Shade Loving Perennial Garden Flowers

By Michelle Day

Perennial garden flowers can add beautiful elements of color to shady areas of your garden and landscape. Many perennial flowers are shade tolerant, and some even prefer shady areas, but you must be sure that the flower you are planting is appropriate for the amount of shade your garden is receiving.

There are essentially four different shade categories that are suitable for different plants and flowers:

• Light shade (also known as "filtered shade" or "thin shade") generally refers to areas that receive two to three hours of shade daily.
• Medium shade (also called "partial shade," "half shade" or "semi-shade") is an area that has four or five hours a day without direct sunlight.
• Full shade is an area where there is no direct sunlight at all during the day, although there is indirect or reflected sunlight available to plants.
• Deep shade (also known as "heavy shade" and "dense shade") are regions where there is no direct or indirect sunlight during the day.

Once you know what kind of shade you are gardening in, you should be able to select the appropriate shade loving perennial flowers for that area. Here are some suggestions of some of the best shade perennial flowers for light, medium and full shade conditions.

Light Shade Perennial Flowers

Daffodils/Narcissus (Narcissus). From fall planted bulbs you will have beautiful orange, yellow, or white flowers that do well in light shade.

Foxglove (Digitalis). A tall light-shade, perennial flower, the Foxglove blooms in late summer, sending up spires of flowers that can easily reach four feet in height.

Columbine (Aquilegia). Native to the woodlands, columbines can grow up to three feet tall and come in a wide variety of colors. They generally bloom in May and June, and thrive in areas with light shade and moist, well-drained soil.

Medium Shade Perennial Flowers

Hardy Begonia (Begonia grandis). There are many varieties of begonias that grow in tropical climates, but this hardy, medium shade loving variety is an excellent choice for Northern gardeners up to zone six. Their beautiful flowers generally bloom in the fall.

Bleeding Heart (Dicentra) - This beautiful plant has heart shaped flowers that bloom in May and June. Bleeding heart plants range in height from just over a foot to nearly three feet tall and prefer medium shade conditions. The plants are poisonous, however, so care needs to be taken to ensure they are not planted in areas frequented by children or pets.

Daylily (Hemerocallis) - Beautiful bright orange flowers that thrive in medium shade and can be propagated easily. In some areas they are classified as a noxious weed because of their quick, spreading habit.

Full Shade Perennial Flowers

Hosta (Plantain lilies). Although hostas are often grown for their wonderful foliage, most hostas also produce beautiful lilylike white and lavender flowers that bloom in late spring until late summer.

Foam Flower (Tiarella). This wildflower has white flowers that grown up to 12 inches tall and are very tolerant of shady conditions. They can be easily naturalized in shady and moist areas (such as along stream banks) or planted in mass to create a beautiful ground cover.

Michelle Day is an avid gardener currently living in the Pacific Northwest. She has written extensively about perennial flowers and perennial shade gardens. ------------------------------------------------ For more information on Perennial Flowers, see www.bestguidetogardening.com.