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Plants for a north facing garden


14 Best Plants for North Facing Gardens – Best Guide [2022]

Living in a home with a north-facing garden does not mean that you cannot have a fabulous lush, green garden. 

Many people believe that creating a paradise in a cooler, shadier north-facing garden is very difficult. 

It is not! There are many plants that prefer shade to sun. 

In fact, many plants won’t tolerate full sun at all. These kinds of plants are perfect for a north-facing garden.

In a north-facing garden, you will get some sun on the eastern side when the sun rises. You will also get some afternoon sun when it sets in the west. 

However, for most of the day, areas of your garden against walls, fences, and structures will be in the shade. 

You will probably get a maximum of 3 to 4 hours, or less, of direct sunlight. 

Take advantage of these cooler, shadier spots and create a beautiful and attractive garden. 

Hence, let’s look at some plants that do well in north-facing gardens.  

 

Which plants do best in north-facing gardens?
  1. Azara serrata (Saw-toothed azara)
  2. Cyrtomium falcatum (Holly fern)
  3. Hydrangea integrifolia
  4. Osmanthus delavayi
  5. Lathyrus latifolius ‘White Pearl’ (Everlasting sweet pea) 
  6. Tiarella cordifolia (Foamflower)
  7. Heuchera (Coral Bells)
  8. Digitalis (Foxglove)
  9. Astilbe
  10. Lamium Maculatum (Dead Nettle)
  11. Pulmonaria (Lungwort)
  12. Alchemilla (Lady’s mantle)
  13. Albéric Barbier (Rambling Rose)
  14. Virginia Creeper 

Read about the best plants for a north-facing balcony.

 

Best Plants for North Facing Gardens

 

Contents

 

Best Plants for North Facing Gardens

 

1. Azara Serrata (Saw-toothed azara) 

                          Photo Credit: @nativainsular on Instagram!

Do you have a cool north-facing wall that needs some love and care? The beautiful Saw-toothed Azara is the perfect plant to grow up against a wall.  

In north-facing gardens, many walls see very little sun, if any at all. Plants that require full sun will not do well, but plants that love the shade will thrive.

The saw-toothed Azara makes a great background to other plants when it grows against a wall in your north-facing garden. 

It is happiest in shady, sheltered conditions and does want full sunlight. 

The plant is an evergreen shrub with dark green leaves that have serrated edges, giving it the name of saw-toothed. 

In spring and summer, you will be rewarded with stunning masses of yellow-gold flowers that grow in clusters. 

Your Azara serrata is not fussy about the soil type. Just ensure that your soil is deep and that you water from time to time. 

And, don’t stress about sunlight, this plant loves shade and will thrive in your north-facing garden. 

 

2. Cyrtomium falcatum (Holly fern)

Another fabulous plant that loves dark and damp spots is the Holly fern. In fact, most ferns prefer shady and damp conditions.  

Ferns can suffer from leaf burn if they grow in full sunlight. So, they are perfect for a garden that’s facing the north side. 

North-facing gardens get far less sun than south-facing gardens and can sometimes feel dark and unattractive. 

Planting ferns bring color all year round to your living space. They create a lovely lush atmosphere that makes your north-facing garden stand out. 

The Holly fern has bright green leaves that are often used for Christmas decorations. They are ideal to add texture to borders and can block out unattractive walls and barriers. 

Holly ferns do not want sunlight. They love the shade and can be planted in areas of your north-facing garden that get minimal sunshine. 

When it comes to soil, they enjoy moist but not continuously soggy soil. Water and allow the soil to almost dry out before watering again.

They require minimal care, making this a great choice for a beginner gardener with a north-facing garden. 

Trim your fern back only if it starts to grow too large and look untidy.  

 

3. Hydrangea integrifolia 

Many beginner gardeners think that growing vines means setting up trellises and supports. 

But, the lovely Hydrangea integrifolia will climb without any help.

It clings to tree trunks, fences, walls, and rough surfaces, forming a gorgeous lush display. And, best of all, it loves cool shady conditions, making it ideal for your north-facing garden.

Because north-facing gardens only get sun in the early morning and late afternoon, they tend to have large sections that are exposed to shade for most of the day. 

The Hydrangea integrifolia will not have a problem thriving in these shady conditions. 

In fact, it does not want the full sun at all and will tend to wilt if the conditions are too sunny. 

The evergreen plant offers dark green leaves that add color to your garden all year round. In summer, it puts on a show of lace-cap type flowers that are a glorious creamy-white color. 

This is a lovely ornamental plant for your north-facing garden that will happily cover an attractive wall, fence, or structure.  

 

4. Osmanthus delavayi

Osmanthus delavayi belongs to the olive family. I love this plant because it is evergreen and adds color to a garden all year round. 

Osmanthus delavayi is a shade-loving plant and can thrive in both light shade and deep shade. That makes it perfect for your north-facing garden as it will only get a few hours of direct sun every day. 

The plant offers lovely tubular white flowers that bloom in April. They have a delightful scent that will waft into your living space. 

Contrasting with the white blooms is dark charcoal-green foliage that makes it very attractive. 

You can plant Osmanthus delavayi against a wall or fence and not worry about sunlight. Clip it into a hedge or screen, or leave it to grow naturally. 

The care needed is minimal, making this a great choice for beginner gardeners. 

Tip for creating more light in north-facing gardens: Check whether you have large trees or bushes on the east or west side.  

These may be blocking out some of the valuable sunlight that falls onto the garden in the morning or afternoon. 

Trim back if possible to get extra light and more sun.

 

5. Lathyrus latifolius ‘White Pearl’ (Everlasting sweet pea)

When you feel like taking a break, stroll around your north-facing garden and observe where the sun filters in. Not all north-facing gardens are sunless.

You will probably find a section on the west side that gets afternoon sun when the sun dips and starts to set. 

This is the ideal spot to plant Lathyrus latifolius ‘White Pearl’, otherwise known as the Everlasting sweet pea.

Sweet peas are easy to care for and are very popular plants, especially with beginner gardeners. 

They will thrive in part-shade conditions, making them ideal for a north-facing garden.

The Everlasting sweet pea offers showy clusters of snow-white flowers that bloom from June to September. The leaves are an attractive gray-green shade.

This plant can be grown as a climber over a fence or wall. You can also grow it as a shrub or a hedge, but you may need to offer some support until it becomes strong enough to stand on its own. 

Give your sweet pea rich, well-draining soil. You can add organic compost during the summer for an extra feed and boost. 

 

6. Tiarella cordifolia (Foamflower)

The Tiarella cordifolia, or Foamflower loves shade! This makes it the perfect plant to grow in your north-facing garden. 

When planning on where to place your plants in a north-facing garden, keep in mind that the east and west sides will get sun in the morning and afternoon. 

The middle or north-facing sections will probably get no sun at all or very little. 

Plants that need 8 hours of sun per day are not suited for your north-facing garden. 

But, the lovely Tiarella cordifolia is happy in partial shade or full shade. When it comes to sunlight, it can grow in as little as 1 to 2 hours of sun per day.  

This plant offers charming creamy white flowers that have an attractive star shape. The flowers are beautifully contrasted by the green foliage with burgundy stripes on the veins. 

The plant is evergreen, another great way to keep color in your garden all year round.

The flowers also last for a long time, up to 6 weeks, and add a splash of brightness to beds and borders. 

Sometimes, it is difficult to grow a lawn in a north-facing garden, especially if it is very dark and damp. 

The Foamflower can be used as a ground cover, creating an eye-catching display and offering a unique look in your garden. 

This plant loves cool, moist, well-draining soil. Add some humus from time to time during summer to enrich the soil. 

It does not require much care, making it a great choice for beginner gardeners. 

 

7. Heuchera (Coral Bells)

Adding texture to your garden is an important part of creating a professional look. Don’t panic – doing this is easy when you plant the lovely Heuchera plant, also known as Coral Bells.

This is a hardy plant that is not fussy about sun or shade. That makes it perfect for your north-facing garden. 

North-facing gardens do not get 6 to 8 hours of full sunlight per day. That makes them far more suited to plants that thrive in shade. And, there are many. 

Don’t feel that your north-facing garden is drab and unattractive. With a little care and the correct plants, they can look just as stunning as a full sun garden. 

Coral Bells will thrive in your north-facing garden. It is a semi-evergreen perennial that puts on a show of delightful tiny bell-shaped pink flowers. 

However, most people love it for its foliage. The leaves are large and have a unique purple color, tinged with bronze. 

Plant into soil that is well-draining and not too full of clay. Add an organic fertilizer once during the summer months. This plant can be neglected and still do well. 

If you don’t have a garden, Coral bells look stunning growing it in a container on a north-facing patio.  

 

8. Digitalis (Foxglove)

I love a north-facing garden! It offers a sense of a darker, more exotic forest, with damp patches filled with unusual foliage and flowers.

North-facing gardens attract less sun than south-facing gardens and deciding which plants to choose is simple. Ask your local nursery about perennials that thrive in shade or partial shade. 

The next plant that I always choose for a north-facing garden is the Foxglove. 

Foxgloves are not fussy about the sun and can thrive in full shade or partial shade. That makes them ideal to plant in any position in your north-facing garden. 

Foxgloves offer large pink-purple spikes of trumpet-shaped flowers that persist through the summer months. They are bright and eye-catching and add a pop of color to your living space. 

The flowers are rich in nectar and soon you will have birds, bees, and butterflies adding sound and movement into your garden. 

This plant is easy to grow and requires little care. It will thrive in sandy, loamy, or clay soils. Keep the soil moist but well-drained. 

North-facing gardens tend to have soil that is damper as a result of getting less direct sunlight. 

Because this plant can grow up to 2 feet to 3 feet (60cm to 90cm) in height, it makes an attractive tall backdrop for smaller plants in a bed or border. 

 

9. Astilbe

You may find that certain plants that you choose just do not thrive well in your garden. One main factor to look at is the amount of sunlight that your plant is getting. 

Many plants want 6 to 8 hours of full sunlight per day. Others are far happier in shade or partial shade. These shade plants will not do well in gardens that are too hot or too sunny. 

When choosing a plant for your north-facing garden, look for plants that thrive in shade or partial shade. 

Another great choice for a north-facing garden is the Astilbe. 

If you are not familiar with this shade-loving plant, you are in for a surprise. It offers fabulous bright color, texture, and height to a garden. 

The flowers grow in spires and offer a fluffy candy-pink hue against dark green foliage. The blooms last as long as 4 to 6 weeks. 

The foliage of the Astilbe looks similar to ferns, and these plants make attractive partners planted next to ferns in your north-facing garden. 

Astilbe is easy to care for. They need a minimum of 1 hour of sunlight per day and do well in the gentle morning sun on the east side of your garden. 

Plant into rich fertile soil and keep it moist. They are great for damp spots in a garden that get very little sunlight. 

 

10. Lamium Maculatum (Dead Nettle)

If you are struggling to get a lawn to grow in your north-facing garden, it is probably because it is not getting enough sunlight. 

Do not despair, north-facing gardens offer the opportunity to use fabulous ground covers in place of a lawn.

Lamium Maculatum, also known as Dead Nettle or spotted dead nettle, is a great choice to create an attractive ground cover in a darker and damper garden.  

This plant is easy to grow, as long as it is in the shade. It is tolerant of a wide variety of soil types. 

You will be rewarded with lovely blooms in late spring, from May to June. The flowers are pink, white, lavender, or purple. 

The leaves are a bright green speckled with lighter spots. 

This plant likes to spread, making it ideal as a ground cover for your north-facing garden. If it tends to become too large or unwieldy, trim it back to keep it in shape. 

It also looks great in hanging baskets on a shady north-facing patio. Don’t stress if it dies back in the fall, it will perk up as soon as spring arrives. 

 

11. Pulmonaria (Lungwort)

Another lovely plant that thrives in full shade or partial shade is the Lungwort. Because their native habitat is damp forests, they love cool, darker regions. 

The name may not sound attractive, but you will be delighted with this pretty plant.

Your north-facing garden is the ideal spot to plant Lungwort. North-facing gardens get far less sun and you can take advantage of this by choosing plants that thrive in shady, damp conditions. 

Lungwort offers flowers that are shaped like a lung, giving it its weird name! 

The flowers are showy blooms that can be white, blue, or pink. They often bud in one color and change into another shade as they mature. 

The foliage of the lungwort plant is also eye-catching. It has a lovely dark green hue with random white spots. 

Plant into moist rich soil in full shade or partial shade. Your plant does not want to be in full sun. 

When it comes to sunlight, it is happy in partial shade or full shade. Full sun will scorch the leaves and your plant may even die. 

Lungwort requires minimal care, making this a great choice for beginner gardeners with north-facing gardens. 

 

12. Alchemilla (Lady’s mantle)

If you live in a home with a north-facing garden, you need to think of damp exotic forests, climbing vines, and loads of lush ground cover.  

Many people think that they are at a disadvantage because a north-facing garden gets less sunlight than a south-facing garden. You are definitely not! 

North-facing gardens are ideal for growing plants that love the shade. They are also ideal for plants that want partial shade, as you will usually get a few hours of gentle sun in the early morning or late afternoon. 

One great plant for a north-facing garden is the Alchemilla, known as the Lady’s mantle. 

Lady’s mantle is a perennial offering scalloped-shaped leaves that are an attractive green-gray color. 

Late in spring and early summer, the plant produces small yellow-green flowers. 

This plant loves shade and can survive with as little as an hour per day of sun. It also enjoys damp soil. That is why it is perfect for a north-facing garden. 

Lady’s mantle makes an attractive ground cover under a tree where grass won’t grow. It also looks stunning as a border along a walkway or path in your garden.  

Grow it amongst rocks in a rock garden to create a focal point.

 

13. Albéric Barbier (Rambling Rose)

While most roses do best in sunny gardens, as an owner of a north-facing garden, you will be happy to know that some varieties are tolerant of shady conditions.

So, you can also have a stunning show of roses in your shadier, north-facing garden.

The Albéric Barbier, also known as the Rambling Rose, is more than happy growing in shade. 

It is a vigorously growing plant that offers creamy-white flowers with a peach center. Flowers will appear in early summer. 

The Rambling Rose is ideal to grow as a climber. Train it to go up walls, trellises, pergolas, or over archways. It makes the perfect romantic entrance to your north-facing garden. 

The plant is easy to care for. Plant it into any fertile soil and feed once during the summer months. It is happy to be neglected, making it a great choice for beginner gardeners. 

When it comes to sunlight, it is happy in partial shade or full shade.  

The scent of this lovely rose will soon attract birds, bees, and butterflies into your garden. 

 

14. Virginia Creeper

Your north-facing garden is a haven for plants that love the shade. These gardens only get sun in the early morning when the sun rises, and late afternoon when the sun sets. 

Read also about the best plants for the north-facing side of the house.

If you spend time in your north-facing garden, you will notice that the east and west sides do tend to get more sun than the middle sections. 

Think forest, think vines, think creeping plants, and create a fabulous ambiance that far outweighs a full-sun garden.

The Virginia Creeper is a vigorously growing vine that will add depth and a lush ambiance to your north-facing, cooler garden. 

It is happy in any type of soil and requires minimal care and attention. 

The vines offer five-pointed leaves that are a lovely green color. As fall approaches, it puts on an amazing show when the leaves turn to a brilliant crimson color.  

This plant is a great climber and can cover walls, trellises, and archways. Let it climb up the trunk of a large tree to create a spectacular focal point. 

North-facing gardens are ideal for plants that do not want full sun and the Virginia creeper is a great choice. Its native habitat is darker, damper regions and that is why it will flourish in a north-facing garden. 

Because it grows fast, you may need to trim it back from time to time to keep it neat and in shape. 

Read about the best plants for northeast facing garden.

11 Best Shade Plants to Grow Along a North-Facing Wall

From Ground Covers to Shrubs

By

David Beaulieu

David Beaulieu

David Beaulieu is a landscaping expert and plant photographer, with 20 years of experience. He was in the nursery business for over a decade, working with a large variety of plants. David has been interviewed by numerous newspapers and national U. S. magazines, such as Woman's World and American Way.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process

Updated on 06/15/22

Reviewed by

Kathleen Miller

Reviewed by Kathleen Miller

Kathleen Miller is a highly-regarded Master Gardener and Horticulturist who shares her knowledge of sustainable living, organic gardening, farming, and landscape design. She founded Gaia's Farm and Gardens, a working sustainable permaculture farm, and writes for Gaia Grows, a local newspaper column. She has over 30 years of experience in gardening and sustainable farming.

Learn more about The Spruce's Review Board

The Spruce / Sarah Crowley

For gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere, few spots are more challenging than the areas along north-facing walls. While the spaces along east-facing and west-facing walls receive at least a few hours of morning or afternoon sun, the areas along north-facing walls receive almost no direct sunlight. This means you must choose plants that either prefer shade or at least tolerating it. Further, these spaces are often fairly dry, which limits your choices even further.

Fortunately, there are suitable plants in every category—colorful bedding annuals, flowering perennials, climbers, ground-covers, and shrubs—that will grow quite nicely in the challenging conditions created along north-facing walls. Many of these plants will also tolerate some sun, meaning that you can also plant them along east-facing and west-facing walls.

Here are 11 good choices for ornamental plants to use in the challenging shady locations along north-facing walls.

Plan a Landscaping for Shade Loving Flowers

Perennials for the north side of the garden

There are gardeners who look around the shady places on their plot with annoyance or sadness and think that nothing will grow here except for the lawn. But in vain. Not only flowers caressed by the sun can cause joy and give beauty. There are those who never come out of the shadows, but that doesn't make them any less beautiful. We will now introduce you to them and tell you where and what to plant.

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Choosing a place to land

It would seem, what is there to choose? The shadow is the shadow. But we will not draw rash conclusions, but rather we will understand the concept of a “shaded place”, because the selection of plants depends on this.

Partial shade is considered to be a garden area where the sun occasionally and briefly but looks in, or where the plants receive a little diffused light penetrating through the foliage of trees. Here for such places you need to choose perennials that grow well in the sun and in the shade. They are called shade tolerant.

A shady corner in the garden can be beautiful

If the sun cannot break through the dense canopy of overgrown trees, or the path of its rays is blocked by the wall of the house, then plants for which the shade is their natural habitat will feel good here. For their love of dark places, they were called shade-loving.

As far as preparing the landing site, everything is simple. It is enough to add a little compost to the planting hole and you can plant plants.

Perennials for partial shade

Fantasies on the theme of multi-colored or single-colour flower beds can be fulfilled using flowering perennials. Among them are aquilegia, astilba, doronicum, forget-me-nots, petunia, aconite, stonecrop, astrantia, mukdenia, rogersia and the well-known panicled phlox.

Among the bulbs, there are also flowers that are not afraid of shaded areas: irises, snowdrops, lilies of the valley, daylily.

Single-varietal iris flower garden

By the way, there is another way to introduce an element of blooming decor into the landscape design of poorly lit areas. Place small flowerpots with flowers, such as evergreen begonias or Waller's balsam. These are very beautiful flowers, but the likelihood that they will survive the winter is very small, so they are planted in flowerpots, and taken home for the winter, where they will continue to bloom.

Such a flowering miracle will delight in the garden in summer and at home in winter

Do not forget about shrubs. With their help, you can create a beautiful decorative composition or occupy empty land near the fence. Hydrangea arborescens and paniculata, derain, volzhanka and another amazing plant, little known, grow well in partial shade. This is a paskonnik. Absolutely unpretentious in care and undemanding to the soil. But it grows very quickly, delighting with lush caps of dark pink or beige inflorescences.

For some reason Paskonnik is not very popular, but in vain - it is beautiful and not picky at all

What grows in the shade

Shade-loving plants, as a rule, have small flowers, collected either in clusters or in small caps. They are more valued for the decorativeness of the leaves - all kinds of sizes, shades and shapes. Even after flowering, shade-loving perennials do not lose their attractiveness and remain so until late autumn.

Hosta, fern, ivy, cimicifuga (black cohosh), bergenia thick-leaved, rusty-spotted sedge feel like royalty.

Just the variety of hosta leaves is breathtaking

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from Sad-dizain

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Lovely looking flower gardens are made from low brunners covered with delicate flowers, kupena, primroses, lungworts, helleborus and geyhera. The slender rows of different varieties of astilbe look spectacular with multi-colored fluffy panicles soaring up.

Astilba can be planted in the flower bed and along the borders

Some gardeners, taking advantage of the ability of shade-loving perennials to grow under trees, plant ground covers - periwinkle, wild hoof, creeping tenacious, loosestrife, saxifrage - over time they form a dense green flowering carpet.

By the way, don't be in a hurry to pick up fallen leaves from the trees in autumn. If the foliage is healthy, leave it to hibernate. Under the snow, plants planted in this place will be protected by foliage from freezing; the active spring sun will not quickly dry up the earth here; and over the summer, the gradual rotting foliage forms a fertile loose soil layer.

Shade-loving perennials will give you such a wonderful carpet

As you can see, there is a place for flowers in any corner of your garden. Doubt with the choice of shade-loving and shade-tolerant, please contact us, we will help you correctly distribute these types of perennials on your site.

Shade-tolerant plants for the garden: unpretentious shade-loving flowers, shrubs and herbs

Shady corners in the garden are sure to be found. I would like to arrange them no less decorative than the front flower beds. And sometimes - and more interesting to compensate for the lack of sunlight. There is no need to roll them into concrete, you don’t have to nurse the oppressed sprouts either - there are many plants that feel great in the shade.

Shade-loving and shade-tolerant plants - what's the difference
The division into shade-loving and shade-tolerant plants is not entirely correct: all plants need the sun - this is the basis of biochemistry, their vital activity. It’s just that some species need the open sun, others have learned to get by with scattered or reflected (that is, “tolerate the shadow”). Usually these are the inhabitants of the undergrowth, and it is they who can be classified as shade-tolerant of varying degrees. There are those plants that feel worse in the open sun than in diffused light. That's just how they are usually referred to as shade-loving.

Sisson Landscapes

Fact: Shade-tolerant and shade-loving garden plants are considered synonymous in everyday life (just look at what users google and what search engines give them an answer). Gardeners do not make a difference: they are simply interested in unpretentious plants that can live without bright light - ideal candidates for landscaping a wooded area with preserved trees or planting in a flower bed in the shade of buildings. So, speaking of shade-tolerant and shade-loving plants in this article, we will generally write about species that manage with a small amount of indirect sun.

Petriv Landscape Designe

What shade do you have? Will it be a solid shadow on the north side of the house or near the fence, where direct sunlight does not fall at all. For such conditions, hosts (Hosta), multi-flowered (Polygonatum multiflorum), ferns, geraniums - red-brown (Geranium phaeum) and marsh (Geranium palustre), liverworts (Hepatica), doubtful Jeffersonia (Jeffersonia dubia), oak anemone (Anemone nemorosa), which love deep shade.

Diffused light is provided by tall trees with a sparse crown, such as pines.

KLUMBAShop Kameneva Natalia and Gavrilova Anastasia

Large deciduous trees with a low crown create strong shading - the space in their roots is available only to slanting morning and evening sun rays. In the morning and evening, areas on the north side of large dense shrubs or conifers are also illuminated. Such conditions give protection from the midday sun to those plants that need it: these are cornflower (Thalictrum), thick-leaved bergenia (Vergenia crassifolia), shade-tolerant phlox flowers (Phlox) and perennial dicentra (Dicentra). Trees with a less dense crown cast a moving spotted shadow. Similar conditions often occur in orchards. Here, forest dwellers such as forest anemone (Anemone sylvestris), tiarella (Tiarella), lungwort (Pulmonaria), soft cuff (Alchemilla mollis) - flowers that love shade - feel great here.

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Pay attention to the soil
Soil quality is very important for shade dwellers. Most of them prefer richly moist but well-drained soil. It should be quite nutritious, but light. These are the soils of deciduous forests. Poor soils should be enriched with compost or humus. Acidity must also be taken into account. If necessary, especially when developing a site overgrown with natural forest, it is worth preparing planting pits for perennials, “filling” them with the type of soil that is optimal for them.

CGD Landscape Design

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Humidity and Drainage
Sufficient moisture is really important for plants growing in the shade - they are used to it in their natural environment. Many of them have evolved broad, massive leaves to help collect scarce sunlight. And although the evaporation of moisture in the shade is much less, they may need abundant watering. Especially on dry sandy soils. However, these plants often have a thick rhizome located rather superficially. With stagnant water, poor drainage and runoff, their roots are prone to rotting. When preparing planting pits for such perennials, additional drainage from pebbles or broken bricks can be laid on the bottom.

SEE ALSO
22 Beautiful Flowering Plants for Damp and Damp Spots in Your Garden Among the shade-tolerant species there are shrubs and herbaceous plants, flowering and ornamental, large and miniature forms. They will help you create a lot of really interesting combinations.

Shrubs
Among the shrubs there are many natives of the forest that feel good in the shade and embody all the advantages and decorativeness of this form. They can be placed solo or made up of groups in the same way as in sunny places.

  • White Derain (Cornus alba) is one of the leaders in unpretentiousness. In addition to its other advantages - a beautiful shape and decorative red shoots that will decorate the site in winter - it has another undeniable advantage. Unlike most plants with decoratively colored leaves, which lose their color in the shade, white-variegated forms of turf (in particular, the now widespread variety "Elegantissima") retain a contrasting pattern of leaves. They will help to “refresh” a shady place, create the illusion of moving sun glare here.

PAN Landscape

  • Warty euonymus (Euonymus verrucosa) and winged euonymus (Euonymus alata), growing in the shade, have a textured bark with growths, fruits of an unusual shape and incredibly bright autumn .
  • Viburnum (Physocarpus opulifolius) - this shrub needs no introduction, it has been so popular in recent years. And all thanks to the large volume of large leaves, beautiful flowers, decorative seed boxes, and of course, its unpretentiousness.

CGD Landscape Design

  • Tartar honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica) is another hardy, shade-tolerant shrub that has made it an indispensable part of urban landscaping. A delicate aroma will fill the area during its flowering in early summer, and later it will be decorated with bright berries of red and orange.
  • Hawthorn (Crataegus) - its hardiness and prunability make it an indispensable material for hedges that will be decorative both in the sun and in shady places.
  • Early weigela (Weigela praecox) is a flowering shrub for partial shade. However, it is not winter hardy enough.
  • Kalina (Viburnum) - in the variety of its forms, it grows well in the shade and in the sun.
  • Black and golden currants (Ribes) - of course, growing in the shade, they are unlikely to bear fruit abundantly, but these types of currants are suitable for decorating a shady area.

Jay Sifford Garden Design

  • Red, Black and Canadian Elder (Sambucus) is another hardy and highly ornamental shrub. Is that black is not winter-hardy enough. It will decorate the shady corner with beautifully cut foliage and bright berries (they are also edible in black elderberry). True, red elderberry and Canadian elderberry have a peculiar smell during flowering. They have even been used as a natural rodent and insect repellent. However, they are perfect for decorating utility zones and corners far from home.

Margarita Alekseeva

  • Hydrangea (Hydrangea) - feels comfortable in partial shade, because the plant does not like the bright midday sun. And its luxurious inflorescences are a wonderful decoration both in the garden and in the cut.

In addition, there are a number of shrubs that, although they will not bloom as abundantly as in a sunny place, will loyally react to a shaded position: these are spirea (Speraea), barberry (Berberis), brilliant cotoneaster (Cotoneaster lucidus), snowberry (Symphoricarpos).

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Gelderman Landscape Services

Conifers
Contrary to popular belief, many conifers are quite light-loving. Shade-tolerant plants include common spruce (Picea abies), fir (Abies), Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), microbiota (Microbiota). These plants are quite suitable for decorating shady places, especially compact and decorative varieties.

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Coniferous plants in the garden: Selection and application in the shadow. And since the vines growing in our latitudes are mostly inhabitants of the undergrowth, they feel great in shady places. Girlish grapes (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), kirkazon (Aristolochia macrophylla) will develop well here, among the flowering ones - petiolate hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) and prince (Atragene), which, unlike clematis, also blooms in the shade.

Le jardinet

Ornamental plants
Among the shade-tolerant plants, there are many species with very expressive leaves, distinguished by their large size, interesting shape and color. True, decorative coloring, unfortunately, does not always withstand shade conditions. This is especially true of yellow-leaved and yellow-variegated forms. Most of these plants bloom just as beautifully, decorating the shady corner with delicate buds. But it is their leaves that provide a long-lasting decorative effect for a shady flower bed.

James R. Salomon Photography

Hosta is by far the most well-known shady flower garden dweller. Its plasticity has made it a favorite object of many breeders, thanks to which we now have a really wide range of varieties that differ in size - from 10 to 60 cm, leaf shape and color (green and blue varieties are better for shade). Thanks to this variety, you can create decorative compositions exclusively from the host.

Spring Lake Garden Design

Bliss Garden Design, LLC

Ferns is a large department of plants that are equally great in shape and size. Most of them are shade-loving, which means that these plants are an ideal filling for a shady flower garden, creating a beautiful pattern and a voluminous openwork mass of greenery.

Landscape workshop of Alena Arsenieva

Astilboides tabularis impresses with its huge funnel-shaped leaves. And although it also blooms very decoratively, it is often used in flower beds precisely for the sake of leaves. A number of shade-tolerant plants also have large expressive leaves: Rogersia (Rodgersia), podophyllum (Podophyllum), thyroid peltiphyllum (Peltiphyllum peltatum), palmate rhubarb (Rheum palmatum), meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), thick-leaved badan (Vergenia crassifolia).

It is worth mentioning separately ground cover plants — shade-loving, covering the ground with a continuous mass of leaves and not giving weeds even a chance. They will serve to fill the lower tier in a shady flower garden - as a replacement for a lawn with a lack of sun, for planting under trees. Many of them bloom beautifully. Shade-tolerant groundcovers: small periwinkle (Vinca minor), apical pachysandra (Rachysandra terminalis), creeping tenacious (Ajuga reptans), saxifrage (Saxifraga) round-leaved and shady, lungwort (Pulmonaria), ivy-shaped bud (Pulmonaria).

Fenton Roberts Garden Design

Grasses in the shade
Most grasses are sun-loving. However, for partial shade, you can pick up cereal plants. Spreading forest (Milium effusum), team hedgehog (Dacttylis glomerata), soddy pike (Deschampsia caespitosa), meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) will be able to grow here.

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Barbara Pintozzi

Plants that bloom in the shade - for any season
Shade-tolerant plants are valuable not only for their expressive leaves. Most of them bloom very beautifully. Shade-tolerant flowers may not be able to compete in brightness with plants that love sunny places, but you will be provided with mass flowering and tenderness of buds. The flowering period for the inhabitants of the shade is also different, which means that it is quite possible to create a composition of continuous flowering here.

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A garden for the lazy - easy and simple!

Le jardinet

  • ), May lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis), thyroid peltiphyllum (Peltiphyllumpeltatum), kupena (Polygonatum), forget-me-nots (Myosotis), perennial tiarella (Tiarella) and other garden flowers that love shade.

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Good question: What poisonous plants (maybe) grow in your garden? The foliage on the trees has not yet gained strength and density, so in the near-trunk circles, spring-flowering bulbs feel at ease - very beautiful shade-loving flowers for the garden.

Samuel H. Williamson Associates

  • In the summer of dicentra (Dicentra), geraniums (Geranium), meadowsweet (Filipendula), cornflower (Thalictrum), hostas (Hosta), aquilegia (Aquilegia), lily-of-the-valley loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides), astrantia (Astrantia), loosestrife ( Lythrum) and many other garden flowers that love shade.

PAN Landscape

  • In autumn , the shady garden is decorated with intense changing color of euonymus foliage, white turf, girlish grapes, and many herbaceous plants.

Along with the limitations, a shady corner also provides a number of advantages - protection from the wind and better moisture, good snow protection in winter. The natural inhabitants of the shadow, for the most part, will not require much trouble from you. And the number and variety of their species will allow you to create a beautiful plant composition even in heavily shaded places.

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