Shade plants for back deck pots

Hi all,

I've tried to plant flowering annuals on my back deck these past few summers in pots and they haven't flourished. Last summer I noticed that the neighbor's maples are blocking all the sunlight (not true when I first moved in here). Any suggestions for pretty shade plants for a deck garden in pots?

Is it really heavy shade? If you want flowers in the shade, then I would recommend impatiens or begonias. I've used Torenia, too. Lots of people like coleus for color in the shade, but some coleus does like a little sun. And then of course any of the shade perennials work nicely in combo containers- ferns, hosta, hakone grass, heuchera, or creeping jenny for a good trailer.

Here's one of my shade containers from a few years ago-" Sinbad" Begonia, Torenia "Magenta Moon", and Hakone grass

Here's the same pot last year, with impatiens, fern, (and Boston Terriers ;)) Really, for a pop of color in the shade, I don't anything beats impatiens. This container really only gets dappled light all day, with direct sun at dusk. And hakone grass is awesome too.

Yep impatiens are one of the best annuals for shade, I love begonias too.
Add to that list- primula, bergenia, viola, nicotiana and tiarella

Yes, violets will reseed themselves too.....I have some that are trying blooming now. ^_^

my favorite shade plants are coleus, begonias, torenia, mimulus and impatiens

Laminum, Colocasia esculenta, Heucheras