Selecting Full Shade Plants for Your Garden

For many of us lawn and garden tenders, we may have different points throughout the property where sunlight simply cannot reach the ground. The lack of UV light should not lead to planting discouragement, but rather explore other options for your garden beautification. Do not consider full shade areas as a dead zone, there are species of plants and flowers out there that can thrive in such environments.

Flowers

Your choice of flowers all depend on whether you are interested in purchasing annuals or perennials. The easy choice of flowers for annuals would be to plant impatiens. Impatiens can really only grow in full shade areas. Impatiens produces a smaller bloom and are available in many different colors. They are usually quite inexpensive and sold in large flats. The garden will pick up color fast with these kinds of flowers. Another suggested annual for full shade would be coleus. Coleus has a pinkish purple tone that does well in moist shady zones. The coleus is a member of the mint family.

There are a few perennials you may consider worthy of your shade garden. One of the top shade perennials is the bleeding heart. These plants seem to thrive on shade and provide excellent color décor to your backyard garden. Violets and Jacob's ladder will also add a nice touch to your shade garden.

Plants and Ground Cover

There are many varieties of plants for full shade areas. One of the first plants that come to mind is hostas. Hostas come in a few distinct varieties and do well in the shade. They have a remarkable ability to come back every year with a vengeance. You will notice their aggressive behavior as they can overtake an area quite quickly. The hostas also produce a nice flower to add to some color to the shade zone. Before purchasing hostas you may want to inquire if anyone is willing to part with a few extras of their own as some people like to unload areas of overpopulated gardens.

Ferns also provide a nice look to a fully shaded zone in your garden. Ferns come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and seem to thrive well in a shady environment. Ferns can grow to a respectable height and do well to mask unsightly home objects such as meters or air conditioning units.

Ground covers such as venca or periwinkle vine are ideal for filling up a shade zone. The ground cover takes some time to take root, but when it does, watch out. Ground cover can actually look quite nice when you add some garden accents such as a bird bath, garden flag, or ornament to the area. Finish off the look with perhaps some solar or Malibu lighting.