5 low-maintenance, shade-loving plants for pots that garden designers always recommend to brighten up dark corners

Shady corners of a garden can provide a headache at the best of times. When that shady spot is only suitable for containers it means two factors you need to consider, they need to be happy in pots and shade, so here are five fantastic shade-loving plants for pots to help solve that conundrum.

The aspiration is to brighten and bring color to these dark spots with glorious displays, and those in this list can thrive growing in container gardens and represent some of the best shade plants to offer interest, texture, and movement in a pot.

If that doesn't sound good enough alone, all of these shade-loving plants for pots are incredibly easy to grow. To put together this guide, I spoke to garden designers and utilized my knowledge from my days as a professional gardener, where I maintained pot displays in historic public gardens.

Shade-loving plants for pots, as recommended by pros

The following list are all low maintenance plants for pots that can grow happily in part shade. The key maintenance task to remember will be watering, but there may also be some feeding and pruning required too – but not lots of it.

You'll find a bit of information about the best conditions for each of these shade-loving plants for pots, along with any key care tasks to get you started.

1. Ferns

Ferns can thrive in containers, adding a woodland vibe to any pot display. You can opt for evergreen ferns to provide year-round structure and interest, or deciduous varieties for seasonal displays.

No matter what type you pick, ferns thrive in dappled shade and moist but well-draining soil, and are very easy to grow. They naturally grow in woodlands, hence a preference for shade, damp conditions, and soils with low nutrients – making them ideal for containers in shadier corners or underneath trees or shrubs.

Laura Janney, CEO of The Inspired Garden Masterclass, claims that ferns should be 'a staple of any shade container'. She adds: 'Big, showy ferns add texture to a container with their delicate fronds and require zero maintenance beyond watering.'

Hardy ferns, in particular, can tolerate lots of shade and be left to their own devices for most of the year. The only things to remember are to keep the soil moist and prune ferns to remove brown or damaged fronds.

If you are after a fern for shade, an autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) thrives in light to deep shade and is a deer-resistant plant. This 'Brilliance' Autumn Fern at Nature Hills produces new fronds with coppery tones that turn dark green for summer.

Laura Janney

Laura Janney is a renowned landscape architect and designer, and CEO of The Inspired Garden Masterclass. Laura has left her mark on the cottage garden landscape design scene, winning the 2023 Houzz Best in Design award for her work in the New York area.

2. Boxwood

Growing boxwood in containers offers a great opportunity for a low-maintenance evergreen shrub. If you want architectural shapes or topiary around an entrance, deck, or patio, individual boxwood plants in large containers can make an impressive feature.

Boxwood can happily grow in semi-shade, provided it gets a few hours of sunlight each day. Any container needs drainage holes and a well-draining potting mix, as plants struggle and the boxwood can turn yellow in waterlogged soil.

Amy Martin, landscape designer and the founder of Plant and Bloom Design Studio, claims that boxwood makes a 'classic, elegant container display flanking doorways or gracing front porches'.

The designer recommends Neatball Boxwood (Buxus microphylla 'NSBBL') for its year-round deep evergreen color, deer resistance, and ease of cultivation – including being a boxwood bush that doesn’t need regular trimming.

'This remarkable variety naturally grows into a perfectly dense, tidy globe that stays 2-3 feet tall and wide with no pruning needed,' says Amy. 'It's the perfect foundation for creating sophisticated, low-maintenance containers that look professionally designed.'

You can get live Neatball Boxwood shrubs at Amazon, suitable for planting in US hardiness zones 5-9.

Amy Martin

Amy Martin is a landscape designer and the founder of Plant and Bloom Design Studio, a website where she shares her ideas about garden planning and planting design. When she’s not busy working, she's filling up her home & garden with plants… there is always room for one more!

3. Coleus

If you seek a tender annual that can bring bright colors to enliven any shady corner on a patio, deck, or balcony, then growing coleus brings the perfect solution.

Whether on their own in pots to showcase the plant's vibrant foliage, or alongside small shrubs or other annuals in a mixed planter, there is a lot to enjoy about these colorful plants, which do surprisingly well in the shade. Most varieties of coleus do prefer part shade, especially in warmer climates, where they can suffer from leaf scorch in intense afternoon sun.

'Showcasing a variety of leaf shapes, bright colors, and sizes, coleus provides contrast and color. They thrive in shade and can grow to be quite large, even in a container,' says Laura Janney.

But coleus need not just be a short-term solution. True, it is simple to propagate coleus, either growing them from seed in spring or taking plant cuttings to expand any collection. But you can also cut coleus back for winter and overwinter plants indoors, or enjoy them as perennials in the warmer climates of US hardiness zones 10 and 11.

Coleus in containers like moist, but not waterlogged, soil and may benefit from regular feeding with a water-soluble fertilizer for the most vibrant foliage display.

You can get live chocolate mint coleus plants at Amazon that will stun with dark purple leaves edged with bright lime green margins. Alternatively, see the range of coleus seeds available at True Leaf Market.

4. Sedge

Sedges from the genus Carex are similar to ornamental grasses and come in many different foliage shapes and colors.

Sedges are highly adaptable and can add interest in terms of color, movement and texture to containers. They can be great filler plants in containers, offering impact without taking away from other plants they are paired with.

They make great grasses for containers in shade, as sedges will happily grow in semi-shade and require little care throughout the year. Give them regular watering and good drainage, and sedges can brighten even the darkest of corners.

Amy Martin highlights Everillo Sedge (Carex oshimensis 'Everillo') as a personal favorite.

'This perennial, grass-like sedge is one of my absolute favorites for bringing vibrant color and texture to shady containers in zones 5-9,' she claims. 'It positively glows with an intense lime green brightness in full shade, turning to a golden yellow color as it ages.

'Graceful, arching, fine-textured stems contrast nicely with broad-leaved companions like coral bells and coleus.'

You can get live plants of EverColor Everillo Sedge Grass at Nature Hills, with lime green foliage that turns golden as the grass ages.

5. Coral Bells

Coral bells, or heucheras, make fantastic shade-loving plants for pots as they prefer a semi-shade position and create a fabulous backdrop for neighboring plants.

There are good reasons to grow coral bells. Firstly, they are great foliage plants, with heuchera varieties coming in shades of bronze, purple, green, and more. As well as being adored for their unique foliage, coral bells produce slender stems covered in bell-shaped flowers.

And, finally, they are low-maintenance and can tolerate many different conditions.

To have success growing coral bells in pots, give them a rich potting mix that drains well and be careful with watering. They don't like sitting in soggy soil and risk root rot from too much moisture.

Feel the soil when watering plants in containers to see when the top two inches are dry, or use a soil moisture meter. Hold off cutting back coral bells until spring, so the foliage can protect the crown of the plant from cold weather.

There are many different coral bells suitable for containers, but, for something a bit dramatic, I personally like this Heuchera 'Black Sea' at Amazon that has dark, almost black foliage with contrasting white flowers.

An honorable mention when discussing shade-tolerant pot plants has to go to hostas, which always make great plants for shade.

Maksim Kazakou, resident botany expert at Plantum, hails hostas as 'the true queen of shady gardens' as they enjoy both partial and dappled shade.

He says: 'Hostas are known for their long-lasting beauty, featuring striking foliage throughout the growing season, complemented by charming flowers in summer. Hostas require minimum upkeep, propagate well by division, and do exceptionally well when grown in containers. Moreover, they're cold-hardy and thrive in USDA zones 3 through 9.'

The reason hostas didn't make the top five is due to the common problem when growing hostas, which is slugs and snails. These pests often chew leaves and also prefer cooler, shadier spots in the garden, so they can pose a problem when you grow hostas in pots.

You can try slug control methods like copper tape around pots to deter them, or make a garlic spray to apply to leaves. However, these measures mean a bit of extra work compared to others on this list.

If you are willing to put in the effort to control slugs and snails, hostas do make excellent shade-tolerant pot plants. A dwarf variety such as Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears' at Nature Hills is ideal for containers, reaching only eight inches tall and 12 inches wide.

Maksim Kazakou

Maksim Kazakou is a resident plant expert for the Plantum app, which helps users identify plant species, diagnose their conditions, and get specific care advice. He has 10+ years of experience as a professional botanist, consulting on botany-related topics, and 5+ years of experience creating training sets for neural models aimed at identifying plant species and diseases.