“What are the best flowering plants for a mostly shady spot with some morning sun?” Question from Brigitte of Arnold, Missouri
Answer: There are so many wonderful garden flowers that grow well in partial shade but can tolerate a little sun, too. Here is a good list of long-blooming perennials and annuals that will grow well in your area under these light conditions. All of the annuals are also great for containers. Before planting any of these in the garden, I recommend amending your soil with Black Gold Garden Soil, which feeds plants for up to 6 months. Black Gold Moisture Supreme Container Mix is recommended for potted specimens.
Annual Flowers for Shade
Begonias: You can’t go wrong with begonias, as long as you provide them with good moisture, especially through the hottest summer days. Two showy high performers are Bossa Nova® Red Begonia and Illumination® Golden Picotee tuberous begonia. Classic wax begonias that you can purchase in flats at every garden center are also inexpensive and excellent.
Bush Violets (Browallia hybrids.): These annuals are just beginning to gain popularity due to their nonstop summer flowers. Try the true-blue Endless™ Illumination Bush Violet.
Classic Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana): Pick up a flat of impatiens at the garden center in your favorite color, and plant them for all-summer color.
New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hybrids): These impatiens are generally taller and tolerant of a little more sun than classic impatiens. One that I will be planting this year is the tangerine-orange Infinity® Orange.
Torenia (Torenia hybrids): You cannot go wrong with any of the spreading torenia in the Summer Wave Series. They spread and bloom from late spring to frost. Summer Wave® Large Blue is probably my favorite.
Perennial Flowers for Shade
Rozanne Hardy Geranium (Geranium ‘Rozanne’): Purplish-magenta flowers are produced by this hardy geranium throughout summer.
Pink Diamonds Fern-leaved Bleeding Heart (Dicentra hybrid): Standard varieties of this pretty woodland bloomer just flower in late spring or early summer, but ‘Pink Diamonds’ offers showy pink flowers all summer long.
Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaticata): Blooming in mid to late spring, wild blue phlox bears airy stems of five-petaled, pale violet-blue flowers that are visited by butterflies and long-tongued bees. The variety ‘Blue Moon’ has especially large flowers of violet-blue Plants will naturalize over time.
Foamflower (Tiarella spp.): These pretty perennials have attractive foliage and foamy flowers that appear in late spring. Try the new Proven Winners variety ‘Cutting Edge’.
Heuchera (Heuchera hybrids): Here’s another for both beautiful flowers and foliage. There are hundreds of varieties on the market with beautifully colored (gold, orange, burgundy, purple, red, etc.) and textured leaves and wands of colorful spring flowers. The variety Dolce® ‘Spearmint’ coral bells is a very strong bloomer. Terra Nova nurseries develops the most fantastic forms of this garden favorite.
Happy flower gardening!
Jessie Keith
Black Gold Horticulturist
