While many plants love the sun, some plants thrive in darker or cooler conditions. Whether it’s a big tree or the shadow from a nearby building, shade doesn’t mean you can’t grow plants or beautiful flowers in these locations. Here are ten plants that will turn a shady garden or terrace into a lush, thriving, colorful oasis.
1. Heuchera (Coral bells)
Add a touch of color to shady front borders by planting heuchera or coral bells. Though some varieties have flowers, it is the plant’s foliage that steals the show. The shiny, maple-shaped leaves create a striking contrast that works well in a dark green shrubbery. With colors ranging from bright lime green, silver, burgundy, to purple-black, chartreuse, salmon, and rusty orange, this plant will surely liven up your garden.
2. Lamium maculatum (Dead nettle)
Dead nettle’s leaves will add a stunning sheen to the darkest corners of your garden or terrace. In early summer, purple, pink, red or white flowers will appear, adding more color to those forgotten corners. This plant grows well in hanging pots or as a pot edging.
3. Tiarella cordifolia (Foamflower)
Foamflower’s leaves are matte which gives the plant a more natural look. With their burgundy-red leaf veins and beautiful white or pale pink flowers, foamflowers make a great addition to any garden.
4. Pulmonaria (Lungwort)
Next to its majestic long, narrow, and silver spotted leaves, lungwort bears stunning flowers during spring. The color of the blossoms ranges from white through pink and blue.
5. Astilbe hybrids
Known for their colorful flower plumes, atilbe varieties come in shades of pink, salmon, lavender, red, and white. As reported by Gardeners, new varieties come with different foliage colors, bloom times, and heights. If you do your research and plant a mix of these varieties, you may create some exciting colors throughout the season.
6. Digitalis (Foxglove)
Foxgloves are biennials. In the first year, the plant will only grow leaves, while in the second year they will provide colorful flowers. Though the plant will die after two years, it produces enough seeds that will regrow without any interference.
7. Hakonechloa (Japanese forest grass)
Depending on the variety you get, Japanese forest grass will create golden green, lime green or variegated cascading draperies of long thin leaves, ideal for front borders. In the fall, the leaves may turn red, orange, or purple to match the autumn colors.
8. Primula (Primrose)
With some 425 different varieties, primroses come in all the colors of the rainbow. If you give them a shady spot and keep their soil moist, you will not run into any issues growing these beautiful flowers at your home.
9. Euphorbia (Spurge family)
Euphorbia is a rather big family of shrub-like plants. Some are only small succulents, while others are herbaceous shrubs or larger trees. The flowers can differ in color and have a unique structure of conspicuous bracts with male and female floral parts in contrasting colors.
10. Alchemilla (Lady’s mantle)
An easy to grow plant with beautiful yellow flowers that appear at the beginning of June. When its pleated leaves catch a drop of rain, the drop scatters into beautiful little water pearls.
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