Create a Burst of Color with these 4 Flowers for the Shade
Take a stroll down the street during spring or summer, and you’re likely to see splashes of color from both perennial and annual flowers in the sunlight: vivid tulips, charming bluebells, and sturdy black-eyed Susans. But you’re missing out if you think you need plenty of sun to pour on the color.
Flowers for shade don’t have to be dull: vivid annual flowers, perennials, and flowering shrubs come in shade-loving varieties that will beautify your patio, deck, and other shaded areas.
Start with these 4 annual and perennial shade flowers to plant a shade garden that will be a true feast for the eyes!
Gorgeous Annual: Fuchsia
The fuchsia plant has striking, vividly-colored pendant blooms (see photo). Fuchsia grows as a perennial along much of the west coast and as a houseplant or annual in other regions.
The “Florabelle” variety, also called “Lady’s Eardrops,” has beautiful red and purple flowers that bloom during the summer and makes a lovely hanging basket plant for a shaded porch or patio.
This distinctive bloom will grab your guests’ attention during your next backyard barbecue.
Perennial Beauty: Hosta
The hosta is the perfect perennial flower to plant in shaded areas of your property. The plantain hosta reaches a height of 18 to 20 inches, is well suited for USDA hardiness zones 4a to 9a, and produces clusters of purple flowers in the late summer to early fall.
Some hostas have silvery or variegated foliage, which makes them ideal for a moon garden.
Perfect Perennial or Annual Flower for the Patio: Impatiens
Lovely Impatiens balsamina is ideal as a container plant on your deck, porch, or patio. Blooming during the summer, its round, medium-petal flowers can turn pink, lavender, purple, red, white, or yellow. Impatiens balsamina likes plenty of water and will thrive in full or partial shade–full sunlight can scorch this shade-loving beauty.
Colorful Shrub: Hydrangea
The hydrangea is a popular shrub with large, showy ball-shaped flower clusters. It’s easy to see why they are real eye-catchers. Hydrangea macrophylla, or “big leaf” hydrangea, blooms during spring or summer.
Its flowers can turn red, white, blue, lavender, pink, or purple. Bigleaf hydrangea thrives in the shade to partial sun and is suited for USDA hardiness zones 5b to 9a. The “Nikko Blue” variety of H. macrophylla is particularly striking. Hydrangea blooms make wonderful dried flowers.
Enjoy the shade!
Learn more about sun-loving flowers here!
Photos courtesy of Anniesannuals, Kenpei, Doctoroftcm, and Tom Bech.
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