• Evergreens keep their leaves year-round instead of dropping them in the fall. A variety of evergreen trees, shrubs and groundcovers thrive in shady areas. You can plant evergreens near a house, fence or under dense trees. Whether it's spring, summer, fall or winter, evergreen plants can make a shady area more inviting with colorful foliage or blooms.
  
  

Barbados Cherry

• The Barbados cherry tree is ornamental, blooming from April to October with small, pink- to rose-colored flowers with five spoon-shaped, fringed petals. In November, dark red edible fruit appears in clusters on the branches. The fruits are have a tangy, tart taste and have a high content of vitamin C, according to the University of Florida IFAS Extension. Also called wild crapemyrtle, this evergreen perennial shrub grows 3 to 6 feet tall in most well-drained soils in partial shade. The dense foliage is light to deep green, shiny, varying from 1 to 3 inches long. Butterflies, such as the Florida duskywing, are drawn to this shrub to lay their larvae. Birds and small mammals eat the fruit during the winter.
  
  

Sweetbay Magnolia

• Sweetbay magnolia, also known as swamp magnolia, is an evergreen in hardiness zones 9a to 11. It can reach 60 feet in height and is 15- to 25-feet wide with a columnar shape. This tree is eye-catching due to its glimmering leaves, which are green on top and whitish-green underneath. Sweetbay magnolia thrives in partial shade with moist, acidic soil. From June to September, sweetbay blooms with creamy-white, lemony-scented flowers, with its petals slightly cupped around a green pod. When the flowers die, the pod grows, opening to reveal 1- to 3-inch long red or green seeds. The seeds are eaten by squirrels, birds and small mammals.
  
  

Cherry Laurel

• The fleshy, black to blue-black, egg-shaped fruit keep the birds fed through the winter. Cherry laurel is found from southern North Carolina to east Texas in moist, loamy, well-drained, acidic soil where there's partial shade. This fast-growing perennial is an ornamental shrub or small tree reaching 15 to 36 feet tall. Insects are attracted to flower spikes filled with tiny cream-colored or white flowers that bloom from February to April. The dense, evergreen foliage is dark green with a tapered base and pointy tip. Small children and animals should be supervised around this tree because the leaves, seeds and twigs are poisonous.
  
  

Common Periwinkle

• Common periwinkle is used as a groundcover in shady areas. The fast-growing evergreen vine needs full shade, especially in hardiness zones 8 and 9 during the hot, humid summers. The light- to medium-green, 2-inch long leaves are a backdrop for the violet, blue or violet-blue flowers. The flowers have five slightly curved petals that grow on 4- to 8-inch long shoots. A white edge highlights a five-angled star in the middle of the flower. They first bloom in spring. Blooms with fewer flowers continue through the summer.