Brighten Your Shade: Best Shade-Loving Plants for Indoors

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION
- 1.1 Importance of plant selection based on sunlight requirements
- 1.2 Shade-loving plants and why they are ideal for certain spaces
2 UNDERSTANDING SHADE IN GARDEN & HOME
3 BENEFITS OF GROWING SHADE-LOVING PLANTS
4 TOP SHADE-LOVING PLANTS FOR CONTAINERS
5 CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

One of the key benefits of container gardening is mobility. You can grow plants in any place in your home. Also, you can move plant pots whenever you want. With these benefits, you can grow plants indoors, in small corners of the house. Compared to ground gardening, container gardening offers the benefit of space utilisation. You can decorate any space in your home with plants. Not only decorating you can utilise the space to grow edible plants or herbs, flowers, or anything you like.

Importance of plant selection based on sunlight requirements

Some of you might already know the importance of sunlight requirement in plant growth. We will talk a lot about the light requirement in future blog posts but now you need to know some basics. Sunlight is important for plants in photosynthesis (bumped by school memories?)

In simple words, photosynthesis is a plant cooking their meals. In the photosynthesis process plants use the energy of sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates, a food\nutrient plants need to grow and produce seeds.

So, choosing plants based on their sunlight requirement is important. Some plants need low light, and some plants need more light. Here you are going to learn better about some low-light plants and how to choose them based on your garden or home space.

Shade-loving plants and why they are ideal for certain spaces

Shade-loving plants are low-light required plants. These plants survive in low light. They produce photosynthesis in low-energy light by changing their photosynthetic protein complexes to absorb lower-energy light. So you can grow plants even in shades, but you need to choose Shade-loving plants.

Some of your house’s spots are ideal for growing Shade-loving plants. Patios, indoors, balconies and north-facing gardens. Not only these spots also a spot with minimal indirect sunlight is ideal to grow shade-loving plants.

Some of you might think that shade-loving plants are only foliage plants used for home decor. Not exactly you can grow some of the edible plants, flowers and herbs also. Let’s explore the topic with me to learn about how to choose shade-loving plants.

UNDERSTANDING SHADE IN GARDEN & HOME

Knowing about shade helps you to choose the right spot and the right plant for you. It’s not a hard-to-do task, knowing these little factors helps you to better the gardener in you, improves your Gardening skills, most importantly your plants to survive longer and look healthy and happy.

Types of Shade

There are 3 types of Shades in Gardening Full Shade, Partial Shade and Dappled Shade.

Full Shade is an area that only gets 2 hours of direct sunlight in a day but the rest hours remain shaded. It’s mostly north-facing areas, or under any roof areas.

Partial Shade is an area that gets 3-6 hours of sunlight. It’s mostly called bright indirect sunlight areas. The sunlight mostly came here in the morning or late afternoon a soft light area.

A dappled Shade is an area where the sunlight passes through trees or any objects like roofs, or buildings. It is a mixed area with no direct sunlight’s also no fully shaded area.

Importance of matching the plant’s light requirement to your garden conditions

So, this is the point where most Garden enthusiasts get confused and buy the wrong plants or place plants in the wrong areas. If you have a spot where you plan to place a shade-loving plant.

Firstly, observe the spot for the entire day, and take photos for every hour from sunlight to sunset to know the spot’s light cycle. You can categorize them with above above-listed hours of sunlight.

And match the sunlight with the plant’s light requirement. Then buy plants or choose plants by the below plants suggestions.

Shade gardening challenges and how to overcome them

Limited light is the problem in shade gardening, so adopt shade-loving plants, and use reflective coloured walls, and mirrors to bounce the sunlight for plants. Rotating the plants a few months once is also helpful.
Excess Moisture is the problem for Shade gardening, water the plants only when you feel the soil dried. Use well-drained soil mix, and use pots with drainage holes. If you using decor pots use the double pot method to drain the excess water.
Pest and Disease are another issue because of the high humidity you might face fungus, mould and snails. To avoid this use organic neem cakes in the soil mix, don’t overcrowd the pots, inspect and remove dead parts of plants asap, and use fungicide when you see early signs.
Slow Growth plants, even if you grow the same plant in two different areas, the shade gardening plants seem to grow slowly. The answer is simple the sunlight plant gets more food the shaded garden plant gets limited food. You can’t completely avoid this issue but you can handle it with organic fertilizers, grow lights or completely adapt to shade-loving foliage.

BENEFITS OF GROWING SHADE-LOVING PLANTS

Some of the benefits you should know before changing your mind about not growing shade-loving plants. (trust me it’s worth trying)

Utilising Unused spaces, we all have some corners or spots, that are so empty and getting cluttered continuously. Using home decor items is not a working trick all the time but placing a plant will. These shade spots are not suitable for sun-loving plants but these are opted for shade-loving plants.
Low maintenance most of the shade-loving plants are foliage or less-care requiring variety. So, you don’t need much time to take care of them. Shade-loving plants don’t even dry out quickly so no frequent watering is needed.
Foliage paradise every gardener loves foliage plants (me too) but sometimes we don’t have space for this foliage because the sunlight spots are needed for edible plants and flowering plants. Utilizing the shade spots with this foliage fulfils your foliage garden dreams. (you can buy more plants now)
Aesthetic Alert Shade-loving plants are the best for decorating your home. That green touch can be given to any spot of your home now. You can create green walls or add a little bit of green to your space. Also, plants give a Calm effect in any place. (especially any sitting areas, so you can read your Twisted Love and sip a coffee)
Shade-love for you These Plants are great options for some shade places like apartments, and office areas and you can get that calm feel with greenery even in closed spaces like these.
Air-purifiers are coming Shade-loving foliage is an air air-purifier too so you can breathe clean air even in polluted areas. Also, this plant helps to reduce the heat level in the space as well.
Year-around beauty’s choosing shade-loving foliage means you can enjoy the plant without frequent replanting, or buying new plants for years. These foliages are live at least a decade (with right care).

TOP SHADE-LOVING PLANTS FOR CONTAINERS

FOLIAGE PLANTS

HOSTA

Hosta is a perennial shade-loving plant with large leaves that gives a vibrant look. A bigger plant to fill empty spaces and a low-maintenance plant.

FERNS

Ferns are available in different varieties like maiden hair fern, Boston fern, Bird-nest fern, and Staghorn fern these are widely used as houseplants. Ferns are a great choice for decor purposes like wall shelves and bookshelves.

CALADIUM

If you want to give a touch of pink shade or any different shade to decor with live plants, Caladium’s the one. Usually, they come with different colours and unique patterns that add some texture to the appearance of the room.

HEUCHERA

Heuchera’s look like artificial foliage with various colour options. The unique patterns add a different look to your space, and these also low-maintenance.

HAKONECHLOA

Hakonechloa also known as Japanese forest grass is a grass variety shade-loving plant. Come with green and golden colours that adding a rich texture to your home and garden.

COLEUS

Coleus is a widely available houseplant. You might see these in nurseries, and online plant shops. The vibrant colour and texture add a vibrant look to the spot and these plants are fast-growing bushy and eye-catchy.

EDIBLE PLANTS

SPINACH

An edible leafy greens that tolerate and grow in shade. So you can grow these vitamin-rich plant that helps to build bone health, blood health and gut health and also improve eyesight. The key benefit is Weight-loss just grow and add Spinach to your diet get more healthy.

LETTUCE

Other leafy greens with an excellent source of Vitamin A a key source of Skin, Bones and eye health. Taking these leafy greens along with your skincare routine helps and improves your skin internally. You can grow this Lettuce in the shade organically without much effort.

ARGULA

A shade-loving salad partner that adds peppery flavour to your salad bowl. Arugula is rich in Calcium, magnesium and minerals that play an important role in your bone health and your overall health.

CHARD

Foliage looks like a shade-loving Leafy green filled with Vitamin A, K, C, and E calcium, and magnesium. Rich in antioxidants. Chard Leafy greens help to control blood pressure, reduce obesity and reduce the risk of heart diseases. (All these health benefits are a little part of your regular diet that will helpful in longer run)

BEET GREENS

Edible leaves from Beetroot plants that grow even in limited sunlight. These leaves are filled with antioxidants, vitamins, iron fibre and dietary nitrates. A leafy choice to add for an Iron deficiency diet, to improve gut health. And a little booster of bone health.

HERBS

MINT

A widely popular herb that can be used for culinary needs medical use and kitchen uses that can be grown in shade. In India mint a spice to add flavours and garnishes.

CILANTRO

A Kitchen herb that is widely used in almost every Indian dish. (My fav) Cilantro adds a special and magic touch to the recipe after finishing cooking we garnish it with coriander. This most useful herb can be grown in shades.

PARSLEY

Parsley is a widely used herb in western kitchens that can be grown in shade. Parsley can be used for garnishing, and used in meat rub to add flavours. Apart from these Parsley has its benefits like vitamin source, bone health and a lot more medical benefits.

LEMON BALM

A shade-tolerant herb that helps to regulate menstrual cycles and treat insomnia and anxiety. Add lemon balm in tea, salads and garnishes to the work. If you’ve time you can make essential oils.

FLOWERING PLANTS

BEGONIAS

A vibrant choice of flowers that come with pink, and red shades mostly red-based colours. It gives attractive blooms even in shade area.

IMPATIENS

A shallow-rooted, bushy plant that grows blooms in shade. Also, it spreads fast and adds vibrant colours to your garden.

FUCHSIA

An elegant-looking drooping flower that can be grown in shade. A touch of pastel pinks to your garden.

ASTILBE

A shade-tolerant flowering plant with feathery plumes of pink, white and red. Best for Balconies or any tall option like arrangements.

LOBELIA

A perfect shade-tolerant plant i you want to add a touch of blue to your low-light spaces. best for hanging pots or any shallow pots.

TOAD LILY

A Japanese shade-tolerant plant. A pollinator attracts flowers with low-maintenance. Also, Toad lilies are disease resistant.

BLEEDING HEART

The name itself looks like a bleeding heart. Beautiful reddish flowers add a romantic vibe to that shade space. You can use these flowers for arrangements and flower vases.

ASTERS

A blue touch to your shade garden. A perennial flowering plant that comes in white, purple, lavender and pink. These plants tolerate and survive even in poor-quality soil.

CONCLUSION

Growing Shade-loving plants helps to use that empty corners and clutter spaces into beautiful space. Also, Plants are richer home decor items than any other home decor products they give a lively feel, and calmness and purify the air. Shade-loving plants give an advantage to grow a plant even in a space that doesn’t have proper sunlight.

You can mix and match different kinds of shade-loving plants and try different arrangements based on your creativity with shade-loving plants. With this blog post you can identify how to identify the sunlight level, how to categorize shade level, and how to choose plants based on shade level you have. I hope you can set up a beautiful garden with these plants.

Let me know which shade-loving plant is your favourite and which one you’re not trying yet but want to. Also, share your Shade-loving plant beauties in the comments.