12 of the Best Shade-Loving Annuals That Will Look Gorgeous All Summer

Fuchsia

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

Balsam

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

Lobelia

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

Torenia

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

Oxalis

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

Impatiens

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

Coleus

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

Browallia

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

Polka-Dot Plant

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

Sweet Potato Vine

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

Viola

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)

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Beefsteak Plant

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