21 Best Shade Plants to Spruce Up a Dark Room or Low-Lit Corner

Plants are the easiest way to brighten up a dark room. However, low light conditions are not every plant’s cup of tea. In fact, most plants thrive in medium to bright light conditions. Fortunately, there’s a gang of outlaws out there that simply love the shade. So, are you looking to brighten up a dark room or a shady corner? Check out our list of the best shade plants you can pick for the light-deficient indoors!

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Golden Pothos is one of the so-called indestructible houseplants as it can put up with insane amounts of abuse and neglect. This includes: next to no watering, frequent moving, and insufficient light. When light is too scarce it can thrive in artificial light which makes it great for spaces lacking natural light such as offices, lobbies, and cramped dorm rooms.

Keep in mind that this Pothos is not only one of the most popular common houseplants to grow indoors, it also loves some rock music, as our Music Plant Experiment revealed.

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Here’s another low-maintenance houseplant that can tolerate the shade like a champ. In fact, if the Spider plant is older than 1 year and you expose it to light at night (including artificial light), flowering may be delayed and even blocked. We have talked about the Spider Plant on numerous occasions, but for the record, remember it is one of the most common hard to kill house plants in the world that also purifies the air (at least according to NASA studies) in your bedroom or living room, depending on what shady corner you want to spruce up.

Related post: Spider Plant Care Guide – How to Grow Healthy Spider Plants

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Here’s another shade-loving houseplant. The Peace Lily is a common occurrence in dark rooms, lobbies, and offices as it can bloom even in very low light conditions. Since this tropical plant is also an effective air purifier, it means that it makes a great pick for offices and homes.

It is one of those hard-to-kill plants we talked about on previous occasions. Our advice is to keep it as far as you can from your cat. Or the other way around. Also, it is not a poisonous flower, but its pollen can irritate pets and kids. In addition, some sensitive and allergy-prone adults are not immune either. So, if you choose the Peace Lily from our list of best plants for shade, make sure you don’t keep it by the bed in your bedroom.

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Philodendrons are known for their ability to adapt to indoor conditions as very few plants can. They thrive in hanging baskets or high spots from where their elegant stems can hang down loosely. It is a humidity-loving plant so mist it regularly. In addition, it is a very forgiving plant, so it won’t mind if you keep it in low light.

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The cultivars with plain dark leaves live happily in the shade, while the variegated cultivars need moderate light to bright, indirect light to thrive. Never leave a Chinese Evergreen in the direct sun also known as the Ten Commandments plant light. This plant is also a great air purifier which makes it an ideal option for bedrooms and offices.

Looking for shade-loving plants that also happen to improve your sleep? Check out this post by our expert: Relaxing Plants for Your Bedroom

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The Prayer plant gets its name from its leaves’ habit of folding up before bedtime as if the plant were praying. Prayer plants enjoy low light conditions but if kept in the full shade they may become leggy. These plants don’t grow too large, so they are the ideal occupants of small office desks, shelves, and coffee tables.

Also known as the Ten Commandments plant (because of the ten stripes on each leaf), the Prayer Plant also makes one of the best office plants to enhance your working environment.

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Next on our list of best shade plants to consider this year for your low-lit indoor garden is the Snake Plant, a regular guest of this website and an all-time favorite of many of us around here.

The Snake Plant is one of those plants that simply refuse to die regardless of how neglected they are. It fits nearly all types of interiors, is a great air purifier (the variegated cultivar), and is generally a very undemanding and forgiving plant. You can keep it in full shade and it won’t object.

Related post: Easy To Grow Black Plants

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The Peacock plant may be easily mistaken for the prayer plant, but their maintenance varies greatly. The Peacock plant is a tropical beauty that enjoys some shade too but needs a lot of humidity, so mist it daily or keep water in the plant tray to keep it happy. Here is its description, together with its care & maintenance guide:

Peacock plants are, like the bird, very decorative and showy. While the foliage may not contain the exact colors of the peacock, it displays vivid shades of green and maroon and is carried very proudly like the peacock’s tail.

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You know we love the ZZ plant and talk about it with every chance we get. Our luck is that this beauty is not only one of the most common houseplants you can care for even in the absence of any green thumb but also one of the best shade plants out there!

The ZZ plant is considered to be the king of indestructible houseplants as it easily adapts to everything nature or a careless caregiver throws its way, including shady corners and infrequent watering. This beautiful plant can go weeks without water due to an underground potato-shaped rhizome that acts as an emergency water supply.

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Just like the ZZ plant, the Cast-iron plant is nearly indestructible. It fares well in dry conditions, it is not bothered if you move it frequently, and it actually thrives in the shade. The only downside of this Asian beauty is that it is a slow grower, which means that it is a bit more expensive than other plants on our list of best shade plants.

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Dracaena Lemon Lime is one of the best shade plants thanks to its ability to tolerate really well shady spots. But although low light conditions are not a deal-breaker for this type of dracaena, don’t expect the plant to thrive in full shade. Just avoid placing it in the full sun or in the full darkness.

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This bizarre slow-growing palm thrives in warm, low-light, and humid conditions. Just like the ZZ plant, the Japanese Sago Palm is a tough-as-nails houseplant. It looks like a combo of a palm and fern but it is neither. This interesting plant has pre-historic origins as it belongs to an ancient plant family, the cycads.

Just a heads-up, this ornamental plant is poisonous, so don’t let pets and kids around it without the proper supervision. Other than that, the Japanese Sago Palm can make the central piece of a shade indoor garden and it is one of the most amazing trees to grow indoors. We call it a tree casually because cycads are distant relatives of cone-bearing conifers.

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Despite its name, the Swedish Ivy is neither Swedish nor ivy. It mainly grows as a groundcover since it cannot climb or grab onto support like vines do. We added it to our list of the best shade plants because it is very tolerant when it comes to low light conditions. Who knows, maybe you can design a hanging plant-based indoor garden with and around it!

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Ferns are highly adaptable when it comes to lighting conditions. The best ferns for rooms lacking natural light include the Boston Fern, the Kimberley Queen fern, and the Asparagus fern. Since ferns also love humidity, they’re great plants for your bathroom.

While the word “ferns” includes a wide variety of plants, most of them when grown as indoor plants require the same basic care: pot in well-draining soil (Ferns aren’t picky about their soil, but their roots don’t do well if constantly wet.), place them in medium light, keep their soil moist, and mist them on occasion.

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Yucca Cane also known as the ‘spineless yucca,’ is a type of yucca tree that lacks spines, which makes it a very popular houseplant. It is one of the best shade plants because it is very low maintenance and tolerates well low light conditions even though it would be much happier in medium light or full sun.

Related post: Yucca Plant Care – How to Grow This Tree Indoors

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Rex begonia doesn’t need direct natural light to thrive. It is a beautiful plant with stunning foliage that differs from one plant to the next. Its Achilles’ heel, though, is overwatering. On the other hand, keep in mind that they are dangerous for cats. All begonia species are toxic to cats, including wax begonias, Boliviensis begonias, Reiger begonias, Rex begonias, dragon wing begonias, and cane begonias.

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The Rubber tree plant is a low-maintenance fig that just loves staying in the shade. Be careful though that this tough houseplant can reach up to 12 feet. So, give it plenty of room to grow. It is also drought-resistant and does not do well with overwatering.

Related post: Rubber Plant Care – How to Grow This Tree Indoors

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The Nerve plant is a creeping plant with stunning dark olive-green foliage embellished with white, pink, or red vein patterns. The plant can grow in shade, but it loses the vein patterns if kept for too long in low-light conditions. It thrives in high humidity, soil included. We have included it in our top of most amazing, best office plants to spice up your workspace – and for all the right reasons!

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This plant is one of the absolute best shade plants for home and office because it is very tolerant, inexpensive, pretty, and easy to care for, just like many other aroids. The Dumb Cane plant gets its name from the fact that its sap, which is a skin irritant, may cause temporary loss of speech. This houseplant gracefully adapts to any lighting conditions.

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The Lady’s slipper plant is a low-maintenance orchid that is adapted to shade and high humidity. Is one of the most user-friendly orchids out there as it is not very demanding and can easily re-bloom in one’s home. If you want it to produce flowers though offer it a bit more light for a few weeks.

If you want to learn more about orchids and other shade plants, check out our guide on the most common houseplants to grow this year. For orchid understanding and caring guides, the American Orchid Society is one of the best resources out there!

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Last – but certainly not least – on our list of best shade plants for low-lit rooms and corners is the Split-leaf philodendron. It is a tropical broadleaf evergreen that thrives in shade and warm temperatures, which makes them ideal for dark homes and offices. To keep this plant thriving you need to give it medium light, but the full shade is also good as long as you don’t mind the plant becoming leggy and leaves not developing the trademark slits.

To make sure you get the proper philodendron for your tastes and needs, check out our guide on the most popular philodendron types. You may get another variety that tolerates shade well and needs low to moderate maintenance!

              Related post: Easy Philodendron Care Guide – How to Grow this Plant

What Is the Best Shade Plant for You?

All in all, finding a beautiful plant for low light conditions is not that hard, is it? Most of the best shade plants on our list are also happily low maintenance which makes them perfect for absolute beginners too. Do you know other shade-loving plants that should make it to our list? Drop us a line in the comments section below! Also, please let us know what is your favorite too!