12 Shade Perennials to Plant in Your Garden

As a devoted garden enthusiast, there’s nothing more rewarding, relaxing and creatively expressive for me than to select a variety of plants to grow. I love approaching vacant outdoor landscapes as blank canvases and selecting unique plant varieties that create colorful and breathtaking gardens. The way I see it, it’s a wonderful way to express my creativity with an end result that I can enjoy and admire for an entire season. I prefer to work with flowering perennial plants because there are so many beautiful choices that exist. With so many coneflower Echinacea varieties and shade perennials available, it can be an overwhelming process to find to the best type of perennial plant for the style of landscaping and look that you’re trying to achieve.

I recommend the following 12 different types of shade perennials because of their distinct aesthetic qualities and characteristics:

1. Alcea rosea ‘Crème de Cassis:’ Round blossoms with pure-white edges and raspberry-colored centers
2. Alcea rosea ‘Fiesta Time:’ Round and bright rose-colored blossoms with layers upon layers of fringed, soft petals
3. Echinacea ‘Tiki Torch:’ Large flowers defined by long sun-kissed petals reflecting colors of a setting sun; stands out amongst green hostas, shrubs and bushes
4. Echinacea Prairie Pixies™ Cranberry Cupcake: Big, flowery cranberry-colored cones accented with bubblegum-pink rays; fragrant and perfect for a bouquet
5. Decadence™ ‘Lemon Meringue:’ Lemon-colored blossoms perched on deep-green stems amongst lush-green foliage that grow to reach 3-feet tall
6. Campanula ‘White Clips:’ Cup-shaped, snow-colored flowers grow in abundant groups and contrast with forest-green foliage
7. Hardy Jewel™ ‘Ruby Frost:’ Vibrant, ruby-red flower petals outlined with pure-white edging; complements grass-colored or sunshine-yellow perennials for a dramatic and lively look
8. Fire Spinner™ Delopserma: Flower blossoms stand out with bright-orange petals and transform into a purple-pink color that changes to a white center; tricolored flowers create a wildfire effect that illuminate any garden
9. Dianthus ‘Coconut Punch:’ Fragrant blossoms adorned with red-wine-and-white-colored petals with a fringed outline
10. Viola ‘Etain:’ Simple, soft-yellow flower petals with pretty lavender margins
11. Hemerocallis ‘Primal Scream:’ Large, tangerine-colored flowers with rippled edges reflect sunshine and dramatically curl into its straight green stems
12. Hemerocallis ‘Strawberry Candy:’ Soft-pink flower blossoms accented with a rosy eye zone and sweetly ruffled edges; creates a feminine and warm appearance

Perennials include a wide range of species and genus such as the coneflower Echinacea, Dianthus, Achillea and Delphinium. Not only are there so many different kinds of perennials, but there are endless shape and color combinations that can create one-of-a-kind, beautiful gardens!