A Shade Lovin' Container Garden

John and I had such a great time with our first backyard landscaping project and (so far) are so happy with the results, we couldn't wait to tackle another backyard project.  Inspired by the gorgeous weather on Sunday, we visited Meadows Farms once again to pick up some plants to finally finish filling up the pots we bought last fall and a few other old ones we had lying around.  As we've mentioned before, most of our yard is pretty shady, so we're limited to those plants that do well with little direct sunlight.  Luckily, it seemed like the nursery had expanded their offerings even since the last time we visited and now conveniently had a whole section labeled "Shade Perennials" (which we didn't notice at first and it even took us a while to realize why that section was covered...).

After a bunch of deliberation and wandering about and examining every plant at least three times, we walked away this time with two "Paul's Glory" hostas,  one fringed bleeding heart, one "Georgia Peach" coral bells, one "Pine Knot Select" lenten rose, and two "Purple Dragon" creeping lamium.  We didn't really know anything about any of these plants besides what the tags said, but in reading the info provided in the links above, I think we made some great choices.  They're all shade-loving, hearty, pretty perennials that spread easily.  If they don't fall victim to our blackthumbs, I'd say we'll have some lovely plants to enjoy for years to come.  Here they are waiting to be planted:

Of course, as it so conveniently happened for John, the Washington Capitals were playing their second(?) game in the Stanley Cup semifinals (or whatever it is), so I was left to my own devices in planting them.  I know I could have waited, but it was such an amazingly beautiful day, who would want to spend it inside watching sports?  *shudder*  So, I filled each pot with a small layer of pebbles to aid with drainage, a layer of potting soil, and stuck the plants in and carefully planted them.  Pretty easy.  Now feast your eyes on our glorious plants:

One of the "Paul's Glory" hostas.

All the pots together.  We moved them, but I forgot to take a picture of their new home and now it's dark out. :) 

The "Georgia Peach" coral bells.  It's much perkier already.

A close up on the hosta.  I love the texture of the leaves and the dark border. 

The bleeding heart plant.

The cute little heart flowers.  I think the plant has already made twice as many flowers. 

The lenten rose and the "Purple Dragon" creeping lamium.  Supposedly the lenten rose also spreads, so these dudes might have to be separated in the future.  For now, they can hang out until they get used to living at The Grafton. 

A close up on the Purple Dragon leaves.

So, that's our first container-only garden.  They're all so cute, don't you think?  Every day they seem to be growing or sprouting something new.  We'll see how they do and maybe one day will stick them in the ground or maybe they'll live safely in their pots forever.  For now, we like watching them grow along with their Janet and Jenny friends out a little further in the yard.