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Pet-safe plants for shade

Shade plants with no toxicity recorded for dogs, cats or horses, checked against the ASPCA and NC State.

Shade is where the risky plants gather: lily of the valley, foxglove, bleeding heart, hellebore and monkshood are all shade plants, and all poisonous. So it is worth knowing which shade plants are not.

Every plant here has been checked against the ASPCA's lists, NC State's toxicity ratings, or both, and no toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats or horses. Unchecked plants are left out. Not toxic is not edible: if a pet eats something and seems unwell, call your vet.

220 plants: 88 perennials, 42 ferns, 5 bulbs, 24 grasses and 61 shrubs.

The dozen to start with

  • Cinnamon fern

    Cinnamon fern

    4 ft · grown for its leaves

    A tall vase of green fronds surrounds stiff, upright, cinnamon-brown spore stalks in spring.

  • Lilyturf

    Lilyturf

    16 in · early August to mid September

    Evergreen clumps of dark, strap-shaped, grassy leaves, with spikes of violet flowers like grape hyacinths in late summer, followed by black berries.

  • Japanese painted fern

    Japanese painted fern

    18 in · grown for its leaves

    Arching fronds brushed with silver and burgundy brighten dark corners all season.

  • Christmas fern

    Christmas fern

    20 in · grown for its leaves

    The most useful native fern: leathery, dark green fronds that stay green through winter, in a tidy clump that never spreads.

  • Ostrich fern

    Ostrich fern

    4 ft · grown for its leaves

    Tall, feathery fronds form an elegant green vase that gives height at the back of a shady bed.

  • Japanese camellia

    Japanese camellia

    10 ft · early February to early April

    Polished, dark evergreen leaves and large, formal flowers in red, pink or white from late winter into spring.

  • Lady's mantle

    Lady's mantle

    18 in · late May to early July

    Scalloped, velvety leaves that hold beads of rain like mercury, under a froth of tiny chartreuse flowers in early summer.

  • Japanese pachysandra

    Japanese pachysandra

    8 in · grown for its leaves

    Whorls of glossy, toothed, evergreen leaves form a uniform carpet under trees.

  • Sweet woodruff

    Sweet woodruff

    8 in · early May to early June

    Whorls of bright green leaves make a soft, even carpet under shrubs and trees.

  • Japanese forest grass

    Japanese forest grass

    18 in · grown for its leaves

    The plain green species: a cascading mound of bright green, bamboo-like leaves that all flow in one direction, like water over a stone.

  • Laceleaf Japanese maple 'Crimson Queen'

    Laceleaf Japanese maple 'Crimson Queen'

    8 ft · grown for its leaves · host plant

    A low, weeping dome of thread-fine, deep crimson foliage that cascades to the ground and turns scarlet in autumn.

  • Dwarf Hinoki cypress

    5 ft · grown for its leaves

    A slow, irregular pyramid of dark, glossy, shell-shaped sprays of foliage, each one curved like a cupped hand.

A bed planned only from these plants

The planner was given only the plants on this page that suit zone 6 and part shade, and designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed from them when the page was made.

A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed at eye level in early May: Leadwort, Wherry's foamflower, Dwarf Hinoki cypress, Northern sea oats, Woodland sunflower, Virginia bluebells, Siberian bugloss, Yellow trout lily, Striped squill.
A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) English border in zone 6, part shade, seen from the path in early May.
3. Dwarf Hinoki cypress35. Woodland sunflower55. Woodland sunflower55. Woodland sunflower52. Wherry's foamflower22. Wherry's foamflower22. Wherry's foamflower21. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort12. Wherry's foamflower22. Wherry's foamflower22. Wherry's foamflower22. Wherry's foamflower22. Wherry's foamflower21. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort12. Wherry's foamflower22. Wherry's foamflower22. Wherry's foamflower24. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats45. Woodland sunflower56. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells66. Virginia bluebells67. Siberian bugloss77. Siberian bugloss77. Siberian bugloss77. Siberian bugloss77. Siberian bugloss77. Siberian bugloss77. Siberian bugloss77. Siberian bugloss71. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort11. Leadwort18. Yellow trout lily8. Yellow trout lily8. Yellow trout lily8. Yellow trout lily8. Yellow trout lily9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill
From above, to scale. Each circle is one plant, as wide as the room it needs.

The plants

  1. 1 Leadwort × 19, blue
  2. 2 Wherry's foamflower × 11, white
  3. 3 Dwarf Hinoki cypress × 1, dark green leaves
  4. 4 Northern sea oats × 5, tan
  5. 5 Woodland sunflower × 4, yellow
  6. 6 Virginia bluebells × 14, blue
  7. 7 Siberian bugloss × 8, blue
  8. 8 Yellow trout lily × 5, yellow
  9. 9 Striped squill × 10, blue

Planned as an English border: 11 of the 13 groups (85%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The front edge is finished with wherry's foamflower and leadwort. There is more leadwort than anything else, 19 plants in all. The Design check says right plant, right place needs revision.

The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 2 Good, 2 Satisfactory, 1 Needs revision. Its weakest point is right plant, right place: Every plant here suits your hardiness zone and light. Most of these plants want moist soil, but woodland sunflower wants dry soil. It flags one thing to watch: Northern sea oats spreads aggressively. Woodland sunflower spreads aggressively.

Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.

All 220 plants

Show all 220, by where they go in a bed

Front of a bed 95

Middle of a bed 57

Back of a bed 68

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