Best Shrubs to Grow in Shade

Shrubs growing in shade perform a variety of functions – from serving as a leafy foil to other plants, to lighting up dark areas with bright flowers or impressing with dramatic foliage. Small or low-growing shrubs can even be used for ground cover.

Many of the shrubs we’ve picked below are the perfect starting point for a shady bed or border. The shrub will be one of the largest elements in your border, serving as a backdrop to the plants growing in front of it.

Alan Titchmarsh shares his five favourite shrubs for shade, in this short video from BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine.

More on gardening in shade:

• 20 plants for dry shade
• Six plants for full shade
• Types of garden shade

Browse our list of shrubs to grow in shade, below.

When not in flower, hydrangeas make a good leafy backdrop for other plants, but when in flower they shine out in shady areas, particularly those with white flowers. Leave the spent blooms to provide winter interest and prune the hydrangeas in spring.

In this clip from Gardeners’ World, Monty Don selects two choice shrubs for instant colour in dappled shade. Watch as he prepares the ground then plants the beautiful lacecap hydrangea, ‘Lanarth White’ and a Japanese snowball bush, Viburnum plicatum ‘Summer Snowflake’. Both shrubs do well in partial or dappled shade, producing elegant white summer flowers:

• Buy hydrangeas from J Parker’s, Thompson & Morgan, Crocus, Sarah Raven

Many viburnums will do well in a shady spot. For evergreen colour try Viburnum davidii or Viburnum tinus. Viburnum opulus is a pretty UK native, while Viburnum x bodnantense has fragranced winter flowers.

• Buy vibrunums from J Parker’s, Thompson & Morgan, Crocus, Sarah Raven

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