Garden

[DiAnne]

I have an area of large pots in the shade and I plant hostas for height and fill in with begonias (the small ones).

[RedTop]

I use petunias, pansies, geraniums, vinca, and begonias.

[glmama]

Thank you SO much for all the replies and suggestions. Looks like begonias keep coming up. And I love the idea of hostas and bringing more green into the picture. Trix--I was wondering if some of the impatiens stuff was overblown. Glad they worked for you.

[glmama]

Allegheny-I will go look up caladiums. I will also look up some of the other flowers here that I haven't heard of. Thank you, thank you. Can't wait to plant. It's been a nasty winter here in the NE and I want to make sure we're in the clear before I get my flowers.

[denisemb]

I second and third coleus and caladiums! No flowers, but an amazing variety of colored leaves. This is coleus "chocolate mint" and "rustic orange" with ivy.

[glmama]

Denise-That is gorgeous. Now I'm thinking I'll do coleus and some flowers in my pots.

[terrier3]

On 4/20/2014 twopeas said:

Look at the picture in terrier's blog (magazine pick of her yard) and you will see what one of the coleus looks like.

I was going to post this! I use giant coleus...they get up to 5 feet tall in the pots.

[terrier3]

In my picture, you can see I used dark red and variegated giant coleus, a pot of asparagus fern (overwinters well indoors), sweet potato vines (they cover the front of the pots) and some yellow pansies are peeking out (they last well in this eastern exposure).

The large tree is a curly willow stick that came in a flower arrangement I received when I moved in 5 years ago. My neighbor owns a flower shop and gave me a welcome arrangement, so I rooted the curly willow and stuck it in a pot. This year I am re-potting it and I'm adding several more pieces that are rooting right now. I placed coleus at the base of the willow...we call it the "tree that grows in Brooklyn" because it's crazy a brown stick has survived for 5 years!

[denisemb]

terrier3 - GORGEOUS entryway and plantings!

[Donnalona]

I used Kong coleus last year for my shaded areas and they are a real show stopper. The leaves are huge 8 x 5 in colors of hot pink and lime green. I saved the seeds from the flowers and will plant them again this year all over.