making the choice of plant important. For the most striking effect, pair it with an upright grass or grasslike plant (it looks stunning with New Zealand flax). Japanese forest grass, or Hakone grass, will provide instant zen to shade gardens, especially when planted beneath a red-leaved Japanese maple or with bronzy-red Heuchera. | Updated August 17, 2020, Creative Commons photo by salchu is licensed under CC BY 2.0, Creative Commons photo by Fluffymuppet is licensed under CC BY 2.0, Creative Commons photo by Forest and Kim Starr is licensed under CC BY 2.0, Creative Commons photo by Tim Waters is licensed under CC BY 2.0, Creative Commons photo by Beautifulcataya is licensed under CC BY 2.0, Courtesy of Sunset Western Garden Collection, Japanese maples are naturally small to medium-size trees, adding a pop of color to a mixed container, These Show-Stopping Container Gardens Instantly Update Any Outdoor Space, These Water-Wise Container Plants Make it Look Easy (and Make it Look Good). Plants That Will Grow in a Screened-In Porch. Plant this shade-lover in a container in a contrasting color, like deep cobalt blue or cadmium red for the most dramatic effect. This clever design technique shows how to create impact by using the same plant in several different containers. Care: Plant them in well-drained soil. These cool-season growers go dormant in summer to save water. potato vine trailing plants. They're typically inexpensive and easy to find, though, so feel free to buy them by the flat and fill up containers and boxes, as long as you provide rich, moist potting mixture. All Rights Reserved. Plants on the porch liven up the space and are the perfect forest grass has an appealing variegated nature that is enhanced in low Wild woodland strawberries are an ideal a choice groundcover for dry shade and likewise turn an ordinary container into a fairytale. They can live outdoors year-round in mild climates, or indoors in filtered sunlight. There's a hosta for every need, and they're super economical as long as you're patient—hostas exemplify the old saying, "first year they sleep, second they creep, third year they leap!" Find more gardening information on Gardening Know How: Keep up to date with all that's happening in and around the garden. Fill the shady spots in your garden with a variety of plants that grow in shade including perennials, annuals, flowering shrubs, and trees. Until then, keep on a generous watering schedule, give it well-drained loamy soils, and feed it in the spring. Care: Water regularly to keep them soft and healthy. Care: Water regularly for the first few years, but then some varieties become water-wise. perform beautifully. are often perfect spring and summer low light plants, but there are other It needs full to part shade, plus well-drained soil. Cut back on water from the fall through winter, as this is the plants dormant season. maple is a wonderful focal point. The vibrant orange-flowered New Guineas are positively sizzling in chocolate-brown containers, and Shady Lady provides a shocking bright pink color to contrast orange and yellow. Flowers come in every shade but blue. Part shade means it doesn't get more than three or four hours of direct sunlight daily. https://www.apieceofrainbow.com/best-shade-plants-container-garden This is where plant selection gets tougher because most Green walls. flowering plants need bright light to produce blooms. These charming evergreen clumps of roundish leaves with lobed or scalloped edges come in every color under the sun, from purple with silver veins to chartreuse to this warm coral variety, 'Southern Comfort.' These plants will keep you in style, even in the shade. Also called Chinese fringe-flower, Loropetalum provides a soothing foliar backdrop to brighter flowers in shady container gardens, and this is the only weeping form. Care: Once established, they are very tolerant of drought conditions, but they'll always benefit from being mulched. For more tips, check out Sunset's Bonsai book. ‘Southern Comfort’ (a warm caramel color, like its namesake) looks scrummy next to butterscotch-colored impatiens. Impatiens. Gracefully arching leaves give this perennial grass the look of a cooling fountain, and they make a gentle rustling sound in the wind. Available through our Sunset Western Garden Collection. For sizzling color in pots and hanging baskets, it’s hard to beat these perennials—each blooms as flouncy and vibrant as a Mexican dancer’s skirt. Clumps grow to 4 inches tall and as wide as you want; consider planting in a hanging basket or along a retaining wall to let runners and fruit cascade downwards. flowers. This lively mint-family perennial reaches 2 feet tall and wide, forming a rounded bush. Lysimachia, false shamrock and begonias. We have a wonderful selection of shade plants you can enjoy from your patio, including: Bamboo Palm (Chamaedorea Seifrizii) - Also known as the Reed palm, this plant can grow to 7 feet tall and has long bamboo-like canes and dense clusters of fronds with dark-green to grey foliage. They have a long thin leaf and will grow in very shallow pots also. To encourage branching, cut back branches several inches below rosettes anytime except during summer dormancy. If there is some sunlight, an elegant Japanese All Aeoniums have fleshy leaves held in rosettes at branch tips and come in a variety of colors, but variegated forms (like this one) or fully green ones will thrive better in shade than dark purple types. Promote better branching and more compact habit by pinching tips regularly. They're an ideal choice if you find strong fragrances off-putting, as they're practically odorless. Seasonal color displays, mixed foliage, succulents Low light plants like astilbe Varieties with weeping branches and finely cut leaves, like 'Crimson Queen' (pictured) are great choices. While some hostas tolerate sun, those grown in partial shade usually produce the best-looking and longest-lasting leaves. Care: Dichondra prefers warm, dry growing conditions, so allow it to dry out between waterings. These look really cool with dark orange bloomers, such as Fuchsia ‘Gartenmeister Bonstedt.’. Petunias are a tropical flowering annual. This plant does well in a shady outdoor space or indoors as a houseplant. Dark purple foliage and dainty flowers make this plant an excellent choice as a shade plant for containers in mild-winter climates, or as an indoor plant in colder zones. Other plants that produce flowers are: If you want a pair of large containers flanking the stairs The leaves also vary in shape and size, growing lance-shaped to rounded, edged in ruffles or serrated jags. This tropical cactus can't take temperatures much lower than 60 degrees, so move it indoors in areas with colder winters. September 24, 2015 F. magellanica varieties are the most cold-hardy. Use one of these colors at least once in your shade container. Container Plants for a Sunny Porch. Although ornamental peppers are small plants with small root balls, they grow well in large pots that don't dry out too quickly. It adds vibrant color spilling over containers and hanging baskets, and looks a treat with white flowered plants like Nicotiana. Covered in blooms that range from pale green and creamy white to ruby, garnet, and deep amethyst, hellebores are at their prettiest from winter into spring, when their delicate flowers open like cups or bells amid leathery green leaves. With lushly drooping, pencil-thin stems in delicate segments, this tropical succulent is a wonderful and unusual plant for hanging containers. Compact enough to use in containers, yet large enough for foundation plantings or borders, they provide fabulous texture to the shade garden. Care: To keep a potted maple thriving, be sure to plant it in a container with a diameter a couple of inches wider than the root ball, and wider than it is tall. No “best of” shade list would be complete without hostas. Heuchera takes sun only in coolest climates, and grows to 28 inches tall, with showy, white springtime flowers that butterflies love. plants. These gorgeous shade-loving plants will transform your containers into an oasis for your patio, porch, or doorstep. Impatiens serve up a dizzying array of color choices, but of all the varieties out there, we’re partial to the New Guinea hybrids for their large leaves and 3-inch-wide flowers of pink, lavender, purple, red, and more. They produce little white flowers in the spring, as long as they're kept happy. Sign up to get all the latest gardening tips! This easy-care evergreen grass can be used as a groundcover, to edge a path or patio, or tucked into a living wall or window box. Shade and semi shade areas provide great opportunities for growing shade loving pot and tub plants. annuals and perennials that might be suitable as covered porch plants as well. Here’s another stunner whose bright foliage steals the show. They are ridiculously easy to grow and don’t take much care. Get fresh recipes, wine pairings, weekend getaway ideas, regional gardening tips, home design inspiration, and more. may not be as brightly hued in shade conditions but will still thrive. It will tolerate a light frost, but is generally considered a tender perennial. In the ground, it grows 4 to 8 inches tall, and spreads to 2 feet—happily rooting as it goes. Select complementary plants with one large plant for the Hostas are the poster children for shade-loving plants. See more ideas about plants, potted plants for shade, container plants. Rosettes tend to be smaller after growing out from pruning. Feb 13, 2017 Ball Horticultural. Care: Pinch the tips to encourage bushy, vigorous growth; the flower spikes are spindly and ruin the overall look of the plant. Roundish chartreuse leaves and yellow flowers on trailing stems make Creeping Jenny, a mat-forming perennial, ideal for softening the edges of tall urns or hanging baskets. A wonderful way to use shade plants for the porch is in a molinae 'Sharpitor Aurea.'. It produces brilliant, large clusters of funnel-shaped orange flowers on 2-foot stalks that appear above dense clumps of dark green, strap-shaped foliage, a beacon to hummingbirds. center, filler smaller species, and finally some trailing edge plants. flowers make great fillers, as do delicate rose-like impatiens. which are usually focal shade will still need regular water, as pots dry out faster than in-ground For example, full shade means the area never receives direct light. https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/best-plants-for-container-gardening If your porch faces south or west, it probably receives plenty of sunshine. Runners quickly establish a mat of strawberry leaves, while white, five-petaled flowers develop into tiny red fruits that are a concentrated flavor explosion, unlike anything available in a plastic clamshell at the grocery store. winter. Care: Keep them evenly moist during spring and summer, but don’t allow plants to sit in standing water -- these epiphytes like drainage. 'Purple Pixie' grows just 1 foot tall and 4 to 5 feet wide, making it great as a border edger, in mass plantings, on slopes or cascading over retaining walls. covered porch. They like an organic soil, and mulching will help protect plants in the winter. Plant them at the container's edge, in front of a tall spiky plant like purple millet. 1 / 0 Shade lover: Peace lily ( Spathiphyllum ) A very popular indoor plant, this glossy-leafed beauty thrives in a warm, bright spot out of direct sun. That said, in containers, they'll fare better with a regular watering in hot weather to prevent shriveling. Below are flowering container plants that do well in full sun – Petunias. They come in a virtual wardrobe of sizes, shapes, textures, and colors. and creeping These begonias grow best in filtered shade and rich soil; water them enough to keep the soil moist but not soggy, and mist regularly. ear as the focal species, surrounded by coleus bells provide a diverse color and size range as well as get delicate little While the tree is young, transplant it every second year into a slightly larger pot, adding fresh potting soil. as a filler and sweet Depending on the variety, their leaves may be heart-shaped, round, oval, or lance-shaped; glossy or dull; smooth or quilted; blue, green, yellow, or white, or several all at once. A great way to introduce shade-loving plants into your outdoors is by installing a vertical green wall. Fuchsias Whether you're looking for plants for your balcony, deck or backyard, with such a huge variety to choose from, you're bound to find the perfect potted plant to suit your space. Easy-to-grow, low-maintenance dwarf shrub holds rich purple foliage year-round. Flowering New Guinea Impatiens If you have a shady place on your patio that needs some color, one of the best-potted plants for shade is the New Guinea impatiens. After the tree is 8 years old, repot it into the same container every 5 years, removing the outer 3 inches of root and replacing the soil each time. The most popular options being a high quality all-purpose slow release fertiliser, or you may like to try a soluble or liquid all-purpose fertiliser. has classic good looks and ease of care. For dry shade, 'Soft Caress' has everything we love about Mahonia, without the pesky spines! Container gardening is a super-easy way to dress up your front porch, add a splash of color to shady areas, or cope with poor soil in your yard. Dwarf arborvitae Expect bright yellow flowers from fall through early spring and frosty, indigo-colored berries in the fall. Flowering plants will need at least a little bit of sunlight to bloom, but many Japanese points in the landscape, can be grown in containers. Care: If left to their own devices, they'll quickly colonize damp, shady areas, so keep them moist for best results (and keep them well contained if you don't want them to spread). The safest way to feed container plants is with a specialist slow (controlled) release fertilizer like Baileys Pots & Flowers Apex … These gorgeous plants shine all season long in containers. Caring For Bleeding Hearts: How To Grow A Fringed Bleeding Heart Plant, Toad Lily Care: Information About The Toad Lily Plant, Wishbone Flower Plant - Tips On How To Grow A Wishbone Flower, What Is An Old Lady Cactus – How To Grow An Old Lady Cactus Flower, What Are Cleistocactus Cacti – Cleistocactus Cactus Care Tips, What Is A Thumb Cactus – Learn About Thumb Cactus Care, Fertilizing Hostas – How To Fertilize A Hosta Plant, Potted Shade Flowers – Shade Tolerant Flowers For Containers, Hardy Fuchsia Care – How To Grow Hardy Fuchsia Plants, Deer Proof Shade Flowers: Choosing Deer Resistant Flowers For Shade, Mild Winter Weather: Winter Gardening In Zone 10, The Struggle To Make My Indoor Cactus Grow. 11 Great Shade Plants for Container Gardens Coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) Fuchsia (Fuchsia spp.) Some of the best plant choices for pots are the variegated red-twig dogwood, boxwood, conifer plant, and viburnum. The foliage is a soft mist of tiny leaves on arching, wiry stems. and need to have plants with big impact, there are still many species that will Grow them in frostless areas or well-protected parts of the garden. Creeping Jenny is a mainstay of the shady container garden. All conifer require well-draining soil in a container, and most thrive in … If you prefer a chartreuse leaf, try 'Electric Lime;' for a petite version, try Electric Lime's kid sister 'Electra.'. Subscribe now! We grow it in an olive green glazed pot, where it spills out around a yellow-flowered abutilon. For best results when potting use Dawson’s Premium Potting Mix. Available through our Sunset Western Garden Collection. A container garden is the ultimate accessory for your porch, patio, or doorstep. Care: Keep it in light shade with moist, well-draining soil. Being nightshades, both are very poisonous plants with psychotropic alkaloids, so avoid if you have pets or kids with plant-munching habits. This hardy plant is known for adding texture and color. Heart-shaped leaves are covered with shimmering, silvery down, as are the stems. Some even magically transform throughout the season; the variety 'Remember Me' changes from white with green edges to yellow with green edges (as pictured in the upper right of the photo). The lower light level is one of the key issues to overcome when choosing plants for a container garden on a screened-in porch… hanging baskets of graceful ferns. Whether your porch receives full sun or lots of shade, read on for the best porch planter ideas. Tuck a little moss around the base of the plant for a finished look. During this time, water ju… Learn about the top 20 shade-loving plants, including Hosta, Heuchera, Dead Nettle, Tiarella, Astilbe, Foxglove, Ferns, Hydrangea and more. Though both plants produce white flowers, on Brugmansia blooms are pendent and tend toward oranges and peach tones; Datura (aka jimsonweed) produces blooms that face upward, in shades of pale lavender and periwinkle-purple. 'Mona Lavender' is a short-day plant, so won't typically start blooming until fall, but then it carries on right through to spring, given a mild winter climate. They're breathtaking as an underplanting for black 'Ballerina Purple' angel's trumpet (Datura metel) for a cool study in deep violet and pale lavender. Hostas are so extra. Get an instant refresh on your landscape with this shade-loving container arrangement. Trailing lobelia Get one year of Sunset—and all kinds of bonuses—for just $24.95. The plant will take part sun to full shade, and eventually reaches 3 feet tall and wide. Pair them Japanese forest grass or add blue-flowered creeping Turkish speedwell (Veronica liwanensis) to cover bare soil in the pot. Ornamental red berries follow the flowers. Because of fleshy roots, plants can go for some time without water, but they grow better when watered regularly. May 17, 2018 - Explore Marilyn Scott's board "Potted plants for shade" on Pinterest. Care: If watered until established, Heuchera can withstand the dry shade under the canopy of trees or eaves. This annual's brilliantly colored leaves range in endless variety from ruby red and yellow to pink, orange, and blends in a range of psychedelic colors and patterns. Hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies can't resist the flowers, and the plant generously produces spectacular blooms for months. Surprisingly, a hydrangea light. A pineapple is a great plant for your patio as they will grow just about anywhere even indoors, which means pots. make excellent porch plants for shade. and cacti – many of these will perform well as shade plants for the porch. Dense, leafy clumps make way for stems of blossoms that rise up to three feet above the prized foliage. Clivia is an absolute bombshell, great in borders, beds, or containers. Even plants like hosta, … Care: Most ornamental asparagus look greenest in partial shade but thrive in sun in cool-summer climates. There are numerous fertiliser options available for shade-loving plants. During this time, water just enough to keep the plant from shriveling. Use begonias to add vibrancy to container gardens placed in shady spots of your patio. Keep shoots pinched if you like a bushier plant, and prune back in the spring to control the shape. transition from the garden to the indoors. Leaves will yellow in dense shade. After several years, rosettes may produce a single large flower stalk in spring or summer; branches that have flowered die. In your container garden for the shade, put plants with similar water needs in the same container. Give them light applications of balanced fertilizer in April and May, and they'll respond with lush growth. With drooping, pencil-thin stems in sections that look like grains, this tropical succulent is a great plant for hanging containers in the mildest of climates. Keep Them Happy: Tuberous begonias are perfect patio plants: they thrive under the filtered shade of a pergola or arbor, or can be hung in baskets for modular pops of hot color. 10 Best Plants for Container Gardening. Angel's trumpets are guaranteed to bring wow factor to your shady container garden. Bigger pots have more impact and plants growing in them won’t dry out as quickly, but an eclectic group of small containers creates a quirky, ever-changing scene. Potted Plants for a Shaded Porch Fuchsia. Container porch plants for Container plants for shade Hostas. Some other ideas for a shade container garden include: Fuchsia (the color) and white help make the colors of other plants for shade container gardens look brighter. Care: This plant thrives on neglect. Outside foggy coastal areas, plan on regular misting for best results. This low-growing, eye-caching, groundcover softens edges when used as a trailer hanging over the edge of a container or window box, or in a hanging basket. impactful combo might be elephant While it can handle full sun along the coast, this plant is happiest in light shade. Hosta. Also called Sprenger's asparagus or asparagus fern, this lily family-member is often kept as a houseplant in northern climates. Just be aware of their zone hardiness and be prepared to move them indoors for Read more articles about Container Gardens. These shade-loving perennials add sparkle any time of year, whether in pots or in garden beds. SUNSET is a registered trademark Porch Plants For Shade: Choosing Shade Plants For The Porch They like to stay cool and damp in the summer, but unfortunately, so do hosta-chomping slugs and snails—bait for these critters 3-4 times a year. will even produce copious blooms and glorious foliage in shady conditions. By Arricca SanSone. https://www.southernliving.com/garden/shade/shade-container-garden The plant has dark green, glossy leaves with purple undersides, and showy lavender blooms that attract butterflies. Care: Since woodland strawberries are a native forb in mid-elevations throughout the West, they can do quite well with a great deal of neglect. The flowering period ranges from early winter to mid-spring, but most or spring bloomers. Vintage-cover posters, coffee mugs, jigsaw puzzles, tote bags, and more. These upright, semi-woody plants (shrubby small trees) produce exquisitely night-fragrant trumpet-shaped blossoms: 8-12" long, up to a foot across, in singles and doubles. For a lightly shaded patio, we love 'Stormy Weather,' 'Tammy,' and 'Copper Splash.' Porches are often shady, though, Japanese forest grass benefits from being divided—repot these! Heuchera make great container plants, especially when combined with other perennials for shade. of Sunset Publishing Corporation. These attractive flowers come... Wandering Jew. Keep Them Happy: All hostas go dormant in the winter, and will seem to have died completely, but as long as you feed them once a year, they come back better than ever in the spring. colorful caladium, will still develop their ballet skirted blooms, as will begonias. But a single hosta plant will grow quite well in a container, and this plant thrives in the shade. 'Busy Lizzie' (I. walleriana)—comes in a bewildering variety of forms, from dwarf strains to tall, single blooms and double, in nearly every color but blue. They send up slender spires of pink, lavender, or white trumpet-shaped flowers. Sign up for our newsletter. Here are some of my favorite plants for a shady porch. It boasts bright, colorful foliage year round, and will grow to 1½ feet tall and wide. Evergreen conifers, such as pine, juniper, fir and cypress trees, make good container plants, offering year-round interest and structure on patios, terraces and balconies. A really It does tolerate heat well, but still prefers to be protected from direct sun (though in the cooler climes of the Pacific Northwest it can take a bit more sun). Care: While they need regular water when flowering (and look quite tropical), Clivia prefer to be on the dry side. Wishbone Ornamental peppers are ready to grow on your patio as soon as the weather is right for growing tomatoes. Each one looks refreshing in an apple green glazed pot. Planting an evergreen with a sizable mature height is possible since the pot size determines the plant size. Copyright © 2021 Sunset Publishing Corporation. "Many plants thrive in containers. With age, most aeoniums grow leggy. Fuchsia is a staple hanging plant, perfect for containers on shady porches. Mulch plants with aged compost in spring and fall (keep it away from the plant's crown), and you won’t need any supplemental fertilizer. Plant in well-draining soil amended with peat moss or ground bark. Yes, I know, most people plant hosta in the ground, where it comes back year after year. There are many plants that will be happy to share your Torenia (Torenia fournieri) Coral Bells (Heuchera Species and Hybrids) Begonias (Begonia Groups and Hybrids) Persian Shield (Strobilanthes dyeranus) Oxalis (Oxalis spp.) large container. Both like a rich, organic soil. While smaller plant varieties are the best choice for container planting, it doesn’t limit your options. Some sun-loving plants will tolerate a bit of shade, and some shade plants can handle a … Feed monthly during the growing season, and repot every 3-5 years in the spring as needed. Green with long yellow stripes, the leaves turn chartreuse in dense shade; in full sun in cooler climates, they turn creamy pale yellow. Apply a 10-10-10 fertilizer when the first leaves appear in spring, and monthly through August. Available through our Sunset Western Garden Collection. It needs well-drained soil and regular water. It blooms abundantly into the fall months if you deadhead regularly. Hardy fuchsias come in a range of colors (we're partial to the blaze orange of F.magellanica 'Aurea' (delicious against the lime green foliage of Japanese forest grass) and the babysoft pink flowers and variegated foliage of F. magellanica var. Houseplants Grow them in Zones 1-10 and 12-21. Hanging types bloom more profusely, but upright strains have larger flowers. Plant them in rich, well-draining humus and keep them moist, but not soggy (leaves will turn yellow if overwatered). Take your cue from the style of the house and garden – red brick buildings are enhanced by terracotta containers, while a modern plot is the best backdrop for galvanised metal pots. Coral Impatiens are one of the more common and popular shade-tolerant potted plants. Feed it a balanced, slow-release fertilizer in the spring. Move containers to shelter or indoors in winter to rest, during which time water and fertilizer should be withheld.