6 cottage garden plants that thrive in shade – brighten up your garden with these flowering plants and foliage

Close up of flowering foxglove plant at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025.

If you’re on the hunt for cottage garden plants for shade, you’ve picked the right garden aesthetic.

As luck would have it, many of the best cottage garden plants thrive in shaded spots. A lot of the flowers and foliage that fall under this planting scheme are from woodland backgrounds, which means they’re well-accustomed to shadier conditions.