Ferns and hostas may be traditional mainstays of shade gardens, but there are many other plants to choose from. Take geraniums, for instance: Most are sun lovers, but Geranium phaeum 'Samobor' -- with beautiful bicolor foliage and purple flowers -- prefers damp shade. Wild ginger (Asarum) has large, unusually glossy and sometimes marbled leaves. Its wide, curved foliage works wonderfully as ground cover, and it's extremely hardy in Zone 6. Masterwort (Astrantia), a woodland perennial, thrives in moist borders and stream banks, where it blooms with starlike flowers surrounded by a collar of white- or green-veined bracts.
- Shade Plants
Geranium phaeum 'Samobor' - Asarum canadense
- A. caudatum f. alba
- Astrantia majorinvolucrata 'Shaggy'
- A. major 'Hadspen Blood'