Shade-Loving, Potted Flowers

Colors

• A key benefit from adding flowers to a space is the opportunity to introduce color. Add bright blue with lobelia, a low growing annual with a sprawling habit that will give you flowers cascading over the side of your container. Lobelias prefer moist soil and temperatures below 80 degrees. Asters bloom in the fall in an assortment of colors, in particular, purples and reds. Use larger pots to give the proper scale to taller varieties.

Scents

• You'll have fewer fragrant choices with shade-loving flowers than you will with flowers that bloom under sunny skies. Lily-of-the-valley is a woodland plant. It has small white flowers that produce a sweet scent. Lily-of-the-valley plants tend to become invasive, a problem you'll avoid with containers. Violets grow in various colors, including, but not limited to, violet. They have a sweet, almost candy-like scent. Give them moist soil to produce the best results.

Pots

• Pots give flowers a protected area where the flower's roots can expand without competition from trees for water and nutrients. The containers themselves are an additional opportunity to reinforce the color and imagery you create with your flowers. A dark container will fade into the background, giving bright flowers an opportunity to take center stage. Light-colored pots add another bright spot while waiting for flowers to bloom.

Shade Quality

• The quality of your shade plays a big role in determining which flowers will grow for you. Observe your space at different times of the day and at different times of the year to determine if and when sun reaches the area. Daffodils will thrive in the shade of a deciduous tree in late spring, if they received sun in late winter before the tree's leaves grew. If a solid structure is creating your shady conditions then look for flowers that will perform well in full shade, such as impatiens.