Here are 14 recommended plants that will thrive in the shady areas of your yard.

Choose the Right Plants

It’s essential to assess how much sunlight your landscape site will get. Most shade plants can tolerate some sun, while others have very little light tolerance causing stress to the plant. A plant that will thrive in full shade needs less than four hours of sun per day. Plants that need between four and six hours are considered partial sun plants. Shade-loving plants share some common characteristics. Most shade lovers are understory plants, meaning they grow on the forest or jungle floor, often shaded by a canopy of trees. Many of these plants have deep green or evergreen, thin, delicate, broad leaves that are efficient in capturing sunlight to produce chlorophyll. The soil on the forest floor or jungle floor is often acidic and humus-rich due to the abundance of organic matter. Leaf litter often creates a wet and humid environment that shade-loving plants appreciate.

Planning for Shade Landscaping

As you make plans for your shade garden, think about the types of plants you’d like to include.

FlowersColorsTextureShrubsTreesContainers

When planning the landscape, do you want a year-round color or all green all the time? You can get creative with staggering flowering times, incorporating colorful foliage-bearing plants, or adding evergreens to the mix. Whether planting in the ground or a container, categorize specimens as a thriller, a filler, or a spiller. A thriller is a showpiece—the plant that you want to be the center of attention. Fillers are usually low-lying or shorter plants. Spillers are vines and branching plants that add dimension to your plant collection. If you have a large area to landscape, consider water requirements and schedules. Watering is often an afterthought, but it is crucial for the success of your plants. Make sure you place plants that have similar watering requirements in the same area.

‘Cherokee Chief’ (Cornus florida ‘Cherokee Chief’) is a popular cultivar of the flowering dogwood tree. Its lower branches have a horizontal branching pattern, lending interest to any landscape design. This flowering dogwood put out rosy-red blooms in spring, while their fall foliage is red with hints of bronze. It grows to a height of 20 to 25 feet and spreads 12 to 15 feet. Caution: Dogwoods are susceptible to a fungal disease known as dogwood anthracnose. Consult local experts to determine if this disease is a problem in your area.

USDA Growing Zones: 5a to 9aColor Varieties: Pink, red, whiteSun Exposure: Full sun to part shadeSoil Needs: Medium moisture, well-drained soil

Prolonged drought can kill this tree, so make sure to keep it well-watered during dry seasons.

USDA Growing Zones: 3a to 7aColor Varieties: Not grown for flowersSun Exposure: Part shade to full shadeSoil Needs: Medium moisture, well-drained soil

Shade-tolerant red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea ‘Allemans’) blossoms in white in mid-spring. While it will tolerate shade, you will get more red twig color by giving the plant some full sunlight. Remove about 25% of the stems down to ground level each spring to stimulate new growth.

USDA Growing Zones: 2a to 7aColor Varieties: White flowers, red twigs/leavesSun Exposure: Full sun to part shadeSoil Needs: Moist, well-drained soil

The hybrid cultivars of the Taxus x media group are crosses between Japanese yews and English yews. Taunton yews (Taxus x media ‘Tauntonii’) are the best yews for regions with severe winters because they are resistant to winter burn. These shrubs grow about 3 to 4 feet tall and have a similar spread.  Yews do not react well to wet soil and can develop root rot as a result, so you should amend dense soils to lighten them before planting.

USDA Growing Zones: 4a to 8aColor Varieties: Not grown for flowersSun Exposure: Full sun to part shadeSoil Needs: Medium moisture, well-drained soil

If you are planting from seeds, make sure that your varieties are known to be resistant to downy mildew.

USDA Growing Zones: 10b to 11a; generally grown as annualsColor Varieties: Pink, rose, red, lilac, purple, orange, whiteSun Exposure: Part shade to full shadeSoil Needs: Rich, moist, well-drained soil

Common bleeding heart blooms in spring and early summer with small heart-shaped flowers clustered along arching stems. Cultivars produced by crossing the common bleeding heart with D. eximia may bloom well into mid-summer. Bleeding heart is best planted among other shade-loving plants, such as hostas since the foliage usually dies back in warm weather.

USDA Growing Zones: 2a to 9bColor Varieties: Pink, whiteSun Exposure: Part shade to full shadeSoil Needs: Medium-moisture, well-drained soil

If bare patches appear in the summer heat, you can crop the plant back to stimulate new growth. This plant does not like wet soil, so don’t overwater it.

USDA Growing Zones: 3a to 8aColor Varieties: Pink, purple (generally grown for foliage)Sun Exposure: Part shade to full shadeSoil Needs: Dry to medium moisture, well-drained soil

Periwinkle is a short plant, growing only 3 to 6 inches off the ground, but its trailing stems with evergreen leaves spread up to 18 inches. The stems root at the nodes as they creep along the ground and spread rapidly to form an attractive mat. Vinca minor puts out bluish-lavender periwinkle flowers in spring and may bloom a bit more here and there during the summer.

USDA Growing Zones: 4a to 9aColor Varieties: Lavender-blue, whiteSun Exposure: Full sun to part shadeSoil Needs: Dry to medium moisture, well-drained soil

If you grow this plant as a climber, make sure to give it a sturdy structure, as the plant can become quite heavy.

USDA Growing Zones: 4a to 8aColor Varieties: White, gold/yellowSun Exposure: Part shade to full shadeSoil Needs: Rich, moist, well-drained soil

USDA Growing Zones: 3a to 9aColor Varieties: White, lavender; not usually grown for the flowers.Sun Exposure: Part shade to full shadeSoil Needs: Rich, moist, well-drained soil

Trout lily is best planted from corms placed in the ground about 4 inches apart in fall. The foliage will disappear as the weather warms, and it is best planted among other plants that can fill in after trout lily fades.

USDA Growing Zones: 3a to 8aColor Varieties: YellowSun Exposure: Part shade to full shadeSoil Needs: Humusy soil that is slightly acidic

The foliage should be left in place to protect the root crowns over winter, then cut back in spring as new growth begins.

USDA Growing Zones: 5a to 9aColor Varieties: GreenSun Exposure: Part sun to part shadeSoil Needs: Medium to wet, well-drained soil

USDA Growing Zones: 4a to 8aColor Varieties: Strawberry pink, white, or purpleSun Exposure: Full sun to part shadeSoil Needs: Medium moisture, well-drained soil; prefers slightly acidic soil

When planting fine fescue seed in a shady area with trees, first use soil amendments, such as compost and peat moss, to improve the body of the soil so that it does not dry out quickly. At the same time, fescues do not want to be in excessively wet soil. Applying compost helps strike a balance between good drainage and water retention.

USDA Growing Zones: 4a to 8aColor Variations: Not grown for flowersSun Exposure: Full sun to part shadeSoil Needs: Rich, moist, well-drained soil