12 Gorgeous Annuals That Thrive in the Shade

Bring elegance to your garden with fuchsias. These shade plants produce gorgeous pendulous flowers, making them ideal for hanging baskets. The petal-filled blooms appear in a number of shades of red, pink, and purple, and some selections can even have variegated foliage. These beautiful shade flowers will also help bring hummingbirds to your yard.

Light: Shade, part sun, or full sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained, consistently moist soil.

Size: Up to 6 feet tall.

Hardiness Zones: 8-10

Buy It: Grand Cape Horn Fuchsia, $14.95, White Flower Farm

An old-fashioned plant closely related to impatiens, balsam blooms in a wide range of shades. Balsam shade flowers tend to be taller and have more intricate flowers than impatiens. It also self-seeds, so plant it once and you're likely to enjoy the beautiful blooms for years in your shade garden.

Light: Shade or full sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained, evenly moist soil.

Size: Up to 3 feet tall.

Buy It: 150 Balsam Seeds, $3.00, Select Seeds and Plants

Add lobelias to shade gardens for rich, true blues. These trailing, colorful shade annuals bloom prolifically in spring and fall, almost covering themselves in flowers. Annual lobelia is a cool-season plant that can tolerate most light conditions, including shade.

Light: Shade, part sun, or full sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained, moist soil.

Size: Up to 3 feet tall.

Buy It: 400 Blue Lobelia Seeds, $2.79, Walmart

Sometimes called wishbone flower, torenia is a pretty shade-loving plant with beautiful trumpet-shaped blooms in a range of shades from blues and purples to pinks and yellows. Versatile torenia is also available in both upright and trailing varieties, so you can grow it in beds, borders, or containers. It's a favorite of hummingbirds too!

Light: Shade or part sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained, consistently moist soil.

Size: Up to 12 inches.

Buy It: Summer Wave Large Blue Wishbone Flower, $8.99, Proven Winners

Golden-leaf selections of oxalis are a stunning complement to browallia; blue and gold always look good together. Oxalis varieties can also have green and purple leaves and are sometimes called shamrocks because of their leaf shape. They also produce pretty pink, white, or yellow flowers. Some varieties of these colorful shade annuals are happy in the sun; others need protection from the sun during the hottest part of the day.

Light: Shade, part sun, or full sun.

Water: Plant in dry, well-drained soil.

Size: Up to 12 inches tall.

Hardiness Zones: 7-11

Buy It: Golden Oxalis, $14.95, Logee's

One of the most popular plants for shady areas, impatiens bloom constantly from spring to fall, offer flowers in just about every color, and couldn't be easier to grow. Look for New Guinea impatiens, which produce larger blossoms and stockier stems; double impatiens, which feature petal-filled, roselike shade flowers; or mini impatiens, which cover themselves in small blooms.

Light: Shade or part sun.

Water: Plant in rich, well-drained soil (impatiens won't survive drought, so give them extra water during dry spells).

Size: Up to 3 feet tall.

Hardiness Zones: 10-11

Buy It: 100 New Guinea Impatiens Seeds, $9.83, Walmart

Grow shade annuals like coleus for its fantastic foliage—there are hundreds of varieties, and they feature leaves splashed, spotted, and streaked with shades of chartreuse, purple, pink, red, black, and green. Make eye-catching combinations by growing a few varieties of coleus together, or complement your favorite flowers with coleuses that have similar leaf colors.

Light: Shade, part sun, or full sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained, consistently moist soil.

Size: Most varieties will stay between 18 and 30 inches tall, but some can reach up to 3 feet.

Hardiness Zones: 10-11

Buy It: Proven Winners Wicked Witch Coleus, $29.74, The Home Depot

A surefire pick for adding rich color to shade gardens, browallia has star-shaped flowers in blue, lavender, and white over emerald-green foliage. It's a fast grower that does well in shade or sun. In warm-climate areas it may self-seed, but not to the point of being considered a pest.

Light: Shade or part sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained, consistently moist soil.

Size: Up to 3 feet tall.

Buy It: Endless Illumination Browallia, $8.99, Proven Winners

Add a dose of whimsy to your shade garden with a polka-dot plant. These annuals have pretty, purple-green leaves that, as the name suggests, are decoratively speckled in shades of pink and white. Native to Madagascar, these tropical, colorful shade plants thrive in hot and humid conditions. Adaptable polka-dot plant is also relatively drought-tolerant.

Light: Shade or part sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained, consistently moist soil.

Size: Up to 3 feet tall.

Hardiness Zones: 9-11

Buy It: Hippo Red Polka Dot Plant, $8.99, Proven Winners

You can't beat these fast-growing shade plants for bold summer color. Sweet potato vine produces bronze, purple, or chartreuse foliage, depending on the variety, and grows quickly once temperatures heat up. Use it in containers or as a dramatic groundcover.

Light: Shade, part sun, or full sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained soil.

Size: Up to 6 inches tall.

Hardiness Zones: 8-11

Buy It: Sweet Caroline Light Green Sweet Potato Vine, $8.99, Proven Winners

Like lobelia, violas are cool-season annuals that can take full sun in early spring and fall, but they'll bloom a bit later into the summer if you grow them in the shade, especially in the South. Violas produce flowers in a dizzying range of shades including many wonderful bicolors like the 'Sorbet Coconut Swirl' shown here.

Test Garden Tip: Violas may be short-lived perennials in some areas, though they're often grown as annuals.

Light: Shade, part sun, or full sun.

Water: Plant in well-drained, consistently moist soil.

Size: Up to 12 inches tall.

Hardiness Zones: 7-11

Buy It: 100 Sorbet Series Viola Seeds, $5.36, Walmart

Pack a lot of color in a small area with beefsteak plant's bold foliage. Available in shades of purple, pink, lime, and cream, the leaves look as great as coleus. It's easy to grow; in fact, you can even bring containers of beefsteak plant indoors as a houseplant for a bold shot of winter color.

Light: Shade, part sun, or full sun.

Water: Plant in rich, consistently moist, well-drained soil.

Size: Up to 3 feet tall.

Buy It: Beefsteak Plant, $9.99, Steve's Leaves