Best Plants for a Shady Porch

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Growing potted plants is easy in theory; they mostly just need water and sunlight. But what happens if you don’t have enough sun? Here’s the best plants for a shady porch, or any place you want potted plants that doesn’t get good sunlight.

Whether it’s indoors or outside, plants brighten your mood. They’re also super in right now, so why not jump on the bandwagon? The problem is a lot of people have porches or balconies that they want to add a few plants to, but don’t because there’s shade.

Can Plants Survive in Full Shade?

If you have a porch that gets absolutely no sunlight then you might have a hard time growing any kind of plants. Although all of the plants on this list need minimal sunlight, they still do need sun exposure from time to time.

Morning sun is preferred, since many shade-loving plants will get sunburned or damaged in full afternoon sun exposure. Especially in warmer climates.

For porches with 0 sun, choose potted plants that you can bring to another location in your garden to give them a few hours of mild sunlight – then move them back to the shady porch for the rest of the day.

Or opt for artificial plants – they’re looking better and better every day! 

Best Plants for a Shady Porch

Typically, porches are designed to have an overhang that provides shade – this is a feature, not a bug. But did you know that there are plants out there that thrive in the shade too?

Think about nature for a minute. Imagine a forest – you’ll probably think of miles and miles of trees. But this is only a portion of any forest’s ecosystem. So many animals, and yes, plants live on the ground under the shade of all those trees.

Succulents do need some sunlight, though. If you see that yours are sagging or refusing to flower, move the pot into an area that gets some morning sun (not scorching heat).

The further north you live the more sun a hydrangea can tolerate, but as a rule keep them out of sun during the hottest parts of the day.

Boxwood is also a perennial, which means it will come back each year. The biggest drawback to boxwood is that it’s toxic to pets and humans, so keep it away from your animals and tots.

There are quite a few varieties of this flower so you’ll have to do a bit of research for your area. What’s nice is that you can grow them almost anywhere. In warmer climates they come back every year, but in cooler climates they act more like an annual.

What’s more, Hosta plants can be grown in almost any zone (3-9) and they need partial shade to thrive.

There are varieties that do better with more sun or shade, so definitely look out for that when choosing impatiens plans for your shady porch. 

They do need 4-6 hours of sunlight a day, preferably either the morning sun or filtered sunlight. The payoff is worth it for these colourful, large bloomed flowers though.

Just be careful with it – ivy can easily get out of hand and start climbing places you don’t want it to go. Kept inside a pot, though, ivy is easy to maintain. 

Unfortunately caladium plants don’t love cooler climates so they do best in areas that are warm year round. That being said, they can also be kept indoors – so you can always raise them as a houseplant during the cooler months of the year.

It should be noted that caladium is toxic to dogs and cats.

Speaking of shade, creeping jenny is a very hardy plant that will likely thrive in almost any environment you plant it in.

Pansies are common, inexpensive, and easy to care for. They come in a variety of colours, too, so they’re a great addition to your porch on their own or part of a container. 

Lettuce won’t grow properly if it gets too harsh of sunlight, but it does like 4-6 hours of light per day. One good thing about lettuce, though, is that even if it doesn’t get that it will still grow – just not as well.

Most other salad greens grow the same, too.

Chives are so hardy that I happen to have a rogue patch that grows up each year in my yard (outside of my flower beds, no less!) despite never maintaining it. This can only happen if you let them go to seed (flower), but it’s handy if you want them to come up each year.

If you live somewhere that experiences all four seasons there are ornamental grasses that change colour in the fall and really look spectacular on the porch all year ‘round.

Conclusion: The Best Plants for a Shady Porch

This list includes some of the more popular varieties of plants that work best for a shady porch, but it’s hardly conclusive. There are almost 400,000 varieties of plants out there, and more are discovered each year.

With all those choices you can definitely find the one with the perfect color, size, and sunlight preference for your porch, deck, or balcony. That being said, all of these plant options are a good starting point because most of them grow in a variety of climates and available light.