In the garden, full sun is a golden opportunity. The growing possibilities are endless: fat sunflowers, ripe, juicy tomatoes, mushrooming perennials, and the nonstop colors from a thousand varieties of annuals.

Take away that direct sunlight and a very different garden thrives. The shade gardener's palette differs from the sun gardener's, but don't think of it as limited. While sun-loving plants stretch toward the sky and offer only weaker versions of themselves in restricted light, plenty of annuals, perennials, and small shrubs will shine in the shade.

1. Astilbe, 2. Coleus, 3. Hosta, and 4. Golden Creeping Jenny all work together in Ellen Lahti's shady Needham garden.