How and When to Provide Shade Cover for Plants in Summer

As we head into the peak of summer heat and sun, even our plants get a little weary. In cases of prolonged high temperatures or dry spells, extra shade protection helps maintain their health and production. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores when to protect our plants to offer cooling relief from summer extremes.

Written by Katherine Rowe Horticulture review by Sarah Jay Last updated: July 17, 2025 | 4 min read

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While extremely durable crops and ornamentals take high heat in stride, most exhibit stress in prolonged hot, dry weather. Faced with warm, southern climates, heat waves, dry spells, or other environmental changes, they may exhibit signs of hindered growth, decreased fruiting, wilting, and leaf drop, especially in peak months of July and August.

Particularly sensitive plants include those that rely on a lot of moisture to thrive, houseplants that are spending summer outdoors, seedlings, aging specimens, those with a preference for cool roots, and sensitive crops like cucumbers, melons, squash, and tomatoes.

Many plants will benefit from cooling protection with a shade cover when they experience slow rebounding and a lack of vigor due to hot conditions. Here’s how to use shade cloth to protect tender garden plants!

When to Provide Shade Cover

Pepper leaves with pale, scorched patches and curled edges caused by sunburn. — A sunburned leaf is a quiet cry for some shade.

When a plant exhibits signs of sunburn or heat stress, a protective shade cover may be the remedy. Shade cover serves to reduce water loss and internal temperatures while shielding foliage and fruits from direct sun.

The first step is to revisit the specimen’s preferred light exposure for the best growth. The next step is to look at external factors like heat waves, dry spells, and landscape changes (a tree that fell, nearby shrubs that were pruned) that altered conditions.

Morning sun is the best exposure for those who rely on ample sunlight but can’t handle summer afternoon sun. Make sure your cover still allows the best amount of light and can be removed as needed. But, in prolonged heat waves, it can stay in place until temperatures moderate.

Signs of stress include:

Wilting leaves or languid stems
Yellowing leaves and brown, crisp edges
Leaf drop
Blossom or fruit drop
Slowed growth and production
Sunburned leaves

Heat

Blue hydrangea flower plant with vibrant blooms and limp, drooping green leaves showing signs of wilting. — Hydrangeas flop dramatically, then bounce back after sunset cools them.

Excessive heat and high temperatures affect many selections across the landscape. Some respond with temporary afternoon heat wilt, when transpiration causes moisture in leaves and stems to withdraw, reducing surface area and minimizing the need for moisture. On a summer afternoon, your hydrangea, sweet potato vine, squash, and other sensitive, moisture-loving selections will show regular wilting. Normally, they rebound with cooling evening temperatures.

Depending on your climate and the plant selection, stress may show in temperatures consistently above 85°F (29°C), while others present in those above 90-95°F (32-35°C) for prolonged periods. When there’s little relief when the sun goes down, stress increases. Drying winds, too, can play as much of a role as direct sun exposure.

If you’re seeing a lack of rebounding coupled with excessive wilt and foliar damage, call on shade protection to shield leaves from the afternoon sun and to cool the roots. In heatwaves and dry spells, even sun-loving crops and ornamentals can suffer.

Sunburn

Just like people, plants are susceptible to sunburn. Leaf tissues and fruit skins exposed to burning rays result in sunscald. Sunscald shows as bleached, whitish patches on the surface of the leaves and fruits. The blisters become dry and papery as the tissues become necrotic. More minor cases (usually at lower temperatures) present as yellowish or brownish spots.

Leaf scorch is another heat-related symptom that occurs in high temperatures with hot, drying winds and a lack of moisture. Even in shade, plants may experience leaf scorch due to dry heat (rather than direct sun exposure). Leaves lose moisture more quickly than they can absorb it. Edges become crispy and brown.

Sunscald and leaf scorch are recoverable, and plants can heal with protection. Resist the urge to remove damaged foliage, as the healthy tissues continue to photosynthesize. They can help in recovery by continuing plant processes and shielding younger leaves and fruits. Continued sunscald makes them susceptible to other problems, like pests and fungal and bacterial pathogens.

Preventing Damage

A male gardener waters a sunlit vegetable garden with a hose, casting soft shadows on green foliage. — Stressed stems perk up fast with a little extra water.

Providing shade cover for plants is a way to manage heat stress and heal sunburn. Other measures include providing extra water during summer extremes. Keep roots cool with access to moisture for those experiencing stress. Increased evaporation and a lack of rainfall call for supplemental irrigation for impacted crops.

Use mulch as added protection to regulate soil temperatures and retain moisture. Fertilize correctly according to species needs to keep leafy growth vigorous. A canopy of healthy leaves protects underlying fruits and new growth. Take care to avoid overfertilizing, which creates an excess of quick, weak growth susceptible to sunburn and defoliation.

Protection for In-Ground Plantings

Garden beds of wheat and cabbage protected by a shading net stretched over tall wooden posts. — Cloth covers filter light like sunglasses for growing fruit.

There are a number of ways to get creative with shade cover for plants in the ground. Placing a temporary trellis or fence panel in direct exposure is a portable way to screen out late-day rays and offer cooling shade for roots. Using larger plants to screen smaller ones during peak sun is a natural means. Arbors offer a structural foundation with shade cover for underplantings. With the right placement, they’ll screen those in the shadow.

Shade cloth is one of the easiest ways to screen single shrubs, small trees, and crops. Shade cloth is a lightweight fabric that screens UV rays while still allowing natural light, moisture, and air flow to filter in. Use it as a row cover on hoops, on stakes, or draped over stems. Cover fruits, especially those that are unripe and developing. Ensure plenty of air circulation when adding a cover.

Other creative shade covers include:

An umbrella
A pop-up tent/canopy
Burlap, bedsheets, or window screens on stake

In Pots and Containers

Two potted young pepper plants with lush green leaves sit on a balcony beneath green netting for sun protection. — Even heavy pots deserve clever ways to beat the heat.

Pots and containers with their portability make it easy to change positions as the season progresses. Slide them into a position with dappled afternoon light if the plants show signs of stress. This works well for crops like tomatoes and peppers in grow bags or containers that benefit from protection. Cluster them under a tree canopy, an eave, or near a cool wall for added protection.

Those that are too heavy to move can incorporate the same creative covers as in-ground plantings. Raised beds, too, benefit from overage when summer intensifies. Floating row covers and shade cloth are easy, reusable, cost-effective options. Tunnels and vertical supports with heat-tolerant vines between beds or over tender crops offer shade cover.

Arranging in the Landscape

Wooden raised beds with a variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers including tomatoes, zucchini, basil, beets, strawberries, onions, coneflowers and more surrounded by flowering rose bushes and tall arborvitaes. — Afternoon shade from taller crops gives lettuce a break.

At planting, we have an opportunity to plan for maturity. In the edible landscape, companion plantings can be beneficial, one of the advantages being shade and cooling protection. Taller specimens grown near a lower-growing, heat-sensitive selection provide canopy cover.

Lettuce and tomatoes are examples of good partners. Lettuce matures as the tomato seedlings take off. The sun-loving stalks shade the tender lettuce leaves from direct sun and offer a cooling respite..

Position taller specimens where they’ll shade the lower growers based on the sun’s positioning as it moves through the day. Taller crops on the south or west-facing side cast a shadow in the afternoon.

If you’re specimen is prone to stress and foliar, fruit, or flower damage in a changing climate, consider transplanting trees, shrubs, and perennials in the fall. Depending on the species, fall offers moderate conditions like cool temperatures and ample moisture to minimize transplant shock. It may be worth moving shrubs like hydrangeas to increased shade if they show continual summer responses.