Sucrose synthase (SuSy) is a key enzyme in sucrose metabolism and plays an important role in regulating plant growth and development. The 1853-bp fragment upstream of the initiation codon of the SH1 gene was amplified from the genomic DNA of the maize inbred line “B73” using PCR technology. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the gene promoter sequence contains the basic components of CAAT-boxes and TATA-boxes, as well as specific acting elements, such as drought-induced MYB binding sites and a cis-regulatory element involved in root or endosperm expression. The promoter fused with the Gus gene in an Agrobacterium binary vector was constructed for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of the rice variety ‘Zhouhua 11’. Southern blot analysis showed that three transgenic rice plants (PSH1) contained single copy of the transgene. Histochemical analysis and real-time PCR exhibited that the Gus gene driven by SH1 promoter had a strong expression in roots, stems, leaves, sheaths, and glumes, but gene expression was not detected in flowers and seed tissues. Thus, we suggested that SH1 promoter is a novel vegetative tissue-specific promoter and has significant potential for crop quality improvement.