How to Design Unique Shade Containers
Discover the Art of Creating Unique Shade Plant Combinations
It’s easy to assume, when styling planters for a shady spot, that your choice of plants will be limited to those familiar trays of annuals for shade, wheeled out each year by your local big box garden center. However, shade does not have to mean boring! Expand your search beyond the annuals section to the perennial, shrub, and houseplant sections of the nursery, and come up with new and exciting combinations to liven up the entrance to your home, patio, balcony, or any shady corner of your outdoor space.
The term "shade" can refer to both partial shade and full shade. Partial shade means that a garden spot gets some direct sunlight each day, usually around three to six hours’ worth, and is shaded for the rest of the time. Full shade means the area gets less than three hours of direct sunlight, with the rest of the day being in shadow. Understanding these distinctions helps with choosing the right plants, since some plants thrive in the dappled light and partial shade, like hostas and ferns, while others, like impatiens and begonias, prefer the more consistent coolness and low light of full shade.
How to Choose Shade Plants for Containers
Shade plants for pots: try grouping plants together in your cart, swapping choices in and out until you discover your favorite combination!
Choose the right container. Select a pot or planter that complements the architecture and color scheme of your house or outdoor space, and make sure it has drainage holes. Drainage holes are crucial for the health of your plants.
Measure your container. Before heading out to buy plants, it’s useful to measure the diameter of any containers you plan on using. This will help you to make informed decisions at the garden center when sizing plants, and can help to prevent overcrowding or overbuying plants (What? Is there such a thing? You can never buy too many plants, can you? 😜).
Head to a large local garden center or nursery to choose plants. Small nurseries and big-box retailers will not have as many choices for shade as a larger, well-stocked nurseries and garden centers. Head to the largest nursery in your area, and have some fun experimenting with unusual, non-traditional plant combinations.
Look for plants that contrast in color, texture, and leaf shape. Don’t be afraid to expand your search outside of the annuals section. Perennials, grasses and sedges, small shrubs, and houseplants will greatly expand your palette and give you more choices to work with (read on for some ideas and inspiration for choosing good shade plants for pots and containers).
Let your choices be driven by what is available and looking healthy, rather than sticking to a specific pre-determined list of plants. Plant availability can be fickle and ever-changing. It’s easiest to work with what one nursery has on any given day. This will give you the opportunity to see the plants grouped together in your cart , swapping choices in and out until you find a favorite combination.
Choose annuals, perennials, small shrubs, and houseplants with contrasting colors, leaf shapes and textures.
Shade Annuals for Containers
An annual plant is a type of plant that completes its entire life cycle—from germination to the production of seeds—within a single growing season, then dies. Annual plants will need to be replanted each year if you want them to grow again. Here are some ideas to inspire your when choosing annuals for your shade pots:
Ideas for shade annuals for pots:
Annual Ivy (Hedera helix)
Begonia
Cabbage Palm (Cordyline australis)
Caladium
Creeping Jenny or Moneywort (Lysimachia)
Coleus
Elephant Ears (Colocasia)
Fuschia
Impatiens
Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea)
Persian Shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus)
Plectranthus
Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida)
Wishbone Flower (Torenia)
Shade Perennials and Grasses for Containers
Perennial plants and perennial grasses are types of plants that live for more than two years, returning each growing season from their root systems rather than reseeding like annuals. Using perennials and grasses in containers can greatly expand your gardening palette, allowing for the creation of unique and eye-catching plant combinations.
Perennial plants and grasses can survive over the winter when planted in containers, but their success depends on proper care and protection. Insulating the pots with mulch, wrapping them with burlap, and placing them in a sheltered location can help protect the roots from freezing temperatures. Additionally, selecting hardy varieties suitable for your USDA zone or 1-2 zones colder increases their chances of surviving the winter months. Here are some ideas to inspire your when choosing perennials and grasses for your shade pots:
Ideas for shade perennials and grasses for pots:
Bear’s Breeches (Acanthus)
Bugbane (Actaea - formerly Cimicifuga)
Coral Bells (Heuchera)
Dead Nettle (Lamium)
Ferns
Foamflower (Tiarella)
Foamy Bells (Heucherella)
Hardy or Cranesbill geraniums (Geranium)
Lenten Roses (Helleborus)
Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
Pigsqueak (Bergenia)
Sedge (Carex)
Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera)
Sweet Flag (Acorus)
Plantain Lily (Hosta)
Primrose (Primula)
Toad Lily (Tricyrtis)
A stunning contrast of color, leaf shape, and texture - Golden variegated Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’) and Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum).
Shade Loving Shrubs for Containers
Incorporating shrubs into your shade container garden can significantly expand your plant palette. Dwarf shrub cultivars are also an excellent choice for containers because they have been specifically bred to thrive in the limited space of a pot, unlike their larger counterparts. These compact varieties typically have a more manageable size, which makes them easier to maintain and ensures they do not outgrow their containers quickly.
Shrubs can survive over the winter when planted in containers, but their success depends on proper care and protection. Insulating the pots with mulch, wrapping them with burlap, and placing them in a sheltered location can help protect the roots from freezing temperatures. Additionally, selecting varieties that are suitable for your USDA zone or 1-2 zones colder increases their chances of surviving the winter months. Here are some ideas to inspire your when choosing shrubs for your shade pots:
Ideas for shade shrubs for pots:
Bearberry or Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
Chinese Fringe Flower (Loropetalum chinense)
Low Scape Mound® Aronia (Aronia melanocarpa 'UCONNAM165')
Little Missy Boxwood (Buxus microphylla ‘Little Missy’)
Neatball™ Boxwood (Buxus microphylla 'NSBBL')
Invincible Wee White® Smooth Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens 'NCHA5')
Kanmara® Splendour in Strong Pink Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘H211904’)
Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Little Honey’)
Love Child® Sweetspire (Itea virginica ‘Bailteaone’)
Cavatine Japanese Andromeda (Pieris japonica ‘Cavatine’)
Little Heath Japanese Andromeda (Pieris japonica ‘Little Heath’)
Ginny Gee Small-leaved Rhododendron (Rhododendron ‘Ginny Gee’)
Lil’ Ditty® Witherod Viburnum (Viburnum cassinoides 'SMNVCDD')
A great choice for a container, Cavatine Japanese Pieris (Pieris japonica ‘Cavatine’) is a dwarf cultivar that grows slowly to 2 feet tall.
Houseplants for Outdoor Shade Containers
Incorporating indoor houseplants into outdoor containers can significantly broaden your plant palette and invigorate your designs, creating unique and vibrant arrangements. Houseplants offer a diverse range of textures, colors, and forms that can complement and contrast beautifully with annuals, perennials, and shrubs, adding an exotic and lush element to your containers, pots and planters.
When the colder months approach, these houseplants can be easily removed from the outdoor arrangement and brought indoors for overwintering. Gradually acclimate these plants to indoor conditions by placing them in a shaded area for a few days before bringing them inside. Once indoors, place in a well-lit area and reduce watering to match their lower growth rate during the winter months. Here are some ideas to help you get inspired for choosing indoor houseplants for your outdoor shade pots:
House plant ideas for outdoor shade pots:
Aglaonema
Alocasia
Baby Tears (Soleirolia soleirolii)
Calathea
Diffenbachia
Japanese Aralia (Fatsia)
Ferns
Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes)
Oxalis
Philodendron
Pothos
Begonia rex
Tradescantia
How to Care for Shade Containers
It can’t be overstated: make sure your containers have good drainage. Plants, even ones that like moist soil, will suffer when drainage is not adequate. Drill drainage holes in the bottom of your containers, if needed. You may want to use a stand or pot feet to elevate your containers - this will help water flow out the bottom, and helps to protect your porch or steps from water damage.
Water the soil when it dries out. Seems simple enough - but containers, because they have limited soil and are raised off the ground, dry out very quickly! And if they are located in a covered area, they will not receive any rainfall. Wind will dry them out quickly, as well. Each time you water, fully saturate the soil until water flows out the bottom. You can use a hose with a nozzle attachment, or a large watering can.
In cooler spring and autumn temperatures, it’s okay to water your containers 2-3 times a week. When the weather heats up in the summer, you will need to water them almost every day! When you go away on vacation, make arrangements for someone to stop by and water.
Develop a watering routine - by forming a habit, it will cut down on the chances that you forget about your plants. For instance, water in the mornings, before getting ready for work; or, in the evenings, after doing the dishes. Use post-it notes as reminders.
Deadhead and trim your plants as needed. When you notice spent flowers, go ahead and pinch them off. Clip off dead, brown stems and tips with scissors.
At the end of the season, before frost comes, you can save and reuse any houseplants, shrubs, or perennials from your arrangement. Houseplants can be repotted and brought back indoors, given either a permanent home inside, or kept ready to be repotted outside again in the springtime. Perennials and shrubs can be planted in the garden in a permanent location, or in a holding area to be used again next year. If your container is not frost-proof, be sure to store indoors until next spring.
A mix of annuals and perennials, clockwise from left: Bronze-leaved white begonias, a bright gold sedge (Carex oshimensis ‘Everillo’), New Zealand hair sedge (Carex testacea ‘Prairie Fire’), black coral bells (Heuchera villosa ‘Blackout’), green coral bells (Heuchera ‘Shimmer’), golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’), Orange New Guinea Impatiens.