These shade garden ideas, plant suggestions, and photos will inspire you to add bold, beautiful colors, even in the shadiest reaches of your yard.

Get some shade garden design ideas and inspiration (with pictures) for both small front yard garden beds and larger backyard woodland gardens

This garden designer is a pro at plantings for shade. She did the heavy lifting so you don't have to. Find plants here for a colorful shade garden.

Get some shade garden design ideas and inspiration (with pictures) for both small front yard garden beds and larger backyard woodland gardens

Get some shade garden design ideas and inspiration (with pictures) for both small front yard garden beds and larger backyard woodland gardens

Does your shade garden need a pick-me-up? Check out these two combos that will liven up any shady border with color and texture from spring to fall.

Do you have a shady area of your yard that would make a beautiful garden, but you don’t know where to start? Allow us to help! Better Homes and Gardens is a great resource for gardeners who want....

These shade garden ideas, plant suggestions, and photos will inspire you to add bold, beautiful colors, even in the shadiest reaches of your yard.

These shade loving shrubs will fill in the space under trees with beautiful flowers and interesting foliage to beautify those shady areas.

Olander Garden Design | Before and After photos

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Shade gardens can feel bright with the right advice. Our design ideas will see yours full of lush foliage, beautiful flowers, even veg and more.

These shade garden ideas, plant suggestions, and photos will inspire you to add bold, beautiful colors, even in the shadiest reaches of your yard.

In my last post, we finished off at the entrance to the one sunny pocket in the backyard garden. Let's head under the arbor and look around. Before we move away to explore the rest of the garden, I wanted to show you this pretty, little Japanese birdbath. I also want to point out the interesting way the gardener has managed to combine rock of different scales both in this bright, sunny corner and in other areas of the garden. On the left, she has created a dry stream bed using river rock with a flagstone edging. On the right, she has mixed flagstone with pea gravel to create a path. Pea gravel has a nice crunch under foot, but flagstone is easier to walk on. Assorted groundcovers soften and blend the edges of the path into the rest of the plantings. And speaking of groundcovers...I like Creeping Jenny, but I always stress over its aggressive spread. This gardener obviously does not share my worry, because as you will notice, she has it planted throughout the garden. It does make an interesting textural matt under this Japanese Maple doesn't it? She had this Black Bamboo, Phyllostachys nigra planted in a partially buried pot (initially slow to spread, but be warned, it can also be invasive). I love the skirt of ornamental grass that hides the pot. Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' Moving to the left, we enter an area of half-shade with dappled sunlight. Among the flowering plants and shrubs are pink Astilbe and a number of hydrangeas. As you can imagine, she waters both frequently! In terms of foliage plants, the homeowner has planted a variety of hosta, heuchera and variegated Jacob's Ladder (see lower right corner two photos back). There are also Ostrich Ferns toward the back of this flowerbed. In the far corner of the garden, there are a number of mature trees and full shade conditions. Added to the combination of hosta and heuchera, there is a Japanese Painted Fern, Athyrium niponicum var. pictum on the left. I am going to make a wild guess that the perennial on the right is a Heuchera,'Southern Comfort'. Always pretty for shade: Siberian Bugloss, Brunnera macrophylla, 'Jack Frost' I thought this was a fun idea. Hanging from the tree branches are several birdcages with plant pots inside. No room for a full-sized pond? Check this out! This pond was no bigger than a bucket. I messed up this shot a little and missed the last word expressed in the sentiment on the little pebbles in the foreground. The rocks say, "Hello, have a nice day!" I pass that sentiment on to you.

Rodgersia — a great, big plant for shade, no matter where you garden.

Does your shade garden need a pick-me-up? Check out these two combos that will liven up any shady border with color and texture from spring to fall.

Shade gardens are a great place to showcase your love for green! From perennials to evergreens, here are 5 shade gardens to inspire your back yard!

So you want to have a beautiful yard filled with plants that will add character, but you have no sun because your entire yard is covered with trees? Do you have a back covered patio that’s in need of some refreshing and updating? Well, we at Garden Valley Farmers Market, have got you covered with o

Shade garden plants that tolerate wet soil can bring color and life to damp, dark corners of the garden. Here are choices of shrubs and perennials.

Featuring a mix of easy-care plants, this design is the perfect way to add color to a shaded spot in your yard.

Looking for shade plants that can make your not-so-sunny garden look great? These are some of the best!

If you're new to gardening or just need a refresher, this is the best place to find advice on everything from how to plant seeds to what is propagation.

Get ideas for designing a shade garden. See pictures of shady gardens and learn about plants that thrive in the shade.

If there are spots in your garden that never seem to flourish no matter what you try, our planting plans can help. Download our free guides.

I consider myself very lucky to live where I do, in the Pacific Northwest. The temperate weather and ... Read More

Is there anything lovelier than a shade garden on a warm day? It's hard to beat!

Turn a shady spot into a thriving garden with HGTV.com's top shade-loving plant picks.

Perennials that thrive in a shady garden. Shade perennials prized for blooms or foliage. Don't sacrifice style or design.

These leafy perennials are showy, shade tolerant, and a cinch to grow—and new varieties offer a wider-than-ever range of leaf color, size, and texture. Read on to learn how to pick and plant them to create a sensational landscape

It's often hard to know what to grow in a shady area. Here's a list of beautiful, shade-tolerant plants, including: astilbe, hostas, anemone, aquilegia, epimedium, and trillium. Photographs & descriptions of these shade-loving plants.

These shade garden ideas, plant suggestions, and photos will inspire you to add bold, beautiful colors, even in the shadiest reaches of your yard.

Intro: Ever wonder how professional garden designers put together color combinations and create perfect textural contrast in the landscape? By following a few basic principles, you can do it yourself! Here’s a quick visual study of how it’s done.

Browse our resources for DIY projects you can complete yourself. Get inspiration and ideas for home projects to build, remodel or decorate.

If your border is short on sunlight, fill it up with this lush, shade-loving combo. Your garden will look fresh all season long.

In the shade of large oak trees, Better Homes & Gardens Test Garden® manager Sandra Gerdes plants hostas and other perennials in drifts for a sense of movement, with leaf colors and textures rather than flowers driving most of the design. In a foliage-heavy border, a large shrub that looks good through several seasons gives you a focal point. Here, ‘Incrediball’ hydrangea’s white flowers brighten the scene in summer, fading to rosy pink that lasts into the fall.

Learn which Hosta companion plants will look the best in your yard with lots of shade garden pictures to provide inspiration and ideas.

HGTV shares some of the best shrubs for shade gardens, including shade shrubs such as oakleaf hydrangeas, Euonymus, viburnum and elderberries that will add color to your garden with their flowers and foliage.

One of the biggest changes that mark the shift from winter into spring is the emergence of green leaves. Foliage never looks so fresh and vibrant as it does in the spring! Today I want to share a bird-friendly garden where foliage is the star. May Overall, the palette of this garden is quiet and restrained. What stands out for me is not the layout: it's basically a green lawn with perimeter flowerbeds. This approach to design is so commonly employed, it is almost standard issue. What is worthy of note is the planting. June Green is the pervasive color here. At first consideration, this may seem like a simplistic use of color, but there is a subtle sophistication at work here that makes the appearance of fresh green leaves seem all the more dramatic each spring. June The different shades of the green play off one another, and even though the flowerbed is largely a single color, the planting as a whole, reads as quietly "colorful". In this little corner, you can see a great example of the blend of different greens. 1 The bright green in the top left corner is fresh growth on a Yew. 2 In the center is a blue-green Actaea pachypoda 'Misty Blue'. 3 In the lower right-hand corner is the ferny foliage of an Astilbe. 4 Dogwood tree 5. Japanese Forrest Grass, Hakonechloa 6. Solomon Seal, Polygonatum Actaea pachypoda 'Misty Blue' has blue-green foliage and white flowers in spring. In summer the flowers become white berries on contrasting red stems. This plant prefers sandy or clay soil with average to moist growing conditions. Height:60-90 cm (23-35 inches) , Spread: 60-90 cm (23-35 inches). USDA Zones: 3-9. Japanese Forest Grass, Hakonechloa and Solomon Seal, Polygonatum June The combination of plants is quite exquisite here. The creamy-white variegation of the hostas, the grey-green leaves of the Japanese Maple, and the sharp chartreuse of the Pagoda Dogwood all work together to lift and lighten this area of the garden. 1. Yew 2. Golden Shadows Pagoda Dogwood 3. May Apple, Podophyllum peltatum which is a native plant. 4. Solomon Seal, Polygonatum 5. 'Butterfly' Japanese Maple 6. Astilbe 7. Astilbe 8. Astilbe Golden Shadows Pagoda Dogwood May This is a bird-friendly garden. In clear view of the backyard patio is a squirrel-proof bird feeder. The homeowners have added a circle of bricks at the base of the feeder that is both decorative and practical. Not only does it mean that fallen seed is less likely to sprout in the lawn, but it also makes cleaning up any stray birdseed easy to do with a broom. A bird feeder like this may just turn out to be one of my first spring projects! Birds are also given easy access to nesting materials, which hang in a number of locations. 1. Magnolia tree 2. Astilbe 3. Hosta 4. Lungwort, Pulmonaria with spotted grey-green foliage. 5. Big Root Geranium, 'Geranium macrorrhizum'. Bigroot Geranium, 'Geranium macrorrhizum' June What makes this section stand out is the careful consideration of each plant's attributes. The Astilbe in the foreground is quite glossy and shiny, while the larger leaves of the hostas are more matt. Also adding complexity to the design is the combination of leaf shapes and sizes. In this little plant grouping, there are two Hostas and two Astilbes. The Astilbe in the upper left corner is fern-like, while the one in the lower half of the picture is so dense, it is almost moss-like. June May Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart' has amazing chartreuse foliage and pink heart-shaped flowers in spring. Normal, sandy or clay soils all work for this plant. It likes average to moist growing conditions. The foliage will start to fade and go dormant in late summer. Part to full shade. Height: 60-90 cm (23-35 inches), Spread: 60-90 cm (23-35 inches). USDA Zones: 2-9. As any experienced gardener will tell you, flowers come and go. A garden where foliage is given a starring role is always going to look terrific. Bookmark this post with a PIN.

I think I struck a cord with my last post highlighting a small suburban shade garden. Obviously gardeners are hungry for planting suggestions for shade. In this…

So you want to have a beautiful yard filled with plants that will add character, but you have no sun because your entire yard is covered with trees? Do you have a back covered patio that’s in need of some refreshing and updating? Well, we at Garden Valley Farmers Market, have got you covered with our seven favorite perennials that will absolutely THRIVE in the shade, and leave your house looking like a home for years to come…

Today we’re visiting with Shelley Haefner in Old Chatham, New York, who is sharing a few favorite garden photos that always help her make it through those long New York […]

In my last post, we finished off at the entrance to the one sunny pocket in the backyard garden. Let's head under the arbor and look around. Before we move away to explore the rest of the garden, I wanted to show you this pretty, little Japanese birdbath. I also want to point out the interesting way the gardener has managed to combine rock of different scales both in this bright, sunny corner and in other areas of the garden. On the left, she has created a dry stream bed using river rock with a flagstone edging. On the right, she has mixed flagstone with pea gravel to create a path. Pea gravel has a nice crunch under foot, but flagstone is easier to walk on. Assorted groundcovers soften and blend the edges of the path into the rest of the plantings. And speaking of groundcovers...I like Creeping Jenny, but I always stress over its aggressive spread. This gardener obviously does not share my worry, because as you will notice, she has it planted throughout the garden. It does make an interesting textural matt under this Japanese Maple doesn't it? She had this Black Bamboo, Phyllostachys nigra planted in a partially buried pot (initially slow to spread, but be warned, it can also be invasive). I love the skirt of ornamental grass that hides the pot. Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' Moving to the left, we enter an area of half-shade with dappled sunlight. Among the flowering plants and shrubs are pink Astilbe and a number of hydrangeas. As you can imagine, she waters both frequently! In terms of foliage plants, the homeowner has planted a variety of hosta, heuchera and variegated Jacob's Ladder (see lower right corner two photos back). There are also Ostrich Ferns toward the back of this flowerbed. In the far corner of the garden, there are a number of mature trees and full shade conditions. Added to the combination of hosta and heuchera, there is a Japanese Painted Fern, Athyrium niponicum var. pictum on the left. I am going to make a wild guess that the perennial on the right is a Heuchera,'Southern Comfort'. Always pretty for shade: Siberian Bugloss, Brunnera macrophylla, 'Jack Frost' I thought this was a fun idea. Hanging from the tree branches are several birdcages with plant pots inside. No room for a full-sized pond? Check this out! This pond was no bigger than a bucket. I messed up this shot a little and missed the last word expressed in the sentiment on the little pebbles in the foreground. The rocks say, "Hello, have a nice day!" I pass that sentiment on to you.

Enjoy beautiful color from spring into fall, thanks to foliage and flowers that don't need a lot of sun.

While you need plenty of sun to grow many of the better-known flowers for cutting, there are several excellent cut flowers that thrive in the shade.

These shade loving shrubs will fill in the space under trees with beautiful flowers and interesting foliage to beautify those shady areas.

Shade is always a difficult condition to garden in, but it's far from impossible. Here are some combinations of plants for shade.

This garden designer is a pro at plantings for shade. She did the heavy lifting so you don't have to. Find plants here for a colorful shade garden.

These shade garden ideas, plant suggestions, and photos will inspire you to add bold, beautiful colors, even in the shadiest reaches of your yard.