Shady areas of any yard provide welcome refuge during steamy hot summers (like the one we just had). They also bring unexpected beauty and interest to low-lit areas. As the gardening season begins to wind down, stroll around your garden and look for areas that could benefit from more color and variety.
We offer a broad array of perennials and shrubs that grow splendidly in shady to partly shady sites. Plant multiples of one type of plant to create a swath of color or repeat trios of different plant groupings to enjoy a mosaic effect with pleasing variations of color, form, and texture.
Gathered here are some of our favorite plants for shade and part shade.
SHOP: Perennials for Shade & Part Shade
SHOP: Shrubs & Vines for Shade & Part Shade
Perennials for Shade & Part Shade
The classic, glossy deep green foliage of Astilbe x arendsii ‘Fanal’ is the perfect foil for its bright red plumes of fluffy flowers. This plant makes a good ground cover in moist situations, and a superb cut flower, fresh or dried.
Inky shades of black and deep purple are quite striking on the 2½–3” flowers of Helleborus Honeymoon® ‘New York Night.’ This Lenten Rose is as dramatic in the garden as it is in vases.
True to its name, Hosta ‘Blueberry Muffin’ forms a medium-size mound of uniformly colored, sugar-frosted blue leaves with corrugation and puckering aplenty to add texture to shade and part-shade gardens. Adding more interest, the leaf stems can take on mauve tones and the petioles (the spot where the leaf meets the stem) are sprinkled with purple dots.
Lamium maculatum ‘Purple Dragon’ produces clusters of large, purple flowers that rise above leaves that are more silver than green. A robust mat former.
Shrubs for Shade & Part Shade
A Climbing Hydrangea, anomala subsp. petiolaris is a vigorous deciduous vine from Japan and Korea whose heart-shaped foliage and large white clusters of June flowers make it an attractive covering for a wall, fence, or large tree. It thrives in sun or shade (afternoon shade is required in the Deep South and in western Zones 9 and 10) and in moist but well-drained soil. Plants are slow to start, but the lateral branches extend as much as 3′ and the vines will eventually grow to 40′ or more. Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
The flower spikes of Clethra alnifolia ‘Ruby Spice’ are not the washed-out shades of many pink selections, but a deep reddish pink that stands out from a distance against excellent dark green foliage. These colorful blooms retain the fragrance that makes Clethra a most desirable summer-flowering shrub.
This highly cultivated form of the familiar Black Elder is primarily a foliage plant whose deeply cut, purple-black leaves present themselves in graceful, Fern-like fans. Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla Black Lace® plants are broadly arching and reach 6–8′ in height, perhaps 5′ wide, and make superb specimens for many situations. Large pink flowers in June lead, in due course, to black berries which are beloved by birds (for humans, the berries are toxic when raw but are edible, and even medicinal, when cooked).
Hydrangea quercifolia Gatsby Gal®, a flamboyant beauty boasts massive flower heads, boldly sculpted leaves with brilliant fall color, and handsome peeling bark. Selected from a breeding program designed to produce interesting flower forms, these remarkably full blossoms open creamy white, and turn to rosy pink in fall. Plants are relatively compact, and create an impressive show all season long. A Proven Winners® variety.
