Flowers For Shade

Finding flowers for the shade becomes a daunting task for many. Often flower growers will move onto a more welcoming spot to plant with more sun, and try to ignore those shady areas in their flower gardens.

On the following pages of this website you’ll find beautiful colorful flowers for your home that are specifically grown to thrive in your ‘hard spots’. Areas that get little sun are ‘hard spots’. Now you can easily plan and plant flowers for the shade with these pages, who knows? You may want to create a shade garden too!

Flowers brighten our world, lift our spirits and are a vital part of our existence. Flowers are wonderful when used to enhance and highlight areas of your home. Landscaping with flowers is one of the best ways to add beauty and enhance value to your home.

Flowers can be used for many different reasons, from providing an attractive ground cover to providing a dramatic backdrop for a beautiful home. Climbing flowers can be trained to grow up and over a trellis or to highlight and enhance a bare wall or garden shed.

You may also find a few of these shade flowers with a notation of it’s ‘meaning’.
Deeper meanings of flowers were used and interpreted by:
Native American Indians
Ancient Egyptians
Ancient Greeks
Ancient Celts
Japanese
Chinese
1600’s in Constantinople
1716 in England

The first book written on flower symbolism was Le Language des Fleurs by Madame Charlotte de la Tour in 1819. Flowers are still used today to convey feelings in a more general way than in Victorian times. Many florists provide information on the language of flowers to encourage the practice of helping modern gift-givers to “say it with flowers.”

Astilbe – Visions in White

The Visions in White Astilbe has soft white flowers that float above lacy green foliage. The bright clear flowers reflect dappled sunlight in shade gardens for a dazzling effect. Plant Astilbe in Full Shade to Partial Sun areas. Mature Height is 20 – 30 inches. Plant 4 inches deep and space them 16 inches apart in Zones 4-8.  The Astilbe’s symbolism is “I’ll still be waiting”.

Bat Flower – White

The Bat Flower is an exotic tropical flower that is rare in white. Plant in Full Shade to Partial Sunny areas, at a depth of 1 inch, and space them 36-48 inches apart. The Mature Height of this shade flower is 36 inches. For Zones 10-11.

Begonia – Giant Camellia – Mixed Colors

The Giant Camellia Begonia Mix brightens up the shady areas with beautiful, colorful Belgium Begonias. No other plant grows so well in the shade. Colors range from delicate pastel hues to deep rich shades. The blooms are large in size with the lovely petal shape and design of Camellias. Pinch off side buds to produce large blooms up to 6″ across. You can start these bulbs early indoors from Feb-April, and move outdoors after the last frost. The Mature Height is 12 inches. Plant in Full Shade to Partial Sun at a depth of 2 inches. Space them 9-12 inches apart in Zone 10. Other zones are possible by digging them out and storing just before the first frost in your area in a cool, dry frost-free place.

Brunnera – Emerald Mist

This flower for the shade has heart shaped leaves with a light silver dusting over the entire leaf surface, which gives it a unique metallic look. The blue flowers accent the showy foliage in the spring. Brunnera is a woodland plant that should be grown in full shade, but in the north, morning sun is tolerated, and in the south, dense shade is necessary. It will grow the fastest and strongest in rich soil that is consistently moist, and it does not need a lot of care once established. Cut back the old foliage in the spring rather than in the fall. Mature Height is 12 to 15 inches. Mature Spread is 12 to 15 inches. For Zones 3-8.

Caladium Flowers For Shade

Caladium plants thrive in moist soils at temperatures from 70 to 85 degrees F. They’re commonly started in pots indoors and planted outside when the weather is warm. They’re native to the Amazon.  The Caladium’s symbolism is “Great joy and delight”.

Caladium – White Christmas

Pure white in color with prominent green veins and a green border, this beautiful Caladium is an ideal shade flower. Water well and spray leaves frequently during hot, dry weather. The Mature Height is 12-18 inches. Plant 1 inch deep and space them 8-12 inches apart. For Zones 10-11. Other zones are possible by digging them out and storing just before the first frost in your area in a cool, dry frost-free place.

Bi-Color Caladium

This Caladium from Thailand has blue veins and hot pink highlights that really stand out on the background of the dark leaves. Plant in Full Shade. Mature Height is 30-36 inches. Space this Caladium 18 inches apart. For Zones 9-10. Other zones are possible by digging them out and storing just before the first frost in your area in a cool, dry frost-free place.

Golden Corydalis

Ideal under trees in Partial to Full Shade areas. The Golden Corydalis has sprays of cheery golden color and lacy, fernlike foliage. Mature Height is 12-16 inches. Space plants 12 inches apart in Zones 4-8.

Crocosmia – Montbretia

The Montbretias Crocosmia produces flower spikes covered with bell-shaped blooms of bright red, yellow, orange and bronze. Mature Height is 15 – 18 inches. Will tolerate Full Shade. Plant 5 inches deep and space 4-6 inches apart. For Zones 7-10.

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