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Unique spring flowers for shade

By: Garden Gate staff
Check out 3 spring blooms that can transform any shady spot.

Striking blooms for shade

Get color everywhere in your yard! Shade doesn’t have to be the exception, especially in spring. Whether buds are poking up through the last patches of snow or a blossom greets you on the first sunny and warm day, unique spring flowers can instantly brighten any spot — even dappled light or dense shade.

See This Shade Garden Makeover

The plants featured here take varying degrees of shade, so after trees’ canopies leaf out fully, they can still thrive. Some, such as sharp-lobed hepatica, are among the first blooms in early spring. And others, like the yellow archangel, will transition your garden from late spring to early summer.

Unique spring flowers attract early pollinators

No matter if these flowers open in early, mid- or late spring, though, they provide some of the first food for pollinators as temps start to warm and beneficial insects become more active. The variety of bloom shapes and sizes not only adds a variety of texture to your garden, but it also attracts a diverse range of pollinators. Scroll on to learn more about each of these peculiar spring beauties — they might be just the spring flowers you need for your shade.

Check Out Our 12 Favorite Hostas

Sweetshrub (Calycanthus spp. and hybrids)

Also called “Carolina allspice,” sweetshrub has very fragrant blooms and glossy green, deer-resistant foliage that turns bright yellow in fall.

Growing Tip

Sweetshrub's naturally rounded shape is easy to maintain — simply prune branches as needed when blooms finish.

Type Shrub Blooms Deep burgundy or wine-colored from midspring to midsummer Light Full sun to part shade Size 5 to 10 ft. tall and wide Hardiness Cold-hardy USDA zones 4 to 9

Bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia)

No matter where this perennial grows, its leaves take on a gorgeous bronze or red once the weather starts to cool in fall. In early spring, simply cut back any damaged leaves.

Growing Tip

Although bergenia may have more blooms in more sun, its foliage does best in shade, where soil won’t quickly dry out and cause leaves to burn.

Type Perennial Blooms Pink in spring Light Part to full shade Size 8 to 24 in. tall, 12 to 24 in. wide Hardiness Cold-hardy USDA zones 3 to 9

White trout lily (Erythronium albidum)

With interesting reflexed, or backward curving, early spring flowers and standout green-and-brown-mottled leaves, this slow-growing flower is worth the wait. Young plants emerge with just one basal leaf, but as it matures, two leaves and one white bloom appear.

Growing Tip

White trout lily does best when corms are planted in fall instead of grown from seed. Plants spread slowly so don’t dig and divide for more. It goes dormant in summer heat.

Type Perennial Blooms White in early spring, flowers are tinged pink in cold temps Light Part to full shade Size 4 to 8 in. tall, 4 to 6 in. wide Hardiness Cold-hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8

Grecian windflower (Anemone blanda)

This short flower is easy to tuck under shrubs or perennials that bloom a little later in the season. There, they’ll add a dense mat of color and still get enough dappled light as the foliage and flowers above open.

Growing Tip

While it’s in bloom, make sure soil stays moist, but after flowering is finished, keep the area as dry as you can.

Type Tuberous rhizome Blooms White, pink, blue or purple daisylike flowers in midspring Light Full sun to part shade Size 3 to 6 in. tall and wide Hardiness Cold-hardy USDA zones 4 to 8

Sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)

In early spring, thin, fuzzy flowers in shades of pale blue, pale pink or white emerge from the previous year's dead foliage. The mottled, pointed, three-lobed leaves in the inset photo don’t appear until after plants bloom.

Growing Tip

Sharp-lobed hepatica doesn’t like to be disturbed. So instead of digging and dividing, try collecting and sowing seeds just after the seedheads form, or let this slow-spreading native wildflower self-seed.

Type Perennial Blooms Pale blue, pale pink or white in early spring Light Part shade Size 4 to 8 in. tall, 6 to 10 in. wide Hardiness Cold-hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8

Spring vetch (Lathyrus vernus)

Spring vetch is a low maintenance mounding perennial that works well at the front of the border or in a container. In the South, pot it up and treat it like an annual because it can’t take heat and humidity. This perennial prefers moist soil.

Growing Tip

To grow plants from seed, nick the surface before sowing in spring. Spring vetch reseeds once a clump is established, but new plants could take a few years to bloom.

Type Perennial Blooms Red-purple in early to midspring, maturing to blue-purple Light Part to full shade Size 6 to 12 in. tall and wide Hardiness Cold-hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9

Sweetshrub (Calycanthus spp. and hybrids)

Also called “Carolina allspice,” sweetshrub has very fragrant blooms and glossy green, deer-resistant foliage that turns bright yellow in fall.

Growing Tip

Sweetshrub's naturally rounded shape is easy to maintain — simply prune branches as needed when blooms finish.

Type Shrub Blooms Deep burgundy or wine-colored from midspring to midsummer Light Full sun to part shade Size 5 to 10 ft. tall and wide Hardiness Cold-hardy USDA zones 4 to 9

Grecian windflower (Anemone blanda)

This short flower is easy to tuck under shrubs or perennials that bloom a little later in the season. There, they’ll add a dense mat of color and still get enough dappled light as the foliage and flowers above open.

Growing Tip

While it’s in bloom, make sure soil stays moist, but after flowering is finished, keep the area as dry as you can.

Type Tuberous rhizome Blooms White, pink, blue or purple daisylike flowers in midspring Light Full sun to part shade Size 3 to 6 in. tall and wide Hardiness Cold-hardy USDA zones 4 to 8

Bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia)

No matter where this perennial grows, its leaves take on a gorgeous bronze or red once the weather starts to cool in fall. In early spring, simply cut back any damaged leaves.

Growing Tip

Although bergenia may have more blooms in more sun, its foliage does best in shade, where soil won’t quickly dry out and cause leaves to burn.

Type Perennial Blooms Pink in spring Light Part to full shade Size 8 to 24 in. tall, 12 to 24 in. wide Hardiness Cold-hardy USDA zones 3 to 9

Sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)

In early spring, thin, fuzzy flowers in shades of pale blue, pale pink or white emerge from the previous year's dead foliage. The mottled, pointed, three-lobed leaves in the inset photo don’t appear until after plants bloom.

Growing Tip

Sharp-lobed hepatica doesn’t like to be disturbed. So instead of digging and dividing, try collecting and sowing seeds just after the seedheads form, or let this slow-spreading native wildflower self-seed.

Type Perennial Blooms Pale blue, pale pink or white in early spring Light Part shade Size 4 to 8 in. tall, 6 to 10 in. wide Hardiness Cold-hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8

White trout lily (Erythronium albidum)

With interesting reflexed, or backward curving, early spring flowers and standout green-and-brown-mottled leaves, this slow-growing flower is worth the wait. Young plants emerge with just one basal leaf, but as it matures, two leaves and one white bloom appear.

Growing Tip

White trout lily does best when corms are planted in fall instead of grown from seed. Plants spread slowly so don’t dig and divide for more. It goes dormant in summer heat.

Type Perennial Blooms White in early spring, flowers are tinged pink in cold temps Light Part to full shade Size 4 to 8 in. tall, 4 to 6 in. wide Hardiness Cold-hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8

Spring vetch (Lathyrus vernus)

Spring vetch is a low maintenance mounding perennial that works well at the front of the border or in a container. In the South, pot it up and treat it like an annual because it can’t take heat and humidity. This perennial prefers moist soil.

Growing Tip

To grow plants from seed, nick the surface before sowing in spring. Spring vetch reseeds once a clump is established, but new plants could take a few years to bloom.

Type Perennial Blooms Red-purple in early to midspring, maturing to blue-purple Light Part to full shade Size 6 to 12 in. tall and wide Hardiness Cold-hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9

Published: Feb. 26, 2019
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