Eckert’s Gardening Tips:
Perennials for Shade
Growing perennials in a sunny location provides hundreds of options! We have selected our favorites here at Eckert’s Garden Center.
We are especially fond of low maintenance perennials because they provide more “bang for the buck.” This list focuses on perennials with few disease problems and those that do not demand extra-special care. Certainly the list could be longer but we have to draw the line somewhere or you’ll have to buy a bigger yard!
Our favorite perennials for full, blasting sun
(also known as 6 plus hours of direct sunlight) include:
- Achillea/ Coronation Gold Yarrow or Moonshine Yarrow*
- Asclepias/ Butterflyweed
- Baptisia/ False Indigo
- Centranthus/ Red Valarian
- Moonbeam Coreopsis*
- Sweet Dreams Coreopsis*
- Zing Rose Dianthus
- Cranesbill Hardy Geranium
- Summer Sun Heliopsis
- Gallardia/ Blanketflower
- Hardy Hibiscus
- Becky Leucanthemum
- Kobold Blazing Star
- Monarda
- Nepeta/ Catmint*
- Russian Sage*
- Sedums
- Rudbeckia fulgida/ Black-eyed Susan*
- May Night Salvia*
- Daylily (all types)
- Veronica
- Magnus or Kim’s Knee High Coneflower
- White Swan Coneflower
- Robert Poore Phlox*
- David Phlox
- Asiatic Lilies
- Siberian Iris
*bloom for 2 or more months
These are our favorite perennials for part sun
(4-6 hours of direct sunlight):
- Amsonia/ Blue Star
- Moonbeam Coreopsis
- Blue Plumbago
- Daylily
- Dianthus
- Coneflowers
- Cranesbill Hardy Geranium
- Heuchera/ Coral Bells (green leaf types)
- Siberian Iris
- Asiatic Lily
- Lobelia/ Cardinal Flower
- Monarda
- Rudbeckia
- Chelone/ Turtlehead
- Our favorite grasses for full sun include:
- Karl Forester’s Feather Reed Grass (3’ tall)
- Dwarf Fountain Grass (3’ tall)
- Adiago Japanese Silver Grass (4’ tall)
- Heavy Metal Grass (3’ tall)
- Morning Light Miscanthus (5’)