25 Best Plants For Dry Shade Gardens

Walking through a garden center, it’s easy to see that many plants are best suited for full sun and moist soil. Gardening in the shade is a challenge, and even more so when you have both shade and dry soil. Luckily for those of us with these landscape conditions, there is a good selection of plants that not only tolerate but thrive in challenging conditions.

If you have a dry shade landscape, you can make good use of it with plants well-suited to those conditions. Consider using existing native trees as the anchor for your garden design, and work lower-statured plants in among them. If you have enough space, create a natural pathway and line the edges with low-growing plants and ground covers, placing the taller perennials and shrubs in the background. 

For those with more limited space, you can create a beautiful shade garden just using containers or raised beds. Choose drought-tolerant, shade-loving plants for your shaded patio containers or planters along a shaded side of your home. There’s no limit to the imagination when it comes to being creative with plants!

Choose the best plants to match the growing conditions of your yard. If you know you have lots of shade and fairly dry soil, buy plants that will thrive in that environment. You will then be able to create a low-maintenance, healthy garden, so you will have more time to relax and enjoy your space.

Read on to learn more about 25 fabulous plants you can grow in dry shade conditions. Then, have fun creating or enhancing your shade garden!

Barrenwort

	botanical name Epimedium spp.
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 0.5 – 1 foot
	hardiness zones 5 – 8

Barrenwort, also called bishop’s hat, includes several species originating in China and the Mediterranean. Many beautiful cultivars are available in the gardening trade, with variability in the showy foliage and flowers. You can grow barrenwort in a shaded garden plot in most temperate climates. 

Barrenwort has beautiful foliage with clumping bunches of heart-shaped green, purple, bronze, or mottled leaves. The flowers can be white, yellow, red, pink, or purple and bloom in the springtime. Barrenwort readily spreads by creeping rhizomes to become a dense ground cover. Keep your patches growing vigorously by thinning them every few years. You can easily propagate barrenwort by dividing larger clumps.

Bear’s Breeches

	botanical name Acanthus mollis
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 3 – 6 feet
	hardiness zones 7 – 10

Bear’s breeches is a dramatic perennial that is sure to capture your attention as well as your heart. This plant is native to Europe and Africa and is easily grown in warmer climates. Give it a spacious plot in your shade garden, cottage garden, or rock garden with any well-drained soil. It’s also a good choice for a large, decorative planter garden.

Bear’s breeches develops a basal rosette of large, deeply lobed, leaves. The glossy leaves are typically deep green. The leaf tips end with a dramatic, prickly point. Its hefty flowering stalks bloom in late spring or early summer. The flowering spikes are lined with pink, purple, or white hooded, tubular blooms. These make excellent cut flowers if you are looking for something to dominate your floral arrangement!

Bigroot Geranium

	botanical name Geranium macrorrhizum
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 0.5 – 1.5 foot
	hardiness zones 4 – 8

Bigroot geranium is a hardy variety of geranium native to Europe and prefers cooler to moderate climates. These attractive perennials thrive in a partially shaded location with rich, dry to medium-moisture soil. Grow bigroot geraniums in a shaded rock garden or patio garden for a showy display. 

Bigroot geranium is a fast-growing plant that develops rounded mounds of foliage. The leaves are deeply lobed and toothed, and slightly soft and fuzzy to the touch. Bigroot geranium blooms in the spring and summer. The beautiful five-petaled flowers are typically pink, although there are several cultivars with different flower colors, including white and varying shades of pink and purple. Try growing a few different cultivars together for an interesting display.

Christmas Fern

	botanical name Polystichum acrostichoides
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 9

Christmas fern is a common species of hardy fern native to the woodlands of eastern North America. This low-maintenance fern will thrive in a shaded location with dry to medium-moisture soil. These ferns look wonderful in a woodland garden, cottage garden, or winter garden. They also grow well in containers and can be brought in for the winter and used as a cold-weather houseplant.

Christmas ferns stay green throughout most of the winter. In early spring, the old fronds die back as new fronds emerge as fresh fiddleheads, unfurling from long curled stems. Ferns don’t produce flowers, but they display mounded clumps of attractive foliage. Ferns go with everything, complimenting any other plants in your shade garden. Grow several species of ferns together for a dramatic fern garden, or incorporate ferns with other woodland vegetation for a very appealing variety and diversity of plants.

Columbine

	botanical name Aquilegia spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 8

Columbine is an herbaceous perennial wildflower with many different varieties. There are columbine species native throughout North America, as well as several spectacular cultivars. These plants are easy to grow from seed, low maintenance, and they thrive in a shaded location to add color to your shade garden. 

Columbine blooms in the spring. The nodding multi-tubed flowers are extremely showy and very unique looking. Their unusual shape not only looks great in your garden, but these flowers are a hummingbird favorite. After blooming, the showy seed pods continue to add ornamental interest. While individual columbine plants are somewhat short-lived, they have a tendency to reseed themselves, so you’ll always have new columbines to look forward to. 

Coral Bells 

	botanical name Heuchera spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 0.5 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 9

Coral bells, also known as alumroot, is an herbaceous perennial that makes a superb addition to a shaded landscape. There are countless cultivars of coral bells, each with colorful foliage and tiny showy flowers. Some coral bells varieties will grow and spread on their own, slowly filling in an area, but they don’t become invasive to difficult to control. There are coral bells species native throughout North America. 

Since coral bells are low-growing and their colorful vegetation is appealing throughout the growing season, place these plants along a low border or edge, along a rock wall, or in any other prominent place in your landscape because you will definitely want to see them. Grow several coral bells together in a large clump for an excellent ground cover. 

Cranberry Cotoneaster 

	botanical name Cotoneaster apiculatus
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 2 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 4 – 7

Cranberry cotoneaster is a deciduous shrub native to China. It can grow up to three feet tall but spreads twice as wide, making an effective shrubby ground cover. This interesting shrub has small, leathery, glossy green leaves and bright red berries that mature in the fall for some spectacular late-season color. 

Grow your cranberry cotoneaster in a container, draped over a wall, or sprawling down a hill. It prefers dry, well-drained soil and is quite drought-tolerant once it becomes established. The fruits of this plant provide a food source for birds and cover for birds and other small animals. Cranberry cotoneaster prefers cooler climates and isn’t bothered by deer or rabbits. 

Fragrant Sweetbox

	botanical name Sarcococca ruscifolia
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 3 – 4 feet
	hardiness zones 7 – 9

For those who live in a warmer climate, if you are looking for a broadleaf evergreen shrub to liven up your landscape, look no further than a fragrant sweetbox. This dense, low-growing shrub can grow to four feet tall and equally as wide. Plant several together for a low hedge or shrub border. You can also incorporate a fragrant sweetbox into an arrangement with other shrubs with different foliage for some interesting variety.

Fragrant sweetbox blooms in late winter with intense, sweetly fragrant white flowers. It then produces small, dark red berries that are favored by birds. Place your fragrant sweetbox in a shaded location with dry to medium-moisture, well-drained soil.

You don’t need to worry about deer nibbling on this plant, and when grown in favorable conditions, the fragrant sweetbox is a wonderful addition to the landscape. Mulch around the roots to preserve soil moisture and protect the shallow root system. 

Lenten Rose

	botanical name Helleborus spp.
	sun requirements Partial shade
	height 1 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 5 – 8

Lenten rose plants are tough and thrive on neglect. Plant them in a shaded location with well-drained soil, and they will establish, grow, and slowly spread by self-seeding. You won’t need to do anything at all to enjoy watching your Lenten roses thrive. These plants are virtually disease-free, and deer and rabbits avoid them. All parts of the Hellebore plant are poisonous, so don’t try eating them yourself. 

There is a delightful variety of Hellebore cultivars with varying flower colors. The showy flowers are large, nodding, and cuplike, blooming in late winter and early spring. The leaves are tough and leathery, staying evergreen to provide year-round vegetation in your landscape. Harsh winters or hot, dry summers can cause the leaves to look ragged, but they’ll grow back with renewed vigor in the spring. If you have a large wooded plot, allow your Lenten rose plants to naturalize, and they will slowly fill in to provide a spectacular display of flowers and vegetation.

Lilyturf

	botanical name Liriope spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to full shade
	height 0.5 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 4 – 10

Lilyturf, also known as monkey grass, is an amazingly hardy and versatile landscaping plant native to Asia. This mounding evergreen perennial is very popular and easy to find in garden centers and nurseries. Check out the many Liriope cultivars with variegated foliage, different sizes, and flower variations. Lilyturf has thin, grass-like leaves and spiky white, pink, or purple flowers. Some species stay very small and make a good grass alternative and ground cover for low-traffic parts of your yard.

Lilyturf grows well in any light conditions. Plants grown with more sun will develop fuller leafy clusters and more abundant flowers, but even in heavy shade, these plants tend to look great. They are tolerant of almost any soil conditions as well. Lilyturf spreads slowly as the clusters expand each year. Large clusters can be easily divided and moved to start new colonies. 

Japanese Forest Grass

	botanical name Hakonechloa macra
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 5 – 9

It’s especially difficult to find grasses that love dry shade conditions. Japanese forest grass is a shade-loving ornamental grass native to Japan. Grow it in your shade garden, add greenery under some tall trees, or use it in a container garden. It is easy to grow and a very popular landscaping plant. There are several fascinating cultivars with colorful and variegated foliage. Japanese forest grass is primarily grown for its attractive foliage rather than its small, summer-blooming flowers.

Japanese forest grass spreads by creeping runners to form large, gracefully arching clumps of lush vegetation. Allow it to drape over the edge of a container or over a stone wall for dramatic effect. Despite its spreading habit, it is easy to control and not considered invasive. This grass grows well in a variety of conditions but seems to prefer partial sunlight with rich, moist soil with excellent drainage. 

Japanese Painted Fern

	botanical name Athyrium niponicum var. pictum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1.5 – 2 feet
	hardiness zones 4 – 9

The Japanese painted fern is one of the more colorful ferns you will encounter. This plant is native to eastern Asia and is sold at garden centers for its ornamental foliage. Bright sunlight will wash out the colors, tending to revert the fronds to pure green, but when grown in the shade, the tri-colored fronds shine with shades of silver, green, and maroon. 

Japanese painted fern is a low-growing, clump-forming plant. Place several of these ferns in close proximity for a beautiful ground cover. Use Japanese painted fern for a low, shaded border, along a pathway in your woodland garden, or in a shaded patio garden container. These ferns are deciduous but will send up fresh new fronds each spring and even produce several new fronds throughout the growing season. 

Japanese Plum-Yew

	botanical name Cephalotaxus harringtonia
	sun requirements Full sun to full shade
	height 5 – 10 feet
	hardiness zones 6 – 9

The Japanese plum-yew, also known as the spreading plum-yew, is an evergreen shrub native to Asia. It performs well as a woodland and shade-garden plant in the southeastern United States. Once established, the Japanese plum-yew is highly drought-tolerant. 

Try growing several Japanese plum-yews together as an evergreen border or hedge row. Their dense branches are lined with feathery, short needles. Despite the name, the Japanese plum-yew is not a true yew plant, but it does produce fleshy reddish-purple fruits that resemble plums. Deer and rabbits won’t bother these plants, but fruit-eating birds will enjoy foraging on the fruits.

Korean Spice Viburnum

	botanical name Viburnum carlesii
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 4 – 6 feet
	hardiness zones 4 – 7

The Korean spice viburnum is a small to medium-sized shrub with several garden-friendly cultivars. These deciduous shrubs develop an attractive rounded form and make a nice addition to many landscape styles. Use Korean spice viburnum as an accent plant or incorporate several into a low hedge or border between a sunny and shaded area of your landscape. There are some wonderful cultivars of this plant to add some spice to your garden.

If you enjoy plants with fragrant flowers, the Korean spice viburnum would be a good choice. In the springtime, pretty pink buds open to reveal tubular flowers that attract pollinators. Each cluster of densely packed white flowers looks like a snowball and has a deliciously sweet smell. Korean spice viburnum tends to create suckering offshoots and can form dense patches, so it’s a good idea to prune them each spring to maintain good form.

Mountain Stonecrop

	botanical name Sedum ternatum
	sun requirements Full sun to full shade
	height 0.25 – 0.5 foot
	hardiness zones 3 – 9

Mountain stonecrop is a low-growing succulent native to eastern North America. In its natural habitat, it often grows in rocky outcroppings of shaded woodland habitats. Most succulents prefer full sun, but the mountain stonecrop thrives in partial shade and performs well even in fully shaded spots. It prefers dry to slightly moist soil with excellent drainage.

Mountain stonecrop makes an excellent ground cover for a rock garden, xeriscape, or container garden. In most climates, your mountain stonecrop will be evergreen, but it may die back to the ground in harsh winter climates. Clusters of showy, white, star-shaped flowers bloom in the springtime, attracting pollinators. Stonecrop is easily propagated by stem cuttings, so you just need one or two plants to get started, and then you can propagate more and allow them to creep along the ground to fill in broader areas.

Oregon Grape

	botanical name Berberis aquifolium
	sun requirements Partial shade
	height 3 – 6 feet
	hardiness zones 5 – 8

Oregon grape, also known as Oregon grape holly, is an evergreen shrub native to the Pacific Northwest. It is hardy and adaptable and makes an interesting landscaping plant, especially for difficult dry shade locations. Oregon grapes are fairly slow growing and unlike many shrubs, don’t develop a full, branching, rounded shape. Rather, they develop an upright growth form with a single main stem and a leafy cluster at the top.

Oregon grape has prickly, leathery, holly-like leaves. These tough leaves are glossy green throughout the summer, turning bronze in the fall and winter. Bunches of yellow flowers bloom in mid-spring, followed by dark black-blue berries that can persist on the plants into the winter. Grow a cluster of Oregon grape plants in your woodland garden for their attractive year-round vegetation.

Pennsylvania Sedge

	botanical name Carex pensylvanica
	sun requirements Full sun to full shade
	height 0.5 – 0.75 foot
	hardiness zones 3 – 8

Pennsylvania sedge is one of those unusual plants that seems to thrive in any growing conditions, from full sun to full shade and dry to moist soils. Its native habitat and preferred environment seems to be a shaded location with sandy, well-drained soil. Pennsylvania sedge makes a great grass alternative for a shaded landscape, although it doesn’t tolerate heavy foot traffic and is best left for naturalized areas. 

This little sedge forms rounded clusters of thin, grass-like leaves. These dense tufts stay green throughout the growing season and even through the winter in mild climates. In the springtime, it sends up inconspicuous spiky flowering stalks. Pennsylvania sedge is native to the central and eastern United States and Canada. 

Siberian Bugloss

	botanical name Brunnera macrophylla
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 8

Siberian bugloss is a clump-forming perennial native to western Asia. It’s in the borage family, and like borage, it has somewhat fuzzy leaves and blue flowers. The Siberian bugloss blooms in the spring with its small, delicate flower clusters. For the duration of the growing season, you can enjoy its attractive leaves. Some cultivars have beautiful variegated foliage, which would be a stand-out feature anywhere you plant it. 

Siberian bugloss makes a good ground cover for your shade garden or perhaps along a shaded edge of a house. Be prepared to give your Siberian bugloss some room to spread out as it will tend to grow wider than it is tall. It also grows well in a container garden. You won’t need to worry about deer or rabbits nibbling on the leaves, as they don’t seem to like the somewhat tough and bristly texture.

Solomon’s Seal

	botanical name Polygonatum biflorum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1.5 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 9

Solomon’s seal is a wildflower native to eastern and central North America. It typically grows in moist woodlands but is adaptable to a variety of soil types as long as it gets plenty of shade and some regular moisture. Solomon’s seal plants tend to multiply very slowly, spreading by thick root rhizomes. These rhizomes can be divided and propagated in early spring or simply allow your Solomon’s seal to naturalize in your shade garden plot.

Solomon’s seal plants somewhat resemble ferns. Their long, gracefully arching stems emerge from the ground each spring, lined with single, alternating leaves. The flowers bloom in the spring, lining the underside of the arching stems. If you lift a leafy stem to peer underneath, you will see the nodding, bell-like white flowers dangling below. After flowering, dark blue-black berries develop, which are then eaten by foraging birds. 

Spotted Deadnettle

	botanical name Lamium maculatum
	sun requirements Partial shade
	height 1 – 2 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 8

Spotted deadnettle is a beautiful low-growing plant that makes an excellent ground cover in your shade garden or woodland garden. There are several deadnettle cultivars with beautifully diverse variegated leaves, with splotches of green and silver. The leaves tend to be soft and downy to the touch and have a distinctive pungent scent when crushed.

Spotted deadlettle is native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. In mild climates, it stays evergreen but will go dormant in cooler climates. Allow your spotted deadnettle to spread freely and naturalize in a shaded plot to form a dense mat of vegetation. The purple or pink flowers are small and tubular, attracting bunches of bees and even hummingbirds.

St. John’s Wort

	botanical name Hypericum calycinum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 5 – 10

St. John’s wort is an attractive deciduous shrub that grows very well in a shaded garden plot.  St. John’s wort plants tend to have the most abundant flowers when grown in full sun but also perform well in partial shade. They do well in dry to medium-moisture soils as long as the soil is well-drained. Once established, St. John’s wort plants are very hardy and easy to maintain. 

Get ready for a burst of bright yellow flowers each spring. As the flowers open, they attract numerous pollinators. After a few years, healthy plants start to spread by underground runners, and you’ll soon have a large patch. Prune your plants low in late winter if you want them to stay very low-growing, or allow them to grow naturally for taller bunches. St. John’s wort makes an appealing plant for containers and patio gardens.

Striped Wintergreen

	botanical name Chimaphila maculata
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 0.5 – 1 foot
	hardiness zones 5 – 8

Striped wintergreen is an appealing perennial wildflower native to central and eastern North America. It grows in dry woodlands with plenty of shade and well-drained soil. This is an ideal plant for your woodland garden or a little shaded corner under some taller trees or shrubs. 

Striped wintergreen has leathery, evergreen leaves with a thin, silvery-green stripe down the center vein. They form small, loose colonies on the forest floor and spread slowly, making an attractive ground cover for your shade garden. The nodding, white flowers appear on taller central stalks in early summer. Deer and rabbits don’t bother these plants because of their minty scent. 

Twinflower

	botanical name Linnaea borealis
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 0.25 – 0.5 foot
	hardiness zones 2 – 6

Twinflower is a low-growing perennial wildflower native to northern North America and Europe. While twinflower tends to grow in cool, moist, forested habitats, it is widely adaptable to different soil conditions. You can grow twinflower in a cooler climate in a shade garden with moist or dry soil, as long as it’s well drained and receives some regular moisture.

Twinflower is fairly inconspicuous for most of the growing season. This creeping ground cover has rounded, glossy leaves and spreads to form loose mats of vegetation on the forest floor. In early summer, be on the lookout for the twin, nodding, bell-like flowers. These flowers are pale pink or peach colored and highly fragrant, attracting plenty of pollinators to your shaded landscape. 

White Wood Aster

	botanical name Eurybia divaricata
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1 – 3 feet
	hardiness zones 3 – 8

Unlike most asters that thrive in full sun, the white wood aster loves the shade. This native woodland perennial is found in eastern North America. It would be an excellent wildflower for your native shade garden. Give it a little patch to spread out in, as this fast-growing plant will form ever-expanding clumps, spreading by rhizomes. 

White wood aster is an understated wildflower for your shaded pollinator garden or cottage garden. The leaves are deer-resistant and form attractive mounds. The showy daisy-like white flowers appear from late summer into early fall and help bring pollinators to your shaded garden. Birds and small mammals will find the fall seeds appealing. This plant is also a larval host plant for the pearl crescent butterfly.

Yellow Corydalis

	botanical name Corydalis lutea
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1 – 1.5 feet
	hardiness zones 5 – 7

Yellow corydalis is a mounding perennial native to Europe. This showy flowering plant forms neat mounds and makes an excellent option for planting along a shaded walkway or showy border. It would also look great in a natural woodland setting or shaded rock garden. Grow it in any shaded location with dry to medium moisture, well-drained soil. 

Yellow corydalis has delicate, fern-like foliage that’s very attractive throughout the growing season. In spring and summer, enjoy the showy clusters of tubular yellow flowers. In ideal conditions, yellow corydalis will spread quickly by self-seeding. Thin any unwanted seedlings each spring to help maintain the desired population of these beautiful plants. This plant is an excellent selection for a container garden where it’s easy to maintain the desired number of plants.