These Shade Plants Transform Any Low-Light Garden into a Riot of Color

For sizzling color in pots and hanging baskets, it’s hard to beat these perennials—each blooms as flouncy and vibrant as a Mexican dancer’s skirt. Flowers come in every shade but blue. Hanging types bloom more profusely, but upright strains have larger flowers. These begonias grow best in filtered shade and rich soil; water them enough to keep the soil moist but not soggy, and mist regularly.

Keep Them Happy: Tuberous begonias are perfect patio plants: they thrive under the filtered shade of a pergola or arbor, or can be hung in baskets for modular pops of hot color. Plant them in rich, well-draining humus and keep them moist, but not soggy (leaves will turn yellow if overwatered). Outside foggy coastal areas, plan on regular misting for best results.

Feathery, plumelike flowers have an airy quality that can lighten any space; they come in shades of pink, salmon, lavender, red, and white on elegant stems above fernlike foliage. A mainstay of shaded perennial borders, they’re also great beside garden pools, along shaded paths, and in pots for vivid color from May through July. They can swing with columbine and meadow rue in shade gardens, or with peonies and delphiniums in sunnier spots.

Keep Them Happy: Give them moist, rich soil with good humus.

Hardy, interesting, deer-resistant, and shade-loving? Be still our beating hearts! Blood sorrel fills in blanks spots in the shade with a moderate quickness, its dramatic foliage staying nice and compact in clumps 15 inches wide and 15 inches tall. Its bright green leaves and gorgeous red venation add striking contrast to woodland spaces, beneath trees along garden edges, or in pots where its leaves can be admired up close. It’s also edible; add it to salads and smoothies for a bit of tartness.

Keep Them Happy: It prefers moist soils with rich humus, making it a great choice for damp spots.

If you love blue or purple flowers, this rare annual is a must. Amethyst flower has star-shaped blooms of brilliant blue and sky blue, as well as violet and white; they nearly cover the 1 to 2 foot-tall plants and make an unexpected addition to a cut flower garden. Put them in hanging baskets or containers for modular pops of cool color; they’ll thrive best in warm shade or filtered sunlight. Leaves are small, roundish, and green.

Keep Them Happy: Amethyst flower prefers warmth and moisture. Since they’re a bit too tender for any but the mildest winters, collect seed to sow in the spring or pot them up and bring them indoors.

Here’s another stunner whose foliage does all the heavy lifting. This perennial’s brilliantly colored leaves range from ruby red and yellow to pink, orange, and blends in a range of psychedelic colors and patterns. For a lightly shaded patio, we’re partial to lime green hues like ‘Dappled Apple,’ sunny yellow ‘Lemon Twist,’ or brown and lime ‘Chocolate Drop.’ Each one looks refreshing in an apple green glazed pot.

Keep Them Happy: Pinch the tips to encourage bushy, vigorous growth; the flower spikes are spindly and ruin the overall look of the plant. Coleus prefers rich, loose, well-drained soil with regular water and feeding.

Though it certainly doesn’t sting, there’s nothing “dead” about this shade-loving beauty. The leaves of its many varieties have a silvery sheen that nearly glows in shade. ‘Ann Greenaway’ has green leaves edged in yellow, with a silver stripe down the center, and pink flowers. ‘Beacon Silver’ has silvery gray leaves with green edges and pink flowers. ‘White Nancy’ has similar foliage and white flowers. Spreading to 3 feet wide, this perennial is great in hanging baskets and as pot edging, or to create soft transitions between sun and shade. They look especially soothing with sweet woodruff and beneath hostas.

Keep Them Happy: Give them rich, cool soil with plenty of moisture. Old stems should be pruned to keep them looking fresh, and they’ll be your best shade-garden staple.

This shade-tolerant stunner adds a bit of tropical heat to even the coolest shade. Hibiscus-like blooms of yellow, white, pink, orange, or red dangle in clusters among maple-like green leaves that are sometimes variegated with white. The evergreen shrub grows up to about 8 feet tall, but we love the dwarf varieties for pots and small spaces; coral salmon ‘Melon Sorbet’ grows just 18 to 36 inches tall. ‘Red Tiger’ gets a bit taller, but its narrow growth makes it ideal for training. White and yellow forms flower almost continuously. Flowering maple can take more sun on the coast but give the plant part shade in the hotter inland climates.

Keep Them Happy: Keep them well watered in hot weather and feed them weekly to keep them flowering. Pinch branch tips to keep them bushy, and these lascivious lovelies will bloom nearly continuously from late spring to first frost.

For dappled shade, it’s tough to beat the Dr. Seussian hydrangea. The shrub is easy to grow, needing little fussing beyond watering, occasional feeding, and light pruning once a year. Yet it pumps out big clusters of popcorn balls—in shades of pink, blue, and white—that can reach 10 or more inches across. For really large clusters, grow H. arborescens ‘Incrediball’—its 12-inch heads open lime green, turn snowy white, then age to pale green on plants to 10 feet tall.

Keep Them Happy: Grow them in rich, fast-draining soil and give them plenty of water, and for the biggest pompom flower clusters, keep them pruned down to just a few main stems. To change the colors of the blooms from pink to blue or purple, try adding coffee grounds to the soil to make it more acidic.

True geraniums, which make fluffy little mounds of foliage and small flowers in white or shades of pink or blue, thrive in the light shade of high trees. We adore G. x cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo,’ with its white blooms kissed with a whisper of baby pink; it blooms in late spring until autumn and is particularly suited to dry shade. Other pretty choices include G. cinereum ‘Ballerina’ (pink flowers), ‘Brookside’ (blue flowers), and ‘Jolly Bee’ (blue flowers). They add softness to rock gardens and woodland edges, and even thrive in higher altitudes.

Keep Them Happy: Cranesbill is easy like Sunday morning, cheerily growing on pretty much any soil type. Feed them in the spring, and keep them looking fresh throughout the growing season with occasional deadheading.

Impatiens serve up a dizzying array of color choices, but of all the varieties out there, we’re partial to the New Guinea hybrids for their large leaves and 3-inch-wide flowers of pink, lavender, purple, red, and more. The vibrant orange-flowered New Guineas are positively sizzling in chocolate-brown containers, and Shady Lady provides a shocking bright pink color to contrast orange and yellow. ‘Busy Lizzie’ (I. walleriana)—comes in a bewildering variety of forms, from dwarf strains to tall, single blooms and double, in nearly every color but blue.

Keep Them Happy: Though they do provide ample color and serious tropicalia vibes, you’ll have to earn it with ample feeding and watering. They’re typically inexpensive and easy to find, though, so feel free to buy them by the flat and fill up containers and boxes, as long as you provide rich, moist potting mixture.

Japanese forest grass, or Hakone grass, will provide instant zen to shade gardens, especially when planted beneath a red-leaved Japanese maple or with bronzy-red Heuchera. Gracefully arching leaves give this perennial grass the look of a cooling fountain, and they make a gentle rustling sound in the wind. Green with long yellow stripes, the leaves turn chartreuse in dense shade; in full sun in cooler climates, they turn creamy pale yellow. Display a single plant in a pot, or plant in drifts at the front of a border to create a draped, fringe-y edging.

Keep Them Happy: Water weekly to keep it soft and healthy, but otherwise this grass is pretty fuss-free. Japanese forest grass will benefit from being divided, and so will you—free plants!

Glossy, jewel-like foliage blends striking colors on this interesting tender evergreen shrub. New leaves open emerald green with gold edges, then gradually tart themselves up with orange, gold, and pink. Mirror plant provides interesting foliage year round, and looks stunning with succulents and flowering maple (Abutilon spp).  It grows into a 5 feet-tall pyramid shape, but it can be sheared to any size, making it a perfect choice as a hedge in tropical-inspired gardens.

Keep Them Happy: Mirror plant is mercifully low-maintenance; it doesn’t need a ton of water (weekly is enough), and it thrives on crummy soils. Pruning is really the only help it needs to stay pretty, and even that’s only required annually.

This dainty genus includes a species native to our region (western meadowrue; Thalictrum occidentale), so it’s no wonder we love meadowrue for natural-looking gardens. On ‘Lavender Mist,’ puffs of small lavender-blue flowers float on stems 6 feet tall, above lacy blue-green leaves resembling those of its cousin columbine. Meadowrue is especially effective against a backdrop of dark green foliage, making an airy, vertical counterpoint among bolder plants; it’s quite fetching beside ‘Star Gazer’ hydrangea and trumpet lilies.  Meadowrue thrives in the dappled shade of woodland gardens (alpine varieties are fantastic in higher elevations), and blooms in early summer.

Keep Them Happy: Give ‘Lavender Mist’ moist, humus-rich, well-drained soil and stake the tall stems to keep them from flopping. They look best when grouped in clusters of three or more, but don’t move them around or mess with them too much, or they get kind of tetchy. Once meadowrue is established, it’ll live for years.

When you need colorful evergreen foliage plants for shade, heucherella, or foamy bells—the cross-genera lovechild of a Heuchera (coral bells) and a Tiarella (foam flower)—will have you ably covered. Sweet little mounds of heart-shaped leaves with cute contrasting colors add zazz to even the shadiest spots. We especially love ‘Stoplight’ for its lime green leaves splashed with red (giving us some serious rex begonia vibes), and the newish ‘Sweet Tea’, which has orange caramel-colored leaves with huge cinnamon-hued stars in the center. With its bronzy leaves and pink flowers, the diminutive ‘Burnished Bronze’ is particular sweet in fairy gardens. Small spring flowers are a bonus. Grow this little perennial beauty in a shaded rock garden or as a groundcover in a woodland corner.

Keep Them Happy: Give Heucherella well-drained, organic soils and regular watering, and they’ll provide you with months of floofy little blooms, sure to brighten up any shady corner. Like its parents, it only needs a little feeding in the spring to stay healthy.

Sometimes it’s nice to give flowers a back seat and let bright foliage steal the show. Bronze-green, red, and orange hues splash these long oval leaves like watercolors that’ve run. It grows 18 to 36 inches tall (much larger in tropical climates), making it a nice addition for low borders. The cultivar ‘Fire Dragon’ is like a carnival splash of all the colors on one plant, making it an outstanding choice for smaller spaces, where you need more bang for your buck.

Keep Them Happy: Because copper plant is hardy only to 40°, it’s often used as an annual, but try growing it in a pot and moving it indoors during cold snaps (copperleaf also makes a lovely houseplant). This plant grows best in fast-draining potting mix.

Ranging from tender to omg so very tender, yesterday-today-tomorrow is a plant that demands attention. They deserve the extra love, though; these neotropical evergreens are gorgeous once established, forming tidy little trees up to 10 feet tall. The blossoms on this aptly named plant provide a quick-change color show, turning from purple (“yesterday”) to lavender (“today”) to white (“tomorrow”). All three colors are usually present (and they bloom profusely), so you get to enjoy all at once. In small spaces, you can keep it to 3 feet tall with pruning, or grow a dwarf form.

Keep Them Happy: These fussy little buddies can be kind of high-maintenance, but they’ll repay you with tons of cool-toned blooms.

‘Electric Lime’ is the perfect accent for a dark garden; its big maple-like leaves add a zip of bright chartreuse that’s guaranteed to wake up deeper green shrubbery, and in cooler climates its veins take on a fiery hue. Cluster several plants at the front of a border for striking contrast. Or try ‘Southern Comfort’ (a warm caramel color, like its namesake) beside butterscotch-colored impatiens. Heuchera takes sun only in coolest climates, and grows to 28 inches tall, with showy, white springtime flowers that butterflies love. For a petite version, try Electric Lime’s kid sister ‘Electra.’

Keep Them Happy: In temperate zones, keep ‘Electric Lime’ on a generous watering schedule, give it well-drained loamy soils, and feed it in the spring. It does tolerate heat well, but still prefers to be protected from direct sun (thought in the cooler climes of the Pacific Northwest it can take a bit more sun).

Hostas are the poster children for shade-loving plants. There’s a hosta for every need, and they’re super economical as long as you’re patient—hostas exemplify the old saying, “first year they sleep, second they creep, third year they leap!” They come in a virtual wardrobe of sizes, shapes, textures, and colors. Depending on the variety, their leaves may be heart-shaped, round, oval, or lance-shaped; glossy or dull; smooth or quilted; blue, green, yellow, or white, or several all at once. Some even magically transform throughout the season; the variety ‘Remember Me’ changes from white with green edges to yellow with green edges (as pictured in the upper right of the photo). And as if all that wasn’t enough, the dears bloom! They send up slender spires of pink, lavender, or white trumpet-shaped flowers. Hostas are so extra.

Keep Them Happy: All hostas go dormant in the winter, and will seem to have died completely, but as long as you feed them once a year, they come back better than ever in the spring. They like to stay cool and damp in the summer, but unfortunately, so do hosta-chomping slugs and snails—bait for these critters 3-4 times a year.

For spaces that need major wow factor, grow Persian shield. Exotic any way you look at them, leaves of this soft-stemmed shrub are a gorgeous blend of purple and silver with sea green ribs; their undersides are bright purple. We grow Persian shield as a strapping accent in a large (18-inch) pot, along with Medusa ferns, fragrant, white-flowered bouvardia, and lamium. It grows 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

With foliage this exquisite, fancy-leaved caladium doesn’t even need flowers to steal the show. Translucent as stained glass, caladium’s large arrow-shaped leaves on long stalks are banded or blotched with various combinations of red, rose, pink, white, silver, bronze, or green. They’re best suited to pots in shady summer verandas, preferring tropical weather (70° and humid).

Keep Them Happy: Outside the tropics, grow these tender perennials in rich, well-drained soil in big pots to add wow to your summer patio, then pull tubers and store in a cool, dry place during the winter.

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