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Shade Garden Plants For Baskets And Containers

Question:

Hello. We have a very shady yard area to the rear of our house that NEVER gets sunlight and is pretty gloomy. Is there anything (flowering or not) that I can plant in baskets to bring a bit of greenery / colour to the area? Many thanks

Answer:


Yes, of course there are garden shade plants that will brighten up the area for you. Some of them are foliage or greenery plants and some of them will also flower. From your question I presume that you want to plant into containers and baskets.

Shade gardens can be very attractive and if well done have a really exotic flair. The key is to work with different textures and foliage colors.
Some nice garden decor can complete the picture.

Photo: edgeplot

Here are some suggestions for hanging baskets in the shade:
Impatiens or Bizzy Lizzies: Flowering annual plant. Flowers are white, red or pink. One of the best annuals for shade.

Begonias: also a flowering annual. Flowers are white, pink or red. You can also get trailing varieties or ones with dark foliage.
Fuchsias: trailing Fuchsias add a splash of color during the summer.
You can combine these annuals with Ivy or ferns. These also work on their own in the hanging baskets.



For medium sized containers in shade you can try these garden shade plants:


Helleborus: spring flowering perennial. Hellebores come in white, pink or dark reds.
Hostas: Very attractive foliage plant for shady areas. There are many different varieties of Hostas available. Some have variegated or golden foliage, others have bluish-green foliage. They also flower during the summer.
Heuchera: foliage plant. There are many different varieties with golden, green or dark foliage.
Pulmonaria: perennial plant with spotted foliage and blue flowers.
Ferns: try Anthyrium, Polystichum or Asplenium ferns. They add nice foliage and texture to your shade garden.

For large containers in the shade try these shade shrubs:

Buxus: shaped box trees can look very attractive in a nice container!
Camellias: spring flowering evergreen shrub. Remember to use lime free compost for this plant!
Viburnum tinus: Laurustinus is a nice evergreen shrub that bears white flowers in early spring.
Hydrangea macrophylla: summer flowering shrub. Try the more compact Hydrangea varieties for pots.
Skimmia: evergreen spring flowering shrub. Female varieties have bright red berries in the spring.
Aucuba: Evergreen shrub with spotted or variegated foliage.
Bamboo: different varieties of bamboos will bring an exotic flair to your shade garden.


Photo: kightp