Add Beautiful Color with These Shade Garden Color Design Ideas
Shade gardening can be a challenge if you want to grow colorful plants. Classic shade plants like hostas and ferns are, indeed, lovely, but sometimes it’s visually appealing to incorporate other colors to achieve a singular landscape with balanced coloration.
There are some shade plants that boast colorful hues as well as various shades of green. Some green plants offer spectacular color changes in fall. You can also incorporate color into your shade garden with non-plant elements that might provide that wow factor you’re looking for.
Keep reading to see a few Shade Garden Color Design ideas that are sure to bring out the best beauty of your garden.
Serene Setting
There are a surprising number of shade plants that boast a purplish or lavender hue. The combination of green and purple creates a tranquil atmosphere while adding a colorful flair to your setting. You can create a bold purple look for your garden by sticking to this single color.
When planted together, the following purple plants will add a dramatic splash to your green palette. Consider planting Japanese painted fern, Persian shield, Grape Galaxy Helleborus, lavender foxglove, Heuchera Shanghai coral bells, and Purple Dragon dead nettle.
You can enhance this look by hardscaping around your plants with river stones or pebbles. You can also add drama to your garden by transforming large purple glassware and old vases into small DIY birdbaths and planters.
Fields of Gold
Yellow and gold plants add life to a shade garden. Their vibrancy will wake up any tired space. When you want a cheerier landscape, consider the following yellow and gold plantings: autumn fern (turns golden bronze in fall), lady’s mantle, All Gold Japanese forest grass, Big Top Gold coral bells, Paul’s glory hosta, and large yellow lady’s slipper.
You can complement these plantings by adding gold-colored mulch and some hanging baskets in golden hues on shepherd’s hooks.
Drama Statement
By working with a loud color palette, you can add lots of drama to your shade garden and landscape. High-impact red blooms like Red Racer Helleborus and the dazzling fuchsia to hot pink of Younique Carmine astilbe are a great way to add some fireworks to your space. Other highly colorful plants to consider include Heuchera Peach Flambe coral bells and Raspberry Splash lungwort.
Consider planting your green shade plants in fiery red planters or a combination of red, orange, and yellow planters. Red mulch or lava rocks will help tamp down weeds and a barn red birdhouse will add a touch of color to the vertical space.
Back in Black
Dark plantings will provide a striking balance with the green plants of your shade garden. Elegant and enchanting, dark plants like Black Beauty autumn snakeroot and Night Coaster Helleborus add a touch of other-worldliness to your landscape. Hadspen Blue hostas and Heuchera Dark Chocolate coral bells will also complement a dark palette.
As a nice contrast to the dark plants, consider adding white stones and a white marble statue or pillar to your shade garden. A silver or pewter-colored fountain might even serve as the focal point of your backyard.
Classic White
If you are looking for a formal color scheme, white plantings are always elegant and provide a clean contrast with other plantings. Gorgeous Vision in White astilbe makes for a high-impact planting while lily-of-the-valley provides vigor and sweetness to your space. Alba bleeding hearts, sweet woodruff, and white hydrangeas will also make that white garden pop; you’ll be fielding lots of compliments for your classy landscape with these plants.
Additionally, you might consider white stone planters or even terra cotta for a timeless look.
Let’s Help You and Bring in Lots of Color with Our Shade Garden Color Design Ideas
Your shady landscape and garden don’t have to be completely green. You can vary the look of your space greatly by adding variegated plants and plants that sport multiple shades of green. It also helps to keep tuned in to the latest gardening news; new cultivars are popping up all the time and you might find some new colorful shade plants that are just right for your garden.
If you would like to learn more about “Shade Garden Color Design” and how Fernandez and Sons can bring color to your shade garden, get in touch with the team of professional landscape designers and installers.
