Plant a Shade Garden

A shady garden is one that receives less than four hours of direct sun per day. It's true that many shade-loving options are foliage plants, but many perennial flowers can thrive in shady areas, available in a variety of colors. Here’s a list of 8 perennial flowers that grow in shady areas,

• Monkshood

Monkshood plant with small white and purple-blue flowers hanging on thin stems. It is a perennial flower that likes full sun but does fine in partial shade. The plant is named for the shape of the deep purple-blue blooms that can last up to two months in late summer, appearing atop five- to six-foot stalks. This is an excellent plant for late-season color when most other plants have ended their bloom period. Monkshood has good resistance to pests and diseases, but in shady locations the plants might need to be staked to prevent toppling.

• Columbine

Columbine plant with blue-purple bell-shaped flowers and buds on thin red stems. Butterflies and hummingbirds can't resist the delicate, nectar-filled blossoms.  The bell-shaped flowers come in a wide variety of color combinations. This is a very easy plant to grow in shade, and it often spreads by self-seeding. Growing about two feet tall, columbine usually blooms in late spring and early summer.

• Astilbe

The flower plumes of astilbe, also known as false spirea, bloom in the spring and summer in shades of white, pink, purple, ​and red. They prefer moist conditions so don't let their soil dry out. Except for dividing your astilbe plants every three years or so, they require little effort.

• Black Cohosh

Also known as bugbane, black cohosh is a perfect perennial flower for shade. It blooms well even with little direct sunlight. It can easily reach six feet tall in one season and adds texture as well as height to a shade garden. The dense foliage gives rise to even taller stalks of bottle brush-shaped clusters of white flowers in late summer to early fall.

• Bleeding Heart

Bleeding heart plants with light pink heart-shaped flowers hanging on stems. This plant is a spring bloomer, with the flowers lasting for several weeks, and it grows two to three feet tall. The flowers are delicate heart-shaped drops in shades of pink with white tips. Bleeding heart foliage usually dies back and disappears in the hot months of summer, but it should return the next year.

• Barrenwort

Barrenwort is often dismissed as a slow-growing ground cover, but this plant brings lots of visual interest to the landscape. Its clusters of vivid flowers arrive in the early spring, and its foliage often emerges in spring in shades of red and gold, maturing to a deep green. Some varieties are evergreen in warm climates.

• Primrose

The Primrose plant has cream-colored and yellow flowers. They are one of the first flowers to bloom in spring, as their botanical name indicates. (Primula comes from Latin for "little first one"). The bright blooms rise above the deep green foliage on sturdy stalks.

• Meadow Rue

Purple flowers grow with a clump of blue-green, lacy foliage at its base. Then, the fuzzy flowers rise above the foliage in the late spring to summer. It’s a fairly low-maintenance perennial, though it doesn’t like its roots disturbed.

Try one or more of these beauties out in your shade garden this summer and enjoy the show!

(The Spruce)