Heavy shade pots

My front door faces north and is at the end of an overhang that runs along the side of the garage (think "L-shaped"). I live in a clearing in the midst of a conifer forest, so this space doesn't get much light.

I want to redo the large pots that are there and I'm really running out of ideas.

I think I'll add some ferns - any other ideas for things to add in there? I'm okay if I don't have flowers. I'm just looking for something of interest to keep that walkway from looking so sparse.

Are there Hostas that have super low light requirements?

How about coleus? It's a whole world of beautiful colorful plants. Check out Rosy Dawn for ideas on the different coleus plants available.

http://www.rosydawngardens.com/

:-D I thought of you even as I hit send on that. Your coleus are always so beautiful.

I've tried Coleus there and they seem to get so leggy looking for the sun - it's a pretty dark walkway.

Wow. This site is a good resource, though. I may have to try some more next year . . .

How about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spathiphyllum (Peace lily)? They don't need lots of light.

This message was edited May 22, 2011 7:28 AM

How many pots did you want to fill? How big are the pots?

I'm always looking for pot "fillers" in the spring because I'm way too cheap to buy all of those annual filler plants. I do raid the perennials looking for suitable material instead. I have grown Japanese painted ferns in pots (one has comfortably filled a low tufa planter). I have another large pot with a Hosta 'Krossa Regal' ringed with Hakonechloa 'Aureola'. I have lots of shade as well. The fern pot is just about all shade and the Hosta pot gets mostly shade with some high shade in the afternoon. Both of these pots do stay outdoors all winter but I do drag the Hosta pot to a more sheltered space against the house. I also have a Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender' that goes into a concrete urn for the warmer months but must come indoors for the winter. This year, I raided my variegated spider plant for some of the larger "babies" to add to pots as foliage accents. Not winter hardy but a nice spot of lighter color.

There are two pots in the darkest spots (sounds like Dr. Seuss). They're ceramic and creamy white. The pots come to just above the knee, maybe mid-thigh and the mouth of them is about 20" across, if I had to guess. I had a small holly shrub with ivy in one and a small arbor-vitae-like tree in another with a fern. I've also tried yew with some success. After a year, things look pretty bad.

I think that maybe I do need to do more seasonal plantings, knowing that that nothing can stay there for long. Spathyphyllum would look nice over summer - but it won't overwinter there. Spider plant would look nice. I'd love to have something big and leafy (it's hard to keep the lush look there) for summer.

So . . . for winter - any suggestions? This is a pretty sheltered spot, so the plant wouldn't have to worry about our soggy rains, but it does get down to just below freezing.

I've seen beautiful Japanese maples in pots but not sure if your light conditions would allow. I've never tried this as my winters can get pretty brutal. I'm thinking conifers might need more light. I'm drawing a blank because our climates are so different. Most of my pots contain either perennials (losing their leaves in winter) or annuals. Variegated ivies that would hold onto their leaves during winter? Do azaleas need more light than you have? What about adding red dogwood twigs for winter interest? They could go in along side sleeping perennials.

Those are good suggestions - the ivies do well in those spots. A small Azalea would certainly do okay. Azaleas and Rhododendrons do so well and are grown so much here that I tend to stay away from them, but I shouldn't just rule them out as an option.

I'd like to add something for winter interest, but the light in that spot is so bad that if the color isn't white, then it kind of gets lost.

Here I don't worry so much about winter interest except for my wrought iron planter on my small front porch. There I use fake evergreen garland, fake berries, real pine cones and Magnolia seed cones and maybe some cut holly thrown in the mix. It's too cold here to worry much more than that.
Ooooh - non-deciduous white or pale pink azaleas? With white variegated ivy? Or go a yellow route with the variegation on the ivy? I'm sure others will have some more unique ideas.
I gave up planting my annuals in the ground in the front of the house because the tree root competition is just too fierce. I did buy 3 terra cotta pots (narrow since I have a small space and just above my knees in height). They were originally whitewashed with a stamped design. I gave them a color wash to match the trim on my house (kinda medium teal/aqua) but left a band of the white for a little contrast. Filled them up with double impatiens, coleus, spider plant babies, small versions of my big Plectranthus from cuttings and some begonias. I even threw in a few of those small houseplants - green with pink spots on the leaves. They're all lined up in a row where I had tried for years to grow annuals and sit in all shade. They give lots of color and tie in nicely to their surroundings and the house.

That sounds lovely. I do love a pot that's stuffed full.

It can get gloomy here in the winter with no sun and no snow to brighten things up. We have grey days and green and brown everywhere. It's nice to have berries or chartreuse or white to at least break the dullness.

And then when you throw in a dark walkway . . .

I'm thinking that I might get a rope light and put it under the eaves or something. Or white lights in the little maple tree out front.

That sounds like a fun idea! Our winters are brown and gray - not much green since even the conifers turn kinda brownish due to the cold.

Katie, how hilarious that you don't think of azaleas and rhodies because they're too common!!
I struggle to keep a scrawny azalea or rhododendron alive,
all the while trying to figure out why it can't look as gorgeous as the pictures!
Sigh...

Isn't that crazy? Yes, they are everywhere here.

I have done nothing to these except to denude and cut them back . . . they are too close to the deck.This is from a few years ago when I first moved into the house,

Geez, I'd hate to have a problem like that!
Must be awful.

Looks like an advertisement for miracle azaleas!

Do you have a photo of the shady area where you want color for the winter? When you said "White", I naturally thought of snow but you probably wouldn't want it any more than we do.

OMG! Have never seen azaleas that big in my area. Salivating...

Rhododendrons (related to Azaleas) and they go crazy here. This is the sunniest and driest part of the yard. The soil they're in is dry clay. But I guess it's our wet winters that they like. The root balls are not that deep. Every year I think about taking them out. I wait until late fall, when they go dormant and then our rains set in and the yard is too wet to get traction with a vehicle. Maybe this year.

I just want to put a bed of some lower things there so they don't obstruct the view from the house.

Pirl, I don't have a camera anymore that can take a specific picture, but tonight I'll look through my old photos and at least try to find a picture of the front of the house so you can see my challenge. Actually, I don't so much mind snow (except that it's tough to get up and down my road) as it brightens things up. Maybe that's because I grew up in Alaska. :-p

Good point!

I enjoy the snow on a sunny day and going out to take photos.

katie - My brain keeps coming back to round-leaved yellow Hostas (maybe since they're one of my favorite accent plants in my shady back yard) since you mentioned you wanted something with large leaves. One of my current favorites is 'Diana Remembered'. Beautiful rounded leaves in a chartreuse color with white/cream edging. The flowers are beautiful - pure white and held up away from the stem instead of the drooping flowers of so many other varieties. Anything with the big white plantaginea flowers are as beautiful in bloom as any of my other perennials.

And that would be very architectural, as well. I think I'll try Hostas and see how they do . . .

I had another thought this morning. If you want seasonal interest and due to the shadiness of your spot, what about sinking nursery pots in your big pots? You could change out the plants at will. When not on display, you could move the nursery pots to a sunnier location. Or you could plant up some nursery pots with a combination of plants since you're trying to get maximum impact.

Oops. Now I've invaded your thoughts in non-DG time. Sorry.

I think you're right, Cindy. I need to just plan on rotating plants several times a year.

I haven't ever had success in sinking nursery pots - they seem to take up too much of the space. If I sink 4" pots, then the rims show because the plants are small. If I sink bigger pots, it's hard to fit in more than one of two. Dilemma. Maybe if my outer pots were bigger . . .

LOL. You could use the bigger pots for "specimen" plants - those single plants with big impact. Whether it's a Hosta or an evergreen or azalea of some sort. Then shop for maybe a few shorter, wider pots - I think they're called azalea pots - (end of season sales you know) that could hold several small pots. Maybe repot the shorter, smaller plants so that the sit up a little higher in the nursery pots, group them in a larger "permanent" pot and then hide the rims with packaged Spanish moss or pine needles (sorta like mulching your pots). Hmmm - grouping smaller pots around the "big impact" pots would give you a real focal point.

Hmmmm, Cindy, you make a point. I want to keep it simple, but adding one or two to a group might not hurt.

Try hellebore. They are evergreen and bloom in the winter and the blooms stay on the plants for a very long time. I love the foliage.

I, too, love Hellebores. I haven't been successful with them in pots for two long, but since I've finally conceded that I'll be rotating things, I think it's a great idea for winter color.

Thanks!

Too funny. Rodies and azaleas are too common here too. BTW, did you know you can cut those huge rodies all the way back and they will come back as a nice little plant that grows quickly. I was shocked when I saw some underpaid, under skilled apartment complex gardeners do that, following their boss's orders. I then watched all those rodies come back over the years . They're beautiful now and fit their space appropriately.

All said and done, I have a giant one that I'm probably going to whack back this fall when I get back to the front of the house. Been wanting to for several years but the plant is a sort of visual fence to my side yard, so this will be a big deal. I plan on leaving nothing over a foot tall, since that's what I watched them do so successfully. Sure will open up lots of planting space. I'll be sad though since it will be a few years till things start to look right again, but not doing it is no longer an option. I've waited longer than I really should have. I imagine this as a feeling like in one of those dreams where you've forgotten an important item of clothing.

Back to reading along looking for hard to plant shaded pot ideas. Will be useing some variegated ivy. Thanks for that. :)

This message was edited Aug 25, 2010 2:55 PM

city - I'm really interested in your rhodie trimming technique. For years I used to prune them back to buds but the buds were never conveniently placed and the regrowth rate wasn't so good. I then saw a program on how southern gardeners trim azaleas which was to cut it just about anywhere and the dormant buds would grow. I've had good luck with that method. Then I heard on a podcast (based in the PNW) about pinching back buds in the spring and getting twice as many regrowing so I'm trying that on one rhodie this year. All that being said, I have a couple of scraggly bare rhodies that I've been afraid to touch, figuring I would just end up killing them. Does it matter where/how they're cut back?
As for another idea for a big shady pot - DD sent me a florist Hydrangea as a Mother's Day present one year. Since it didn't come with a name, I was never sure if it was hardy in zone 5. I planted it in a big pot and it does great. I do have to bring it in every winter though since it really is only hardy to zone 6 (I think). And it blooms every year for me.

Hi Cindy,
If I was really good at pinching and pruning this rhodie over the years, I guess it wouldn't have come to this. ;) I've always been good about deadheading and I've tried to prune and pinch to keep it in shape. But I think I've been too timid, then a couple years ago my neighbor planted a laurel hedge a few feet away, blocking most of the available light the poor thing had. It's all gone downhill from there.

The guys I watched prune those apartment rhodies just chopped , pretty indiscriminately, leaving about a foot or so of stubs. Yes... my eyes got big and I promised myself to check things out over the next few years. Amazing results. I think when the time comes I should be able to look a little more carefully where I'm chopping and hopefully see a way to direct the new growth from the start up of the new stems... I hope.

CBG, I've cut them back multiple times , but they're established and will not stay at any small size. Cutting an 8-foot rhododendron to 2 feet (which is still to olarge for the plant's proximity to the deck) won't result in any kind of a good shape, imo. If these were smaller varieties, then I might be able to work with them in this space.

Cindy, I'd limit your pruning to no more than 1/3 of the plant in any one session for your area (where they are likely more stressed than in our climate). Start by taking off dead branches or limbs, then branches or limbs that cross other limbs, then you can consider reducing the length o the branches. I like to actually get up inside the bush to see the shape of the plant (again, that's with large rhododendrons).

I've been looking around the net and found this one site that seems pretty good, as I didn't see any of the more common errors. http://www.plantamnesty.org/pruning_topics/pt_rhodies_too_big.htm

With pictures no less. Seems I need to wait till spring. That's the part I couldn't remember..when they chopped.

Katie,
I just figured it was worth a thought. Those are a really nice shade of red. :)

Yeah, you're right and I don't want to lose them. Thanks for the suggestion.

Maybe this fall I'll get the neighbors over and shift them somewhere else.

Katie, hope your neighbor has a backhoe.

Yes!

city - Great link! Sounds like spring would be better for this project for me since I may encounter some winter dieback anyway. I'll have to think hard about it over the winter as I have a line of 4 rhodies all the same color. Two are doing ok (they're closest to a bird feeder with lots of sunflower hulls on the ground - surprising me that they're doing better than the other two) and two are scraggly. I may be better off breaking up that line and moving some so that the drastic pruning required isn't quite so noticeable. Hmmm... Thanks for posting the link.

I have heavily shaded front porch facing north in which impatiens did not thrive after many unsuccessful attempts and finally found that dragon wing begonias are wonderful! I am in zone 6

I find that I am experimenting a little more with the dragon wings as well to expand my annual selections. I did take some cuttings from a plant last year and ended up with 6 new plants. They do well in a hanging basket in hotter parts of the garden as well.

The bluer varieties of Hostas do really well in deep shade. Big Daddy, Love pat, Mouse ears etc.