Many flowering plants like it sunny, but the garden beds are not always in the sun. Plants often have to cope with penumbra. In the following you will find out which perennials feel comfortable on your perennial bed in partial shade.
The small periwinkle feels at home in partial shade
What does "penumbra" mean?
While the terms sunny and shady are pretty straightforward, the term penumbra has different interpretations. Penumbra is not the same as light shade. Light shade prevails if, for example, some light shines through the branches of a nearby tree throughout the day. This means that the perennial does not have full sun, but it does get sunlight from time to time throughout the day.
The situation is different with partial shade: partial shade means that the perennial bed only gets sun for part of the day, mostly in the morning or evening. The rest of the day it is in the shade. Perennials that feel more comfortable in the shade thrive in a semi-shady perennial bed.
Perennials that thrive in partial shade
If sun-loving perennials such as larkspur are planted in the penumbra, the flowering will be rather weak. In the worst case, the perennial will wither and not bloom at all. Therefore, when creating your planting plan, be sure to consider their site requirements.
Perennials that do well in partial shade and full shade are:
| perennials | description |
|---|---|
| Bergeisenhut | Blue flowering, poisonous perennial |
| wood anemone | White flowering spring bloomer |
| fat man | White-flowering, evergreen carpet plant |
| Sweet Violet | Beautiful, small flowering perennial that flowers in spring |
| elf flower | Delicate, yellow, white or pink flowering low perennial |
| garden bugle | Bluish flowering ground cover |
| periwinkle | Bluish or white flowering ground cover with a very long flowering period |
| Japanese toad lily | Exceptional, orchid-like flower |
| Caucasus forget-me-not | Blue flowers, does well in both sun and shade |
| liverwort | Blue blooming little beauty |
| lily cluster | Purple flowering perennial with grassy leaves |
| foam flower | White flowering groundcover |
| silver candle | Tall, white flowering perennial |
| forest goat's beard | Grows up to 1.50m high |
| woodruff | Delicious, white flowering ground cover |
| Waldsteinia | Yellow flowering forest flower, also available as ground cover |
| dwarf hosta | Ground cover with beautiful foliage |