Spring Shade Containers in Charleston

1 day ago
2 min read

We're hopping right into spring and itching to get our hands dirty in the garden this week! It's time to get planting in Charleston and designing container gardens can be a challenging task no matter the season. Come spring time, your options only multiple! If you have empty pots on a covered porch or nestled under an oak tree, you may feel restricted by a lack of sunlight. In the shadier spots of your space, you have to reframe how you think about designing container gardens. You can't depend on bold blooms, so you have to focus on layering funky foliage and adding interesting texture. Keep reading for our shade container tips and examples!

Think Tropicals & Textures

Here's a little gardening secrete... utilize "houseplants" in your warm season shade containers! This is our favorite hack to achieve full and tropical containers in the shady areas of your space. Most plants that we keep indoors and consider "houseplants" are just plants found growing in the shady understory of a tropical rainforests! Use trailing pothos and philodendron as your spillers, pop in some calatheas for funky foliage, and opt for dieffenbachia or aglaonema for large tropical leaves. Other shade loving plants like ferns and heuchera add additional texture, making your pots look more professional.

How to Add Extra Color

We get it...you probably still want to add some flowers! Bold blooms are harder to come by in shade containers but you can find colorful begonias, fuchsia, impatiens, and lamium at Meeting Green this spring. We are big believers in focusing on foliage over flowers because foliage is more reliable, holds up better in our heat, and still offers a wide range of colors for your containers. Adding color with your foliage is the way to go in a shady spot! Some of our favorite colorful shade loving foliage options include coleus, caladiums, and stromanthe triostar. Plus, adding a brightly colored bromeliad, whether in bloom or not, is a guaranteed to be show stopper!