Favorite Foliage Plants for Full-Shade Ponds: Taros, Water Lettuce, and Rushes

Foliage Over Flowers

In full shade, flowering is minimal. Choose plants for striking leaves.

Taro (Colocasia) varieties—bold, colorful leaves.
Water lettuce—rosettes of velvety leaves; may get leggy.
Arrowhead, golden club, marsh marigold (spring bloom before trees leaf out), monkey flower, flowering rush, horsetail rush, zebra rush, 'Marble Queen' melon sword, watercress (needs flow).
Dwarf cattail tolerates partial shade.

Deer-resistant plants in cages: ferns, hostas, hellebores.

Pond and Water Gardening: Colorful Shade Plants for Coastal Beach Areas; Shade-Loving Annuals Beyond Impatiens: Color for Dark Gardens; Shade Perennials for Clay Soil in Wisconsin; Flowering Aquatic Plants for Shady Ponds: Lilies, Marginals, and Floaters; Best Flowering Plants for Shade Gardens: Complete Guide; Shade-Tolerant Shrubs and Plants for a Beautiful Shady Garden; Best Wildflowers for Shade Gardens: A Regional Planting Guide; Best Shade Plants: Solid Green vs. Variegated Foliage; Best Plants for Shade Gardens; Essential Pond Plants: Submerged, Emergent, and Surface Varieties for Balance

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