My first couple years of container gardening were in the shade. I think in the height of summer I maybe got an hour or so of sun in the morning and the same in the evening. While I like impatiens they can get to be a bit boring. One combination that I liked on my balcony was having a hosta in the middle and then planting some other annual like lobelia or violas around the edge of the pot. The violas were fun because they would push their little delicate flowers up through the big hosta leaves. When the hosta put up its flower spike, that added some nice heigth. Torena also did well for me, as did nicotiana. I'm sure they would have been bigger if they had more sun, but they did keep on flowering for me without getting too leggy. A pot of white impatiens with light blue lobelia spilling over the edge also looked very nice. That combination really stood out in the evening and was very pretty. Hope these help.

Don't forget herbs!

Mints, lady's mantle, lemon balm, sweet woodruff (caution: a spreader!) and sweet cicily will all do well under your conditions so long as they don't dry out too much on windy days.

A number of woodland perennials (do a web search with that phrase) should work fine as well, given the same care.

Finally, there are a number of tropicals that would do well in shade, if you don't mind bringing them indoors for the winter or buying new ones in the spring: gingers of all kinds (though most get pretty big), begonias (not just the everblooming bedding types), alocasias and caladiums, etc. -- look for them in florists and house plant stores, and check out some of the bigger nurseries like Logees and Glasshouse Works for more ideas.

enjoy!

Jim

Thanks for these suggestions! They should help get me started.