We can be spoilt for choice when it comes to plants for sunnier spots in the garden, but sometimes find it more difficult to create drama in shadier areas. However with careful consideration and planning you can create portable, ever-changing displays, which mean that these areas can be just as colourful as their sunnier counterparts!

Bedding plants suitable for shade are an excellent choice – either in borders or pots and containers – so we’ve picked out our favourites, and included some planting ideas for inspiration too.

Busy Lizzie

Among the best flowering annuals for shaded places, these gorgeous little plants are invaluable for injecting colour into even the gloomiest area. Available in a range of colours from white through pink and purple to red, they’ll flower their socks off all Summer.

Begonia

At home in both sun or shade and with large, flamboyant blooms in a wide range of colours, begonias are surely among the most versatile Summer bedding plants. They flower continuously throughout the Summer and are available in upright and trailing types, so they’re suitable for beds, borders, hanging baskets, window boxes and just about any other container you can think of!

Lysimachia

Also known as Creeping Jenny, Lysimachia offers gorgeous bright yellow flowers during June and July on trailing stems – great for ground cover or for hanging baskets or tall containers.

Fuchsia

Here we’re referring to the tender varieties of fuchsia which are used as bedding plants. Available as upright or trailing types, their habit makes them well-suited to use either in the middle of pots and containers or to provide glorious trailing colour over the edges. Deadhead them regularly to ensure a display from July to September!

Planting Inspiration

So you’ve chosen your shade-happy bedding favourites, but you want just a little more interest… what do you do?

Don’t forget that there are a huge number of shade loving plants which will make perfect partners for your bedding – either in beds and borders, or hanging baskets and containers too – here are our top shade planting partners!

Ivy – great for trailing over and softening edges, evergreen and available in particularly useful variegated varieties.

Dwarf Conifers – great evergreens for height and year-round interest.

Grasses – such as Luzula Nivea or varieties of Hakonechloa, which will add height and drama.

Ferns – a huge variety of these very versatile plants are great to add foliage interest to baskets, pots and containers in shady places. We’d recommend you use them in larger baskets  and containers which don’t dry out as quickly as smaller ones, and also use water retaining compost and crystals at planting time.

We hope you’re inspired to plant bedding in the shade – but of course this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making the most of the shadier parts of your garden – so if you need friendly, expert advice, just come and ask!