Making a Shade Planter

I’m going talk through the process of putting together these planters with a lot of shade plants that will be outside of the radio station.

I’m going to do a Cordyline, and I got a Hosta in here. I wanted to show that you don’t have to always just use annuals. One of the things I love for shade is textures. You’re going to get more texture out of leaf color and that kind of thing, more so than flowers.

A little secret is that shade planters are actually a little bit easier. You’re not going to have to water nearly as much. You’re still going to have to check for water periodically, but you’re not going to have to water as often.

These Double Impatiens, these are probably going to be the only flowers I use in here, but you’re still going to have color all season long. They’re like a baby rose, they kind of look a little bit different than your regular Impatiens. I do have these for some filler. I always like to just grab a few extra cell packs whenever I’m doing planters, just because they’re a cheap way to fill the holes that might show up when you’re doing it.

I usually try to ask people what colors they want when I’m making planters. Sometimes people just say, ‘oh, just make it colorful.’ And I’m like, give me something, give me one color you like, and we’ll go from there.

I always tend to go for purples. And I love this, like the purple and the lime green together. I always try to tell people, just try to pick one thing that you really like, and focus around that when you do. Because it can be overwhelming when you start.

A lot of people, when they do their planters, they think annual only. I’ve got a Hosta in there. And we’ll mix in Hostas, Tropicals, and annuals, or perennials, Tropicals, and annuals to get the look that we’re after. It doesn’t always have to be just annuals.

I have Creeping Jenny down here that is a good trailer. That could be a perennial, too. I’m bringing this rubber tree in, it’s a Ficus, so this is a good houseplant as well. It’s going to add some nice texture and complement everything else that’s in there.

In the fall, this could be deconstructed before we got cold. The Ficus could come in as a houseplant. The perennials, the Hosta, and the Creeping Jenny could be planted in a flower bed somewhere. You can repurpose the planter as we go into the fall. I like to keep that in mind when I’m doing my planter. If I’m going to use a Hosta or something, I’m like, ‘okay, I have a spot for that.’ I don’t want to have to get rid of it. I definitely want to find a home for it after I’m done.

These are all general shade plants, a lot of it could take morning sun or a little bit of filtered sun, but all in all, shade.

Usually when I do these, I did a quarter line for like the higher back piece and then this Hosta here, this is called Island Breeze. It’s got a dark stem and beautiful dark green leaf variegation, and this will have like purple flowers as well. That’ll be a nice compliment, but that also gives a little bit of height along with this Rex Begonia and some Double Impatiens that are like a hot pink color, just to compliment all these leaves. When we do them, like we do them side by side if there are multiple planters, we like to mirror them just because they look the same, yet they’re going to complement each other on both sides.

I like to do it more so everything is towards the front since you’re not going to be seeing the back of the planters as much on. Sometimes you do have something that’s up on a pillar or something and you want to see things all around. I would probably have put more trailers or something back here.

A lot of people kind of frown on shade because you’re not going to get a lot of flowers. There are flowers for shade, but you do get more color out of leaf texture. Same with perennials in the shade. And really, it’s not as much work. You’re not having to deadhead things and trim things back as much with the leaves and the foliage as much as you would flowers. You just get more textures.

These rex begonias are one of my favorite shade plants. This is just one of many examples that, you know, there’s reds. And there’s all different varieties, colors of the rex begonias. It’s really just a matter of finding good textures and colors through the leaf. I always feel like I use the same flowers. But you know what you know, and they work well. Begonias are another one of my favorites for shade. They’re very easy, very reliable, very low-maintenance.

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