial with a variety of foliage colors and patterns, this flowering plant tolerates many light and soil conditions but prefers well-draining soil.
Ideal for covering up unattractive walls, this elegant climber can reach 50 feet or more in length. Since it can grow aggressively, watch its spread and make sure it doesn’t climb nearby trees—or you might have to get rid of it.
This climbing vine provides fall and winter color, with leaves turning dark red in the fall and berries emerging in the winter. Just be sure to contain its spread.
With heart-shaped, lobed leaves and white or pink flowers that bloom for a while, this reliable semi-evergreen perennial adds color to shade gardens all year.
An early blooming perennial, this variety features long, narrow, silvery leaves and white, pink, coral, or blue flowers. Plant in rich soil and water regularly.
With colorful flowers and bronze, green, or red foliage, this deciduous perennial is ideal for ground cover or borders. Plant in rich soil in an area with sun for part of the day.
Plant this cottage-style variety with bell-shaped flowers in rich, moist soil. As biennials, foxgloves grow foliage only in the first year and flowers in the second.
These tropical summer annuals feature foliage with a variety of colors, patterns, and forms. Plant them in rich, well-draining soil in an area with some direct light in the morning, and water regularly.
This ornamental grass thrives in partial to deep shade. Growing in low clumps, the deciduous perennial boasts golden or green foliage; in the fall, some varieties’ foliage turns red, orange, or purple. Plant in an area with rich, well-draining soil and water regularly.
With more than 400 species, this variety thrives in rich, well-draining soil and partial sun to deep shade. It can range from 3 inches to 4 feet in size and in hues from white through pink, blue, orange, yellow, and deep red.
Plant this deciduous or semi-evergreen perennial in well-amended soil in partial to full shade. Easy to care for, this reliable ground cover variety offers multi-seasonal foliage and flowers that bloom in the spring.
This tropical annual sports arrow-shaped leaves ranging from white to many-colored.
Tropical annuals, these fast-growing plants bear blooms from late spring through first frost. They thrive in rich, well-draining soil with regular watering. Although they don’t require deadheading, they can come down with downy mildew. Look out for newer mildew-resistant forms.
With fern-like leaves, these plants feature heart-shaped white, red, or pink flowers. Plant in rich, well-draining soil and water regularly.
With evergreen foliage and cup-shaped flowers, these hardy plants can bloom from late winter through spring. Plant in rich, well-draining soil.
Ask your local landscaper to plant these varieties, which can serve as focal points or provide structure, grandeur, and privacy. The following trees are the best for shaded gardens.
These ornamental trees offer elegance and vibrant red, orange, yellow, or purple foliage. Plant the deciduous trees in rich, well-draining soil and water regularly.
These deciduous trees feature ornamental bark and thrive in colder regions. Fast-growing, they prefer rich, well-draining soil with regular watering and sun for at least part of the day.
Small- to medium-sized, these plants with eye-catching flowers can take the form of deciduous trees, shrubs, or ground cover. Many varieties thrive in dappled shade.
Add moderate height and heft with these bushes that are best for shady areas of your yard or garden.
Deciduous trees or shrubs, these easy-to-maintain plants boast flowers, fall colors, and fragrance.
These bushes with shiny green leaves produce whitish-greenish flowers in the spring and blackberries in the summer.
These deciduous shrubs boast blue, white, purple, pink, or red blossoms—in fact, you can change hydrangea color in five easy steps. Plant these bushes in rich, amended soil in bright shade, and water regularly.
This shrub features glossy leaves and vibrant blue flowers and attracts birds.
With glossy, dark green leaves, red berries, and white flowers, this evergreen can grow up to 20 feet high and wide.
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