30 "Resilient" Perennials That Flourish Everywhere
House Beautiful April 20, 2025
Lifestyle
House Beautiful April 20, 2025
Lifestyle
For some gardeners, a landscape full of shady corners can feel like a death sentence—or at the very least, a lifetime resigned to growing mossy green things. But in fact, creating a garden in the shade doesn’t have to mean sacrificing beauty or interest. A shaded garden can indeed be a serene, lush retreat, filled with plants that add beauty, color, and visual interest—you just have to have the right combination of shade-loving perennials.
For homeowners whose gardens have challenging areas where direct sunlight rarely reaches, knowing what to plant in the shade can be a game-changer. Shade-loving perennials are the perfect solution to fill these spaces—and many that still boast the vibrant colors, intriguing textures, and fragrant blooms of their sun-loving counterparts. Not only do these plants thrive in low-light conditions, but they also require minimal upkeep, making them an excellent choice for busy gardeners or anyone looking to foster a low-maintenance landscape.
Whether you’re looking to fill a quaint corner tucked beneath towering trees or a quiet patio that gets only a few hours of sunlight, a shade garden offers endless possibilities for growth and creativity. Below, we’re rounding up the best perennial plants for shade, from delicate ferns to bold hostas and iconic cottage-inspired blooms that will transform your shaded spaces into a lush, blue ribbon-worthy escape. As you consider which ones to plant, be sure you choose shade plants that can survive winters in your USDA Hardiness Zone (find yours here).
While these perennials do well in the sun, they can also thrive in partial shade. Foxgloves produce eye-catching flowers in shades of pink, purple, white, and yellow that bloom in late spring to mid-summer. You'll often find them in cool, moist climates and along borders of gardens and wooded areas. Keep in mind that, while they’re beautiful and unique, the’re also highly toxic if ingested.
Comprised of delicate pale purple flowers, woodland phlox is another shade plant that can endure a bit of sun, too. Often grown as a ground cover, this plant creates a beautiful mat of blooms on the ground in mid-to-late spring and is deer-resistant, as well as attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds.
Trillium plants produce things in threes—three large leaves, three-petaled flowers, and three sepals. Hence the name, which is derived from the Latin term for “triple” These plants thrive in shade and partial sun, though they can tolerate fully shaded areas. They’re beautiful in woodland gardens, but be warned that they are a favorite to deer and rabbits.
Green-and-golds produce vibrant star-shaped flowers from the late spring into fall. (And you only need to look at them to see how they get their name.) These shade-loving plants are fairly easy to grow and provide a nice ground covering in any garden, particularly one with partial shade.
This tough shade plant not only provides your garden with gorgeously green foliage but also brings ground coverage—not to mention purplish-brown flowers that show up in the spring. Use the plant in your woodland garden or as a border for part of your yard, but keep in mind that it’s likely to spread into large colonies over the years. Canadian wild ginger is also deer-resistant and thrives in partial shade.
This pretty, low-growing shade plant (also known as hardy geranium) has a lovely, spicy mint scent that repels deer and rabbits. Its delicate flowers bloom in a range of colors, from purple and pink to white and blue. Bonus: It attracts butterflies and other pollinators.
This delicate shade plant creates dense mats in your garden and creeps along the ground in a beautiful storybook way. A petite plant with little white flowers, Irish moss looks incredible between stepping stones or when decorating a garden arbor.
Think of the toad lily as a shade-loving orchid—its unique, spotted flowers bloom in shades of white, purple, and pink. The toad lily will bloom in late summer to fall, and it does best in fully shaded areas.
One look at this chartreuse plant and you’ll know why it’s called creeping Jenny. In the late spring, you can find little yellow flowers popping up from its stems that add even more color to your yard. Just be aware that Jenny creeps quickly and she’ll be fast to take over an area of your yard!
Vinca minor—which goes by a few names, including periwinkle or creeping myrtle—is a charming flowering plant that covers the ground. The dark green leaves are a beautiful contrast to its delicate purple petals, which appear in late spring and thrive in full shade.
The bell-shaped flowers of the Lily of the Valley are iconic, a traditional choice for bridal bouquets. The beautiful blooms, which come out in the spring, produce a very strong floral scent and are quick to spread, which is ideal if you adore the plant. On the other hand, if you want it only in some places, try between pavers or somewhere it can be easily contained.
Bletilla, also known as hardy orchid, is a sturdy flowering plant that loves moisture. From late spring to early summer, expect to find the purple blooms opening up against their lance-shaped leaves. These shade perennials will tolerate mild morning sun and do best in temperate climates.
Beware: This shade-loving plant is a favorite of deer. While the large and lush green leaves of hostas look beautiful under mature trees and in cool spots in your garden, it can feel like your planting work is all for nothing if Bambi comes over for a nibble. That being said, hostas are totally worth the effort, as they also attract hummingbirds with their tiny spikes of flowers, which bloom in mid-summer.
A bleeding heart is a shade plant that takes several years to show its stuff, so be patient, and you’ll be greatly rewarded with the striking blooms. Give the plant a lot of shade with some morning sun for the best results. The flowers can pop out in pure white, red, or pink, and typically appear in late spring.
Japanese forest grass is often referred to as “Stripe It Rich,” thanks to the white and golden stripes on its long leaves. This perennial lights up shady corners of your garden and produces delicate little flowers in the late summer, though they seldom show themselves from under the leaves. The best part? The leaves on this varietal are deer-resistant.
Foamflower boasts beautiful pale pink spikes that appear in late spring against the plant’s heart-shaped leaves. The most intriguing part about this perennial—which is also known as tiarella—is that when planted en masse, they resemble foam from a distance!
Lamium, or spotted dead nettle, is a low-maintenance and beautiful shade plant that boasts silvery green foliage and pale pink flowers. An excellent ground cover, Lamium tolerates the sun but does better in mostly shaded spots. The flowers can bloom in pink, white, or purple and will come alive in late spring to early summer.
Deer-resistant astilbe produces feathery flowers in shades of white and pink. They begin to bloom in late spring and continue throughout the summer, absolutely lighting up your shaded garden with vivid colors all through the season.
The burnished fronds of autumn fern add subtle color to shady areas of your yard. While this plant does best in full shade, it can also tolerate the bright morning sun. Keep in mind that these fronds spread fairly rapidly, but they’re also deer-resistant, so maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
This shade plant is a unique pick, as the foliage grows to look like the rungs of a ladder, hence the name. But, it’s the plant’s striking blue flowers that typically make it a gardener’s favorite. Make sure Jacob’s ladder receives a few hours of sun each day for the best blooms. The flowers bloom for weeks in late spring to early summer.
Bunchberry is a low-growing ground cover that does well in shady areas. The white flowers, which resemble dogwood blossoms (itÆs in the same family), transform into bright red berries come fall.
The delicate fronds of the Japanese painted fern are silver and burgundy, making it an elegant and dramatic addition to any shade garden. It needs full shade but will tolerate some morning sun—and it is deer-resistant.
A mat of low-growing foliage makes this shade plant an excellent ground cover and, come summer, it erupts in bright blue flower spikes. Bugleweed can be an aggressive spreader, so make sure to contain it if you don’t want it growing everywhere.
Don’t let the name fool you! Coral bells are available in a wide range of colors from burgundy to chartreuse—and they make for lovely ground cover. Tiny bell-shaped flowers, which hummingbirds love, appear early- to mid-summer. Also called heuchera, coral bells are deer- and rabbit-resistant.
Columbines are early- to mid-spring bloomers, offering much-needed food early in the season for pollinators. The intricate flowers look delicate, but it’s a tough shade plant that will return for several years. Many types reseed themselves.
This late-winter bloomer has exquisite flowers in a wide range of colors, from pink and burgundy to white and green. Plant your hellebores somewhere where they’ll score mostly shade, with a bit of morning sun to help them bloom well. They’re deer- and rabbit-resistant.
If you have a very moist area in the shade, these happy flowers are a great option. Marsh marigolds appear in early spring and feature sunny yellow blooms surrounded by heart-shaped leaves. Fun fact: You can cook or pickle them as a substitute for capers, though they should never be eaten raw.
This lovely, unassuming shade perennial, once believed to cure lung ailments, has pretty splashes of silver on its foliage. Salmon buds open into beautiful blue flowers in spring—and they're deer- and rabbit-resistant.
This shade perennial is a low-growing ground cover that blooms in the spring. The delicate flowers are quite exquisite, but they don’t like foot traffic, so plant them where you won’t be walking or working in the garden frequently.
Virginia bluebells are native shade perennials that look amazing when planted in a group under tall trees. They prefer moist soil, and the plants are ephemeral, meaning they disappear during the heat of summer. Not to worry: They’ll be back (and spread) next year.
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