With the garden season in full swing as we step into the middle of spring, deciding how to add some color to the shady areas on our porch, balcony or window box is a simple blog post away. This post in fact!

For nearly two decades I have had some sort of covered outdoor sitting area or porch, and since these areas receive no sunlight, at first it was difficult to figure out how to add color, while also adding depth, height and structure with living plants. However, I soon found a formula that worked and have been polishing it up ever since. In fact, each year, my planning for what to put in the pots on my porch is simple, fun to shop for and affordable.

There are many phrases coined by gardeners of the three things to include in a garden pot arrangement, but they all mean the same thing: a filler, a spiller and a star (some call this latter item the thriller, but as someone who isn’t big on clashing or bright colors, I prefer to call it the star – a plant that is statement making in its structure and without, the pot wouldn’t be complete).

Because we are looking for plants that prefer the shade, there will be quite a bit of green involved and that is something often overlooked as a wonderful stylistic tool. There are SO many options of shades of green, sizes and textures with the ‘star’ of this approach. Let’s take a look at the three plants to add to your arrangement:

• Star: a hosta
  • there are oodles of sizes and shades of green as well as leaf shapes when it comes to hostas. Have fun picking out the best size for your pot. And then come fall, you can plant the hosta out into the garden and start building your greenery year by year. They prefer any shady area (of course), under trees or in wet areas. North gardens are ideal (in the northern hemisphere). They will keep coming up each year and growing in size. I love a hosta, and most of the hostas now in the ground here at Le Papillon are ones that started in a pot on the porch. 🙂
• Filler: Coleus or a Begonia
  • both of these plants prefer the shade and come in a variety of colors, so this is where you will choose your favorite or preferred color. With the begonia, remember to deadhead as the summer months unfold, and the flowers will keep blooming. With the coleus, these plants start small, but can grow to wonderfully large sizes if watered adequately and kept in the shade.
• Spiller: Sweet Potato Vine or Creeping Jenny
  • Sweet potato vines are available in two colors most commonly – chartreuse green and deep purple. Depending upon the color of coleus and the shade of green of your hosta, choose a complementary color that will, as the summer unfolds, grow long vines of leaves.
  • Creeping Jenny is a wonderful, easy to grow spiller as looks like long, small curls or circles. Typically available in a sharp green, more similar to chartreuse, but not that bright, it is one of my favorites. A plant that is very happy in shade and provides a unique shape to the pot arrangement.

Care is simple: Water just enough so it is slightly damp, so about every four days depending upon your climate. Because they are in the shade, they won’t dry out quickly. And as the summer heat ramps up, you might have to water every other day or everyday. Just keep an eye on them. Other than that, this pot will flourish all the way until the first frost in autumn, and then find a place in your garden or give to someone who loves to garden your hosta and compost the coleus and vines.

The most expensive part of this arrangement is the hosta. Depending upon the size, you can purchase one from $10-35. The one seen here in the photo was picked up at Home Depot for $13, and the other two plants were picked up for under $4 each. So for under $20, you have a beautiful, simple and low maintenance arrangement that will last for nearly six months of the year.

Oh! And whatever pot you put them in, make sure there is a hole in the bottom for drainage, then before putting the potting soil in, place a crock (a broken piece of terracotta pot or something similar) over the hole so that it doesn’t become clogged and the plants and soil drain well. Then add potting soil that you can pick up at just about any gardening center, and you are set!

Following along with the growth of this pot seen above (arranged just this past weekend, so the coleus and sweet potato vine are still small) that sits on my front porch as well as all of my garden at Le Papillon on IG – @lepapillongarden, and check out the monthly gardening post shared here on TSLL which includes monthly gardening tasks & contemplations, the latest gardening books, as well as tools and products I recommend and photos and videos of the garden through the season here at Le Papillon. Explore all of the past gardening posts here.

TSLL’s Simple Garden Shade Pot Arrangement was the Petit Plaisir for episode #403 of The Simple Sophisticate, 10 Ways Integrating Buddhist Psychology into Your Everyday Life Cultivates Contentment

~Explore all of the Petits Plaisirs here in TSLL’s Archives