Annual Flowers for Shade

Establishing annual flowers for shade garden featuring a mixture of woody ornamentals, herbaceous perennials, and annual foliage along with flowering annuals have always appealed to me especially during the hot summer months.

You can design and create shade gardens in many different styles including but not limited to:

• English
• Formal
• Semi-Formal
• Casual
• Woodland.

Of these five themes the walk through woodland garden appeals to me over the others as it lacks the somewhat stuffy feel of the formal garden and usually tends to be more relaxed than even the other three styles.

Whatever design style that you choose we suggest that you consider using some of the following plant material in your very own shade garden.

Some of the very best foliage and flowering annuals for shade are as follows:

• Begonias, tuberous – both upright and weeping forms.
  
  
• Boston Ferns – along with other non-cold hardy varieties.
  
  
• Caladiums, Elephant Ear – choose from green and almost black varieties.
  
  
• Caladiums, Fancy Leaf – available in shades of green, pink, red and white.
  
  
• Coleus, shade forms – select your favorite color combinations.
  
  
• Impatiens, New Guinea – broad color range.
  
  
• Impatiens, standard – selections such as Super Elfin are fantastic with a large palette of colors.
  
  
• Joseph’s Coat – colors will not be as vivid in the shade but the plants will thrive.