Friends in Low-Light Places: Flowers and Shrubs That Thrive in the Shade
Fill Your Shady Garden Beds With These Plants and Shrubs
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Azalea
One of the best shade shrubs for big garden color, azaleas have bright green evergreen foliage and funnel-shaped spring and summertime flowers in shades of white, red, and pink.
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Begonia
These plants, with their pretty blooms and shiny, deep green foliage, are popular plants for containers situated in the shade.
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Boston Fern
When in doubt, embrace the fern. Vibrant green fern fronds can brighten up any shady corner. Nephrolepis exaltata 'Bostoniensis' is the Southern-favorite Boston fern.
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Boxwood
These hedging shrubs are great privacy plantings, and they’re also lovely for borders because they’re hardy and can grow thick, lush, and tall.
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Cast-Iron Plant
Cast-iron plant thrives in the shade and is a great choice for amateur gardeners. That’s because they do well indoors and out, even when neglected.
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Creeping Fig
Creeping fig, or Ficus pumila, can grow in sun or shade. It’s an evergreen vine that can also be grown indoors with moist soil.
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Creeping Jenny
Lysimachia species spread quickly and produce small white or yellow blooms in summertime. Lysimachia nummularia is the species known as creeping Jenny.
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Columbine
According to The Southern Living Garden Book, “Lacy foliage and beautifully presented flowers in exquisite pastels, deeper shades, and white give columbines a fairylike, woodland-glen quality.”
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Cyclamen
These hardy plants tolerate shade and bear delicate, fluttering flowers. They’re great choices for low-light areas and rock gardens.
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Foxglove
These dramatic plants produce big clusters of spotted, bell-shaped flowers that thrive in shade with regular water.
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Hosta
These plants produce big, sprawling clumps of striking foliage in a variety of green, blue-green, and white shades.
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Impatiens
These blooming beauties add a dose of color to shady spaces and come in hues of magenta, pink, peach, white, and red.
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Lobelia
As a rule, lobelias thrive in rich soil with plenty of water. They will tolerate some sun, but as bog plants, they do best in shady climes.