Guides: Full Shade Guides
Hardiness
Athyrium
Prized by gardeners, Athyrium are mostly deciduous ferns, with feathery, finely divided foliage in a wonderful array of color and forms. The genus includes about 180 species that are suitable to a wide range of garden conditions, including shady borders and woodland gardens, alongside other ferns or shade-loving plants.
Helleborus (Hellebores)
There are 20 Hellebore species. Most are native to the mountainous regions of Europe, especially the Balkan region of the former Yugoslavia, south along the eastern Adriatic to Greece and Turkey. Many of the species have been interbred, producing countless hybrid Hellebores in a rich array of colors and forms.
Learn How To Plant, Grow and Care for Lily of the Valley
A real charmer and an outstanding performer, Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) is a woodland flowering plant prized for its sweetly scented, bell-shaped flowers and attractive foliage. Widely grown in shade gardens for its cute blossoms and ground-covering abilities, Lily of the Valley is also a popular ingredient in perfumes and other cosmetics. Its fresh cut flowers are a favorite of florists.
How to Grow and Care for Bleeding Heart
Appealing to most gardeners, Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra) are easy-care perennials with heart-shaped flowers dangling in arching panicles or racemes above attractively divided leaves. Beautiful in leaf as soon as they sprout, they quickly add their charming blooms and make elegant additions to the garden
Actaea simplex (Bugbane)
Fabulous at adding architectural height and late summer blooms to a shaded border, Actaea Simplex (Bugbane), formerly known as Cimicifuga Simplex, is very eye-catching with its long, fluffy spires packed with strongly fragrant, tiny starry creamy-white flowers.
Hyacinthoides hispanica (Spanish Bluebells)
Easy to grow, low care and incredibly good-looking, Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) is a great bulbous perennial to have! Each bulb produces attractive, nodding, bell-shaped flowers hanging from sturdy, round flower stalks, atop clumps of glossy strap-shaped leaves. Blooming heartily from mid to late spring, Spanish Bluebell is a beautiful and reliable addition to the landscape, where it will happily multiply in optimum growing conditions.
Hakonechloa macra (Hakone Grass)
Grown for its handsome and eye-catching foliage, Hakone Grass (Hakonechloa macra) is a long-lived, tough, ornamental grass that, unlike most grasses, loves moist shady conditions.
Hosta (Plantain Lily)
Ridiculously easy-to-grow and long-lived, Hostas (Plantain Lilies) are shade-loving perennials that are highly prized by gardeners for their elegance and attractive foliage. Native to eastern Asia, these low-maintenance foliage plants are fabulous for shady areas
Brunnera macrophylla (Siberian Bugloss)
Resembling Forget-Me-Nots, Brunnera macrophylla (Siberian Bugloss) are rhizomatous herbaceous perennials with large, ovate or heart-shaped basal leaves and pretty sprays of small bright blue flowers in spring. Although their clouds of bright blue flowers add cool and striking color to the landscape, Brunneras are mostly valued for their beautiful foliage which creates a lush carpet of deep green or variegated leaves.
Astilbe
Immensely popular, Astilbes are fabulous plants for shady, moist conditions. Admired for their graceful, colorful flower plumes rising elegantly above mounds of fern-like foliage which remains attractive all season long, they light up your shade garden for weeks and add a dazzling splash of color in the landscape
Begonia grandis (Hardy Begonia)
Truly hardy, Begonia grandis are tuberous perennials noted for their exquisite and lush foliage of winged-shaped, olive green leaves, adorned with red veining and colorful undersides. From midsummer to fall, arching clusters of nodding pink or white flowers can be admired at the tips of branching pinkish-red stems.
Plant Combination Ideas with Hellebores
Prized for their abundant winter or early spring blooms and attractive foliage, Hellebores (Helleborus) are invaluable additions to the shade garden and provide gardeners with some of the greatest pleasures in winter. Ranked by some as amongst the top 10 high-performance perennials, these harbingers of spring are tough, cold-hardy, deer or rabbit resistant, and easy to grow.
Favorite Hellebores for your Winter and Spring Garden
There are 17 Hellebore species. Most have been interbred, producing countless hybrid Hellebores in a rich array of colors and forms. Find the four Hellebore varieties that are the most popular and easiest to grow.
Plant Combination Ideas with Hakone Grass
While extraordinarily good-looking on its own, Hakone Grass however looks most stunning when planted with companion plants.
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