Great Perennial Plants for Shady Garden Containers in the Pacific Northwest

Save money and extend the life of your displays with these attractive options

Shade garden are some of the most beautiful and rewarding gardens you may make . No one can withstand the coolheaded welcome that dappled arena of the landscape offer in the heat of summer . The robustious efflorescence in the sunny portions of the garden is rattling , but when the temp hang glide and the eyes need sculptural relief from the glare of the Dominicus , to the shade garden we go ! Many of us , though , only have tint thanks to a covered porch or roofed submission . In these spots , visitors can experience the same nerveless , lush spirit they might out in the landscape , but it hit them as they enter our home with shady garden container . Taking some of the best aspects of a spook garden in the ground and displaying them in pots is a fortune to highlightsome starsthat do n’t always get the proper care . The follow suggestions will hold up in a pot for years in the PNW and can be replanted into the terra firma when you are ready for a variety .

Shangri-La™ begonia is a container garden star

( Begonia circumlobata‘MonShayne ’ , Zones 8–11 )

A blue pot of Shangri - La ™ begonia sets off the residuum of this winter variety of containers with its frosty parting . This motley will emerge from dormancy in tardy spring and continue to face lovely until a hard frost hits it . Happy in full to partial tint , it also can be planted in a mixed container . Its upright , fuzzy , saturnine red stems plunk for dark olive - fleeceable foliage with ruddy undersides . deep lobed , palmate , toothy leaf with silvery livid speckles contribute bold texture to any container or as a individual specimen . It increases in width until the container stops it , reaching only 6 to 10 inches in tiptop .

Bigleaf hydrangea does well in containers in shade

( Hydrangea macrophyllaand cvs . 6–9 )

Hydrangeas tend to create quite a lot of play in a pot all on their own . childlike bigleaf kind from a big - box retail merchant are generally cheap and exceedingly easy to slip into a colorful pot . Many are forced into flower by the nursery to increase sales in April , but even if this is the font , the large flower will persist for many month , going from vivacious hues into more low-keyed tones of blush or yellowish green . Under the cover of a porch ceiling , they were protected from any peril of late frosts in subsequent years too . This photograph was take in July , and they still count great with modified irrigation and ample tone . Most bigleaf varieties can be kept in the container over the wintertime ( but protect them from freezing ) or planted in the shade garden when they go dormant .

Korean tassel fern is a lush green addition for shade containers

( Polystichum polyblepharum , Zones 5–9 )

Ferns , with their shiny intricate leaf , are also a must - have for shade pots . They should be used to create an interesting evergreen base for extra colorful annuals later . Korean tassel fern grows well in full to partial tone . Its vertical figure stay beautiful throughout the wintertime . you may expect it to go happily in a container for at least 2 years , after which it can be transplant into a portion of your shade garden .

Epimediums are graceful stars for shady garden container plantings

( Epimediumspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 )

Light and airy plants like epimedium tally motion and interest to containers . These perennials will blossom early on in the leaping with blooms that are held above the leaves on long pedicels . Blossoms can be many different chromaticity , but in a container the leaf is just as important . Epimediums are often evergreen and can have colour or mottled foliage . This leafage is what sum up pastime to a pot after the flowering is over .

I am particularly adoring of the variety ‘ Spine Tingler ’ ( E.‘Spine Tingler ’ , zone 5–8 , back weed ) with light yellow flower that seem to be adrift in the atmosphere . Farge ’s epimedium ( E. fargesii , Zones 5–9 , front deal ) is another ducky for a container , with young leafage coming out bronze colored with endearing spinous edges . Its drop purple blossom are very delicate looking at , but the leathery leafage tells a unlike story . All epimediums are happiest in full shade , though they will put up some sun .

Shade containers with perennials at their base are so well-to-do ! take up less water , fertilizer , and deadheading than sun containers , they leave behind more time to bask the warm weather . Plants can be swapped out seasonally with matter from the garden too , making your cost output even less .

And to discourse these plant life or ask other gardening interrogation , chat with the generator on theGardening Answers assembly .

To read more on Pacific Northwest horticulture , go here .

More on designing garden container for shade :

Out - of - Ordinary Containers for Shade

How to Get time of year Long Performance from Your Shade container

Designing Long - live container

— Susan Calhoun is the possessor of Plantswoman Design in Bainbridge Island , Washington .

All photograph : Susan Calhoun

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