5 Herbs That Grow In Shade

With the coming of summer, you’re all ready to take in the majesty of the large, sweeping landscape that is your forty-acre property. You can picture the vast plots of land you will use to grow your garden of sun-loving herbs like basil, sage, lavender and—wait a minute. Actually, this may not be your scenario at all. In fact, you may only have a small plot of land that barely has room for a garden, or you may even be limited to the windowsill of your apartment that has very little sun exposure at all. How can you have a garden if you must grow your herbs in the shade? Are there such things as shade-loving herbs?

Herbs like basil and sage may very well need to be planted in places where they get full exposure to the sun, but some herbs can prosper with as few as four hours of sun per day. While all plants need some sunlight, some of the hardier herbs can still prosper while being primarily grown in the shade. And some of them even love the shade outright.

Below are five herbs that grow in shade. Choose to plant these herbs until the day that you can finally close on that forty-acre property you will (of course) one day own!

Mint – Mint plants like peppermint and spearmint are not only known as a refreshing addition to iced tea and other summer beverages, but their medicinal properties are as cooling as the shade within which they prosper. This hardy ground cover is both easy to grow and can help us to beat the heat of summer.

Lemon Balm – This perennial is both easy to grow (a little too easy, actually, so be sure to prune) and provides a pleasantly fragrant addition to anyone’s herb garden. Lemon balm’s leaves can be used in salads and it is used for its calming effect on those with anxiety and sleeping disorders.

Anise Hyssop – These tall perennials smell like licorice and attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Not only that, but when used as an herb they make an appealing tea and its dried leaves can even be crumbled and used in salads.

Cilantro – Cilantro’s love of shade makes total sense, as in some herbal traditions the coriander seeds of the cilantro plant are used as a balancing herb for those who have a lot of heat in their body. Cilantro is also used as a staple in many cuisines, including Mexican and Italian food.

Parsley – Parsley is not just a garnish used at restaurants. It also possesses quite a lot of health benefits, including a wide variety of phytochemicals like antioxidants and vitamins.

Check out our Online Herbal Courses to learn more about how the herbs we take can provide us with a wide variety of nutritional benefits.

Just because your home has limited exposure to sun doesn’t mean your summer has to have limited exposure to gardening. Try out some of these different shade-loving herbs and let us know how you’re getting on with your gardening on our Facebook page.