Top 10 Shade Plants

Shady backyard? Don't look at it as a detriment, but an opportunity to experiment with color and variety. With so many plants that thrive in shade, try planting one of these favorite shade-loving plants.

Astilbe

This perennial serves as a great border plant. Showy wands of small blooms appear in summer. The ferny foliage looks great even when the plant is not in bloom.

• Common Names: Astilbe, false spirea, false goat's beard.
• Botanical Name: Astilbe.
• Hardiness: Zones 4 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Summer to fall.
• Size: 8 to 48 inches high, 8 to 36 inches wide.
• Flower: White, red, pink, salmon, and lavender.
• Growing Advice: Divide and replant in early spring every 3 or 4 years.
• Prize Picks: Award-winning Sprite has light pink plumes and dark green foliage. Fanal will add striking, deep red color to your summer shade garden. Bridal Veil is classic white.

Photo: RDA, Inc./GID

Bleeding heart

Delicate-looking foliage and heart-shaped flowers make this bloom a captivating spring favorite. Long-lasting blossoms open in late spring, covering the plants with charming pendant flowers in shades of rose pink and creamy white.

The plants are dormant by midsummer, so they're best planted at the back of a border, where later-blooming flowers can camouflage the dying foliage. Waiting to cut the plant back enables it to self-seed, ensuring an even more heartwarming display the following spring.

• Common Names: Bleeding heart.
• Botanical Name: Dicentra spectabilis.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Late spring.
• Size: 2 to 3 feet high, 2 feet wide.
• Flower colors: Rose pink, white or bicolor.
• Light Needs: Partial to full shade. Can take more sun if the soil is moist.
• Growing Advice: Nursery-grown potted plants can be added to gardens whenever available. Sow from seed in spring after the danger of frost has passed. Take care to protect brittle roots when dividing. Will freely self-seed.
• Prize Picks: Alba has white blooms.

Photo: RDA, Inc./GID

Caladium

Mostly grown for its colorful foliage, caladium will do great in shade gardens. Also, caladium thrive on humidity. What more could you want from a plant? Caladium provide both foliage and color!

Common Names: Caladium.

Botanical Name: Caladium bicolor.

Hardiness: Zones 9 to 10 (annual elsewhere).

Bloom Time: Spring.

Size: 1 to 2 feet high and wide.

Flower: Greenish white spathes.

Growing Advice: Must have well-drained soil, or it will rot.

Prize Picks: Offset the green expanse of your heavy shade garden with Pink Beauty. White Queen proves a real standout with its red-veined white foliage.

Ferns

Photo: RDA, Inc./GID

This popular shade favorite is grown for its foliage and comes in a wide variety of species and cultivars. Plant ferns where you'd like to add architectural interest to your garden, whether it is in the form of a tall background fern or a lower-growing fern.

Ferns have actually been around since the beginning of the Mesozoic era, which is about 360 million years ago. That means ferns have been growing since before flowering plants even evolved. That's quite a history!

• Common Names: Fern.
• Botanical Name: Various, including Matteuccia and Osmunda.
• Hardiness: Zones 2 to 10.
• Bloom Time: Grown for foliage, not flowers.
• Size: 4 to 48 inches high, 8 to 36 inches wide.
• Foliage: Varies.
• Growing Advice: Does best in moist, organic soils. Divide in spring or propagate from spores.
• Prize Picks: A good fern for beginners is the Japanese painted fern, which works best for ground cover. The ostrich fern is an old-fashioned favorite. The foliage is long and lacy.

Photo: Park Seed

Foxglove

In ancient times, these tall, graceful flowers were believed to be favored by fairies. Today, they're prized for adding storybook charm to the garden.

Foxgloves are biennials or short-live perennials. They generally don't flower until one season after they're planted, but they self-sow readily. If spent flower heads are left in place, the seeds will distribute themselves, producing a new crop of "volunteers" each spring.

• Common Names: Foxglove.
• Botanical Name: Digitalis.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 10.
• Bloom Time: Spring through summer.
• Size: 18 inches to 6 feet high.
• Flowers: Tubular, bell-shaped flowers of white, cream, yellow, apricot, pink, purple, red, golden brown, and coppery rose.
• Light Needs: Partial shade.
• Growing Advice: In spring, plant seeds or transplants in garden for blooms the following season.
• Prize Picks: If you favor cut flowers, the Excelsior Hybrids produce well in various pastel colors. Foxy has big bells on a shorter, 2-foot-tall plant.

Photo: TerraNova

Coral bells

Striking, often colorful foliage, dainty flowers, and an adaptable nature make coral bells a sure winner for just about any yard.

• Common Names: Coral bells, Heuchera.
• Botanical Name: Heuchera.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Varies by cultivar, but most coral bells typically bloom from late spring into early summer.
• Size: 8 inches to 3 feet high, 12 to 24 inches wide.
• Flower: Bell-like blooms in purple, red, black, silver, amber, orange, and bronze.
• Light needs: Partial shade to full sun.
• Growing Advice: Plant in early spring, choosing soil that's moist, rich and well draining.
• Prize Picks: Plum Pudding sports both attractive foliage and flowers. Purple Petticoats has ruffled foliage.

Photo: Park Seed

Hosta

This hardy garden favorite is prized for adding texture and color to shady areas. Hostas form dense leafy clumps, with blossoms rising up to 3 feet above the foliage.

Thousands of named cultivars offer a wide array of leaf colors, shapes, and textures. While some hostas tolerate sun, those grown in partial shade generally produced the most handsome, longest-lasting foliage.

Hostas are virtually carefree plants. Their heavy foliage helps reduce weed growth and retain soil moisture, but hostas may need extra water during extremely hot weather to prevent scorching.

• Common Names: Hosta and plantain lily.
• Botanical Name: Hosta.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 8.
• Bloom Time: Late spring to mid-fall.
• Size: 4 inches to 3 feet high, 8 inches to 5 feet wide.
• Flower: Tall purple, white, or lavender funnel-shaped blooms top tall stalks.
• Light needs: Full sun to partial shade.
• Growing Advice: Can be planted whenever the ground is not frozen. Plant among spring bulbs. Unfurling hosta leaves will mask the fading show. Divide in early spring or late summer.
• Prize Picks: Royal Standard tolerates sun or shade. Patriot is variegated and good in partial shade. Guacamole has fragrant flowers and two-toned leaves.

Photo: Park Seed

Impatiens

Reliable impatiens are shade-garden favorites throughout North America, quickly growing to fill in bare areas with undulating mounds of color. These useful landscape plants work equally well in borders, foundation beds, and containers.

Once planted, impatiens need very little care. They bloom from spring to first frost, and unlike some other annuals, they require no deadheading to keep the flowers coming.

• Common Names: Impatiens and busy Lizzie.
• Botanical Name: Impatiens.
• Hardiness: Annual in most zones.
• Bloom Time: Summer to first frost.
• Size: 6 inches to 2 feet high.
• Flower: Pink, red, orange, yellow, purple, lavender-blue, and white. Flowers may be solid-colored, striped, or bicolor.
• Light needs: Partial to full shade.
• Growing Advice: Start seeds indoors 12 weeks before last frost. Set out transplants or bedding plants after danger of frost has passed, since impatiens are highly sensitive to cold.
• Prize Picks: Tried-and-true Impatiens walleriana has a short, shrubby growth habit and flat flowers. New Guinea hybrids sport the largest, showiest flowers. They often are sold as "sun impatiens," but perform best in partial shade. For window boxes or hanging baskets, try one of the new trailing types, like Fanfare or Spellbound Pink.

Photo: Park Seed

Solomon's seal

In winter, after the leaf stalk of a Solomon's seal has died, the scar is said to look like the Seal of King Solomon, once a king of Israel and that is how this perennial got its unusual name.

The tall, dramatic foliage is the main attraction, but the little bell-like flowers that dangle under the stems are enchanting to observe when they appear in spring.

• Common Names: Solomon's seal.
• Botanical Name: Polygonatum.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Late spring to summer.
• Size: 4 inches to 6 feet high, 10 to 24 inches wide.
• Flower: Tubular to bell-shaped flowers in white and sometimes purple-pink.
• Growing Advice: Top with organic matter each spring and divide in fall.
• Prize Picks: Lovely Variegatum produces cream-colored blossoms that complement the pale marginal foliage.

Photo: Park Seed

Sweet woodruff

Despite its delicate appearance, this plant is tough and well suited to wooded areas. Its white spring blooms last for several weeks, and even its apple-green leaves have a pleasant scent.

• Common Names: Sweet woodruff.
• Botanical Name: Galium odoratum.
• Hardiness: Zones 4 to 8.
• Bloom Time: Late spring to midsummer.
• Size: Up to 18 inches high, indefinitely wide.
• Flower: Tiny white, star-shaped.
• Light Needs: Shade.
• Growing Advice: Mulch around plant in spring to keep cool.