Creating a vibrant and healthy garden can be a rewarding endeavor, especially when you know the right plants to choose. Planting perennials with lush foliage, pure white flowers with glossy green leaves, plant bulbs with pink flowers and yellow flowers as ground cover, and pale pink flowers around trees not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of your landscape but also promotes a thriving ecosystem.
Shade-tolerant perennials with bell-shaped flowers with tall stems and Japanese holly fern with ever-green foliage are perfect for filling shaded areas near tree’s roots of deciduous trees, whether it’s surface roots or shallow roots. In this guide, we’ll explore the best perennials that thrive under trees, like white margins, and plant around trees, offering you practical tips and insights to help your shade garden flourish with large trees and other plants.
Whether you’re looking to add a splash of color or improve soil health, these perennial plants will transform your garden with evergreen foliage in the growing season.
Best Perennials to Plant Around Trees
1. Astilbe
Astilbe plants with dark green leaves grow best in partly shaded areas. If provided with a bit of dappled or indirect light, they will produce the most violet-blue flowers in late spring. Consider planting your astilbes under a tree or along the shaded side of a structure. The plant has no serious insect or disease issues. Astilbe prefers acidic soil.
Astilbe needs to be watered deeply every week, especially during periods of dry summer weather. If allowed to dry out, the foliage will brown, and the plant may even die. However, astilbe doesn’t like soggy soils, so over-watering should be avoided.
In traditional medicine, the plant has been used to treat ulcers, bleeding during childbirth, inflammation, body aches, diarrhea, and dysentery.
2. Pulmonaria
Pulmonaria like growing in part to full shade in ideal conditions, which is good for shady areas like under trees, but more importantly for their intricate patterns, it means they are happy growing as an understory beneath larger summer flowering plants; it’s a plant selection by many gardeners.
Pulmonarias need moist soil and often need watering in summer when grown in dry shade under trees. Pulmonarias spread by growing plantlets at the outer edges of the clump, which can be dug away and replanted in spring or fall.
Used in the treatment of disorders related to the pulmonary system (e.g., bronchitis, cold, cough, laryngitis, and sore throat).
3. Aruncus ‘Chantilly Lace’
Aruncus ‘Chantilly Lace‘ produces lacy, branched, horizontal spikes of creamy white flowers on stems to about three feet tall atop Astilbe-like foliage. Use ‘Chantilly Lace’ as a border, in mass plantings, or in a container garden. It is a deer-resistant selection.
Plant in part shade/dappled light in dry, average, or moist soils. This is a drought-tolerant, low-maintenance plant in the garden. Water well after planting and increase watering as the foliage emerges.
It has been used as a remedy in skin care, detoxification, blood stanching, and tonsillitis.
4. Brunnera
Brunnera with linear leaves are commonly planted near tree roots in naturally shady and damp areas. Their groundcover tendency makes them suitable as a garden or structural border.
They will grow the fastest and strongest in rich soil. Little care is needed once Brunnera is established. Brunnera plants don’t do well in soil that dries out, nor will they flourish in soggy soil.
The plant’s leaves were used to treat skin ailments, and the roots were used to treat digestive problems.
5. Hosta
Hostas, also known as plantain lilies, are shade-loving perennials grown for their impressive foliage. Many hostas have impressive two-toned variegated foliage that can be patterned, streaked, or bordered with a lighter or darker color.
For the first month after planting, newly planted hostas will need bi-weekly watering. Once established, small or medium plants will need a good soak about once a week. Hostas are drought tolerant yet like moist, well-drained soil. If the weather is hotter, increase the watering to two times per week.
Leaves are edible, they are sometimes included in salads although they add more texture than flavor . The flowers are said to have anticancer activity, and are also edible with a “peppery” flavor. It cooks similar to zucchini and can be used as a substitute .
6. Tiarella ‘Cutting Edge’
Tiarella ‘Cutting Edge’ has Tiny, white flowers with very long stamens. In early spring show bright white bottlebrush flowers, adding a bright splash of color to your dark shade areas near deep roots of trees. Standing 8-10 inches tall, and slightly taller with its blooms, ‘Cutting Edge’ is a native plant.
It prefers woodland conditions: humus-rich, moisture-retentive soil that is dappled to full shade. If properly sited, they will keep their nice foliage all winter long, shedding it only when the warmer days of spring arrive. Water when the soil is dry.
This slowly spreading perennial is a wonderful addition to woodland gardens, as well as planted as a border , in mass, or as a selection for combination planters.
7. Ferns
Ferns will be happy growing in the shaded area below a tree’s canopy. Wintergreen ferns are best for this purpose because they’re more drought-tolerant than deciduous ferns that die away in the autumn. The two best types for deep too much shade in drier soil are Dryopteris and Asplenium.
Keep your ferns happy by making sure that the soil where they’re growing stays damp.In the summer months, aim to water your ferns every 4-5 days. During the winter, allow for a longer interval of 7-10 days.
Some are used for food, such as nutrients, medicine, biofertilizers, ornamental plants, and remediating contaminated soil. They have been used in many ways by humans, including as ornamental plants, domestic utensils, foods, and handicrafts.
Conclusion
In conclusion, selecting the best perennials to plant around trees from early summer to late summer till late winter can transform your garden into a lush and vibrant oasis. By choosing shade-tolerant varieties such as coral bells, yellow flowers, spring flowers perennials, hostas, ferns, and astilbes, you ensure your plant’s Lance-shaped leaves thrive in the light shade or partial shade under the tree canopy.
Not only do heart-shaped perennials add purple flower color and texture to your landscape bloom, but they also help maintain the soil health and moisture of your tree roots through their umbrella. The general rule is that with careful planning and proper care, your tree-shaded garden can become a stunning, maintenance-free focal point that enhances the natural beauty of your outdoor space in mid-spring.
