BACKYARD GARDENING MADE SIMPLE
10 Perennial Plants That Will Thrive in Your Shady Garden
Beautiful shade gardens are a bit trickier than sunny gardens simply because there’s a much wider variety of perennials that grow in full sun than perennials that grow in shade. It can be done, though, and I’m here to help you do it.
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Choosing the Best Flowering Perennial Plants for Your Shade Garden
Beautiful shade gardens are a bit trickier than sunny gardens simply because there’s a much wider variety of perennials that grow in full sun than perennials that grow in shade. It can be done, though, and I’m here to help you do it.
One way to make a garden is to fly by the seat of your pants – go to the garden center, pick what looks pretty to you, make sure they like the shade, then figure out where to put them when you get home. I did plenty of that myself in my early years of gardening, and still do sometimes. As I’ve become more experienced, though, I’ve come to appreciate the role of planning in garden design.
What is a Perennial Plant?
First, let’s talk about what a perennial plant is not. You know when you go to a garden center in the spring and there are plants already blooming with bright flowers and you’ve been starving for color all winter and you Must. Buy. Them. All? Those are annual plants, plants that will die in the fall of the year you put them in the ground. You get the instant satisfaction of pretty colors in your yard, but you’ll have to do it all over again the next spring, and the one after that.
Perennial plants may die back to the ground in fall or winter (some don’t), but their roots are still alive, and, year after year, each spring the plant will come back bigger, stronger, and with more blooms. These are the plants we use to build a garden that will become more lush and beautiful every year. Another great thing about perennials is that as they grow we can divide them, creating many plants from the one purchase.
How Do You Divide Perennial Plants?
As I explained in this post, most perennials are happy to be divided. There are two basic methods I use to I divide a perennial plant. The first is to use a sharp-edged shovel. Pressing straight down on the shovel with my foot, I can separate the roots belowground. It’s then easy to dig out only the section I want to move. The other way I divide a plant is to dig the whole thing up. Some plants’ roots will easily separate into pieces once they’re out of the ground. Others will need to be split with a shovel or gardening knife.
The benefits of making a plan for your garden
A little planning will ensure you choose plants that will thrive in your yard’s conditions. Maybe your shady area has one end that gets partial sun, you have a pile of rocks to plant around, or the area tends to be dry. Choosing the right plant for the right spot sets your plants up for success.
Planning your garden also allows time to think about what size each plant will grow to be, what its watering needs are, what types of foliage you’d like to see near each other, how much maintenance will be needed, and what color the flowers will be.
You can also take the time to learn which plants might have edible or medicinal uses, making your garden both beautiful and useful.
**Please note that many plants which are edible for humans may be toxic to cats and dogs.**
How Many plants Should you Buy?
It’s tempting to buy one of each of the perennial plants you like, and that can be a good way to experiment and learn how different plants grow. As far as garden design goes, though, it’s better to choose fewer varieties of plants and get more of each of the ones you choose.
Large swaths of the same plant have a bigger impact that a collection of different plants. They also make your garden look lush and intentional. Additionally, you might want to put the same variety of plants in different areas of the garden to provide balance.
Three is generally a magic number in design, and that holds true in the garden. If you can afford more than three, stick with an odd number for the most attractive outcome.
What Perennial Flowers for Shade Should you Buy?
As this is your very own garden, you should choose the plants you find most beautiful. While you’re looking, pay attention to what color flower each plant will produce. Maybe you want a garden where all the flowers are different shades of one color, or a garden with a certain palette of colors. Or maybe you want a riotous mix of every color you can find.
Pay attention also to the foliage of the plants. Perennials that grow in shade sometimes have flowers which do not bloom for as long or as strikingly as sun-loving perennials do. The good news is each plant has a unique foliage color and shape, and they can be combined in ways that look good even when the plants are not flowering.
When choosing what perennial plants to buy, there are a few other things to think about. It’s important to look up each plant’s growing zone. You can find your own growing zone with the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Plants outside of your zone will not grow in your area. Because I live in Zone 6b, my favorites may not be appropriate if you live in a very cold or very warm climate.
Also find out each plant’s size, whether it can tolerate partial sun, and what its bloom time is. You probably don’t want to end up with a garden that only has flowers in June!
The Best Flowering Shade Perennials
Of course it’s not possible to determine what the ‘best’ plants are. You can research yourself to find what you think are the best perennials for your shady garden, and buy what you like. To save you a bit of work, though, I’ll tell you what some of my favorite shade perennials are.
Here’s a list of 10 flowering perennials that grow in the shade, along with some information that will help you decide if they are the right plants for you:
Is That Enough Plants for a Perennial Shade Garden?
I first want to acknowledge that plants are not cheap. Making a garden is not something that has to be done in one swoop. We can buy plants as we can afford them, and some years from now we’ll have the garden we imagined. And remember, gardening friends will be happy to give you splits of their plants, and some plants are easily grown by seed.
Whether the plants I listed are enough for your shade garden will, of course, will depend on the size of your garden area and the number of each variety you plant.
If you were to plant all ten of these perennials, you could enjoy white, yellow, pink, red, orange, peach, purple, and blue flowers. You’d have plants of many different sizes, and a wide variety of foliage shapes and colors. Between them all, you’d have at least one plant blooming from spring to fall. But remember, you may want to consider choosing fewer varieties and getting more of the ones you do choose.