I want to start a container garden in my patio. It is west facing and does'nt get much sunlight (only about 3 hours a day). I collected some big and small beautiful containers and want to grow easy ones (flowers or veggies). I was thinking to grow begonias and geraniums in the small pots. Can you suggest some larger growing ones for the bigger containers? I had no luck with Fuchsia's the last 2 years I tried and don't want them anymore. Also it will be good if I can over winter the plants indoors during winter like I do my begonia and geranium. Any suggestions?
Since you only have a few hours of sun I would think shade plants. There are a lot of choses. Impatients are a natural if you want flowers and in the past I have brought them inside in the fall. When getting ready to fill large pots outdoors I always think of plants I want to try in the garden and try them in large pots first. Last year I had a couple of hostas in different pots with mother of thousands and annuals. They were gorgeous and got me hooked on hostas. It also gave me time to create beds (layed down the cardboard and mulched. The work was just digging the holes in the fall) I did the same with the heuchera pairing it with petunias. Either of these varieties could lido well for many years in a large pot. I also have two pots with a decorative variety of cedar. I have used a sedum for the ground cover for these pots, but think I will change it up this year. These little trees have been many years in their pots. I also have some grass that is wonderful in pots or in a shade garden. It has to be divided every year. My favorite for the last few years has been autumn joy with a feathery trailing sedum. It probably wouldn't be at its best in your low light area.
You could plant a variety of Columbine in your pots. I don't know it they would grow threw the winter inside. But they do reseed themselves and you would get a lot more blooms the following spring. I'm not much help as I do not grow a lot of plant in pots for outside in the summer.
