Drought Resistant Plants for Shade

Adding beauty to the dry shade garden

By Rose Rodriguez Published April 07, 2015 Updated June 07, 2022

When you think of drought resistant plants you probably aren't thinking of shade plants or the best flowers for shade. Dry cracked ground under the baking sun may come to mind or maybe a desert filled with cactuses. What constitutes drought resistant plants varies with geographic location, but dry conditions may occur even in the shade. When you think about the fact that shade often comes from trees, you realize you may have very dry conditions in shade while the rest of your yard is fine. This doesn't mean dry shade can't be attractive. You just need to find the best flowers for shade that are also drought resistant plants.

At Plant Delights Nursery we offer a large variety of dry shade perennials. Our large selection and informative website will help you find the best flowers for shade. Nature has helped shape many great drought resistant plants, since many plants have evolved with trees, in dry forests, or even dry cliffs. We've found and selected the best flowers for shade and offer them for sale. Begonia boliviensis is a beautiful shade plant found in the dry cliffs of Argentina. It will tolerate both drought and light shade, and the stunning red flowers add color to the shade garden.

If you like the unusual, the best flowers for shade are the Jack-in-the-Pulpits (arisaema), the voodoo lilies (Sauromatum), and the arums, as well as relatives like typhonium, Helicodiceros muscivorus (Pig Butt Arum), and dracunculus vulgaris (Viagra lily). These plants have a fascinating assortment of strange hooded flowers and they grow from corms that tolerate dry conditions. We have one of the largest selections available of these great aroids, and even the foliage on these plants is beautiful and unusual.

Another way to add beauty to dry shade is by using foliage plants that tolerate drought. Asarums (wild ginger) have both beautiful, often marbled, foliage and unusual flowers to add color to dry shade. Many make great ground covers in dry shade. Our Vinca minor cultivars make great drought tolerant ground covers for shade, adding brightness with their yellow variegated leaves in the shade. They are tough without being aggressive like some cultivars. Cyperus albostriatus 'Variegatus' (Dwarf Striped Umbrella Plant) makes a great plant for dry shade. To buy drought tolerant shade plants be sure to visit the Plant Delights online catalog.

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