Hi there- I have been sucessfully container gardening on my porch this summer--but my tomato plants and spacemeiser zuchinni have fallen to a fungus I have been battling for a while (Luckily I got lots of tomatoes and squash out of them before the fungus got out of control.)

So I have cleaned out my containers, washed and bleached them, and they are sitting, empty, waiting for new plants.

So here is my question- what should I plant? I am inclined to plant flowers because I find them easier to care for then more vegtables, but I have little experience with flowers- just vegetables. So I need some opinions-- does anyone have suggestions as to nice hardy flowering plants which will survive a North Carolina piedmont winter?

The tomato containers are quiet large, so I could plant a nice variety of plants together for good color on my porch- I like bright colors, and need plants that require little work, just some watering, miracle-gro, and occasional pruning.

So suggestions? I am willing to plant small plants or seeds- and would like to re-fill those four huge empty containers on my porch. My porch looks so lonely without its 8 foot tall tomato plants anymore...