One of the hardest problems that I ever faced was when I had to contend with a completely shady garden. There was no sun anywhere to be had and I almost succumbed to having only hostas in my garden. That is however, until I started looking into other alternatives for that shade infested space and realized that I can have a garden awash in blooms throughout the summer without having to fork out a lot of money for overly expensive plants. (Although I will be the first to admit that I put in a lot of money regardless of the price of plants.)

The key to utilizing the shady areas in your garden is to not be afraid to use a lot of foliage. I know I just said that I wanted to get away from that but you can use the foliage as the main filler and add bursts of flowers in eye catching spots. It is also much easier to find foliage for the shade than flowers and you can find some very nice colors in that foliage.

Below I have listed a bunch of flowers that you can use for a shady garden and if you find a few others that work well, please feel free to post them in the comments section.

• Coleus: Although this is an indoor plant, it can be acclimatized for use in the garden during those warmer months. It is a brilliant foliage with wonderful leaves of red, pink, yellow and green patterns.
• Pansies: These little flowers are great for any environment and they can do just as well in the shade as they can in the full sun. They come in a wide range of color and you can create a great little garden space with them.
• Sweet Rocket: Although it does much better in partial shade it can also do well in shade. It produces spikes of single flowers in lilac or purple.
• Busy Lizzie: I love the name of this plant, don’t ask me why, and it is a great addition to any shaded garden. It does better in partial shade but again, like the Sweet Rocket, it can do well in full shade. It also comes in a wide range of colors and it can be found in a range of sizes as well.
• Woodruff: Beautiful lavender blue flowers that have a wonderful scent, this plant does very well in full shade.
• Petunias: Another great flower for the shade, petunias can be grown in partial shade. They also come in a wide range of colors and I used them once to create a full rainbow in one of my garden beds.
• Forge-me-not: The last flower I am going to mention today, the forge-me-nots can be found in blue or in light pink and they can do very well in partial shade.

And hopefully, I gave you a few tips on some great plants for your shady garden.

Sirena Van Schaik

Photo Credit

Related posts:

1. Choosing The Perfect Shade Gardening Plants
2. Three Varieties of Roses that Take to the Shade
3. Starting Shade Gardens
4. The American Indian Herb Company: Dealing With Native Herbs

Tags: , Busy Lizzie, Coleus, Forget-me-not, Gardening, hosta, Pansies, partial shade, Petunias, Plants, shade, shade gardens, shady gardens, Sweet Rocket, tips, Woodruff

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