About Low Light Garden Plants

In almost everyone’s landscape there will be areas that receive low light at some point of the day if not all day long. Some of those places could be under patios, trees, one end or side of the house and so on. There are plants that will survive in conditions like that and it may be good to know what they are if you plan on having ornamentals there.

• Always remember that your landscape is a living growing thing. As parts of the landscape mature they will take away nutrients and sunlight in some cases from the rest of the plants. You need to have a look at this periodically to ascertain if changes need to be made to avoid conflicts.


• The best thing to help in solving low light situations is to pick plants that can live with less lighting. Many of these plants will grow vigorously in bright areas provided they get enough moisture.


• There are basically three types of lighting referred to today. That would be light shade where the suns rays are blocked for several hours daily by walls, buildings and so forth. Next would be partial shade where the sun is blocked for hours but the plants receive direct sunlight for early or late sections of the day. Sometimes this would be considered filtered sunlight. Lastly would be the full shade scenario. This would be when no sunlight or very little sunlight reaches the ground at all.


• Try to remember that seasonally these conditions can vary. Some situations where the leaves of large trees create a canopy of shade all summer will change with the leaf drop in the fall. Selective pruning can help with conditions such as this. Also if a fence is involved you can paint it a brighter color and reflect sunlight to an area deprived of sunlight.


• When choosing plants also think of the competition on neighboring plants. Many large trees will remove major amounts of moisture from the ground and they shade the entire area as well.


• Plants you may want to consider having in these sunlight-starved situations would be Wild Ginger, Hosta, Periwinkle, Hydrangea, Polemonuim and Ferns. All of these plants grow well in shady conditions and some produce excellent flowers or beautiful green canopies.