Gardening Flowers Annuals 12 of the Best Shade-Loving Annuals That Will Look Gorgeous All Summer By Andrea Beck Andrea Beck Andrea Beck spent more than three years writing about food for Better Homes & Gardens before serving as the assistant digital garden editor. Now, she writes about lifestyle topics, including food, garden, home, and health for Hy-Vee's Seasons magazine. Her work has appeared on Food & Wine, Martha Stewart, MyRecipes, and more. Andrea holds a double degree in Magazines and English, with a minor in politics from Drake University. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on August 26, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Peter Krumhardt Brighten up any dim corner of your garden with these beautiful plants. They'll contribute flowers or colorful leaves from spring to fall, and they thrive in tricky areas of your yard where other plants have trouble growing. While most of these plants are true annuals that only live for a year, a few will come back in Hardiness Zones where it doesn't freeze, which we've listed for those plants. 01 of 12 Fuchsia Marty Baldwin 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. Growing Conditions: Shade, part sun, or full sun in well-drained, consistently moist soil Size: Up to 6 feet tall Hardiness Zones: 8-10 02 of 12 Balsam Marty Baldwin 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. Growing Conditions: Full to part shade in well-drained, evenly moist soil Size: Up to 3 feet tall 03 of 12 Lobelia Justin Hancock 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. Growing Conditions: Full shade to full sun in well-drained, moist soil Size: Up to 3 feet tall 04 of 12 Torenia Peter Krumhardt Sometimes called wishbone flower, torenia is a pretty shade-loving plant with beautiful trumpet-shape 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! Growing Conditions: Full to part shade in well-drained, consistently moist soil Size: Up to 12 inches 05 of 12 Oxalis Marty Baldwin 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. Growing Conditions: Full shade to full sun in dry, well-drained soil Size: Up to 12 inches tall Hardiness Zones: 7-11 06 of 12 Impatiens Justin Hancock 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. Growing Conditions: Full to part shade in consistently moist, well-drained soil Size: Up to 3 feet tall Hardiness Zones: 10-11 07 of 12 Coleus Kritsada Panichgul A tender perennial, coleus is usually grown as an annual for its fantastic foliage (they also flower but the blooms aren't very showy). 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. Growing Conditions: Full shade to full sun (depending on variety) 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 08 of 12 Browallia Marty Baldwin 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. Growing Conditions: Full to part shade in well-drained, consistently moist soil Size: Up to 3 feet tall 09 of 12 Polka-Dot Plant Peter Krumhardt Add a splash of bright color 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, but the adaptable polka-dot plant is also relatively drought-tolerant. Growing Conditions: Full to part shade in well-drained, consistently moist soil Size: Up to 3 feet tall Hardiness Zones: 9-11 10 of 12 Sweet Potato Vine Marty Baldwin 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. Growing Conditions: Full shade to full sun in well-drained soil Size: Up to 6 inches tall Hardiness Zones: 8-11 11 of 12 Viola Justin Hancock 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. Growing Conditions: Full shade to full sun in well-drained, consistently moist soil Size: Up to 12 inches tall Hardiness Zones: 7-11 Buy It: Viola Flower Garden Seeds ($14, Walmart) Buy Now 12 of 12 Beefsteak Plant Denny Schrock Pack a lot of color in a small area with the 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. Growing Conditions: Full shade to full sun in consistently moist, well-drained soil Size: Up to 3 feet tall Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit