Ten Easy-to-Grow Perennials for Shade

Shade gardening can be challenging, but you don't have to settle for the same three flats of begonias or impatiens year after boring year. While annual flowers may seem relatively inexpensive compared to perennial plants, when you consider that you have to shell out the same money over and over again every spring to get the same effect, perennials start to look a little more affordable.

Two gallon pot perennial plants cost will set you back about the same amount of money as a flat of annuals at any big box store or garden center, but next year the perennial plant will turn into three perennial plants all by itself, where as the annuals will just be deceased.

You can also often find free perennial plant material by talking to friends, families, and neighbors about your gardening plans. Some shade perennials are so prolific that other people are happy to give away what they thin out of their own beds. Even garden centers often give things away as the season nears its end rather than winter over an item they know will look sad come spring unless somebody puts it in the ground.

Perennial gardening is not as difficult as you might think, even if all you have is shade. Start small, and add what you can when you can, and before you know it everyone will think you are Martha Stewart (only without the prison record).

The following shade perennials are so easy even I can grow them. Give one or two of them a try, and I guarantee you'll be hooked in no time.

Hosta Hosta are very forgiving plants, and their trademark heartshaped leaves and tall flower spikes come in literally hundreds of varieties. 'Big blue' hosta varieties are happiest in deep shade or full shade, while the green varieties tinged with white can tolerate partial shade or even full sun (with good moisture). Many interesting miniature hostas have been developed, some in lime green and some with yellowish foliage that practically glows in shade. Once hostas are established you can dig them up in the fall and divide them to get more plants.

Coral Bells (Heuchera) Coral bells will grow almost anywhere, but they are happiest in partial shade conditions where they get some morning and/or evening sun but are shaded during the hottest part of the afternoon. 'Palace Purple' is a popular variety with deep maroon foliage and pink flowers, but you can also find frosted leaves with darker pink flowers, lime green leaves, rust colored leaves, and ruffled leaves.

Astilbe Astilbe have a fernlike appearance and send you feathery spires in late spring to early summer that have a very delicate appearance. They pair well with hosta because of the contrasting foliage, and because most astilbe blooms fade just as the hosta blooms are coming on. Astilbe varieties can be found that bloom pink, purple, red, white, cream, and even maroon.

Lungwort (Pulmonaria) This shade loving flowering plant was used as a medicinal in medieval times, hence it's odd name, but you'll like growing it for its soft spotted greenish-white foliage and blue and pink spring blossoms. Lungwort won't like dry shade; so choose a spot that is moist and rarely dries out. Wherever it is happy it spreads steadily so you get more of them over thime.

Brunnera Brunnera looks a little like a cross between a lungwort and a hosta. The large heart shaped leaves are attractive in themselves, and the delicate tiny blue flowers that come on in late May and throughout most of June are lovely. As with lungwort, choose a spot in the shade where brunnera will be shielded from the hot afternoon sun and the soil does not dry out too quickly.

Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra) The only bad thing about bleeding hearts (if you can call it a bad thing) is they don't last all year. They come on in the early spring, are blooming by May, and are gone by summer's heat. They are very easy to grow however and will be back again and again once they are established. If you'ver never seen their distinctive heart-shaped double blooms before, prepare to fall in love.

Columbine (Aquilegia) These lovely drooping spring flowers are bred from a mountain wildflower. Extremely hardy, they come in myriad color combinations, all of them gorgeous. Like bleeding hearts, columbines only hang around for spring and the very earliest part of summer, but that only makes them more special.

Woodland Phlox The paniculata cultivar that grows to about a foot and a half and mostly blooms in shades of pinkish violet is very easy to grow in the shade and spreads rapidly. A patch of woodland phlox is magical in deep shade, and the blossoms smell good too.

Tiarella Tiarella is a pretty little plant that comes in several varieties, some with variegated or frosted leaves. The oak-shaped leaves and delicate flower spikes give tiarella the look of a cross between a heuchera and an astilbe. All three plants--heuchera, astilbe, and tiarella--naturalize well together in full or part shade.

Viola So many different colors of perennial violas are available now that you could easily cheer up the shady parts of your property using nothing but this sturdy little plant. Violas spread rapidly and, like violets, can become invasive when they are really happy, so they make a good first shade perennial for anyone nervous about getting started.