Hi Beth,

The most obvious and easy to find shade annuals would be Impatiens, some with single flowers and some with "more showy" double flowers; begonias, there are many different types, from ones with tiny flowers to tuberous begonias with large flowers, and Rex Begonias that have large, multi-colored leaves; Coleus, which would be grown primarily for the brightly colored leaves, and will stay "fuller" and, IMO, "prettier" if the (thin, spike) flowers are deadheaded as soon as they start to form. There's also Caladium, which, again, are "brightly colored leaves," and Lobelia could be planted around the "edges" to hang over the sides somewhat--if the soil isn't too far down in the planters.

Another good shade plant is Fuchsia, but they're "hanging plants," so I don't think they'd work well in your planters! But a Fuchsia or two hung behind the boxes or the seats on shepherd's hooks might be pretty!

The "tallest" of those would be the Coleus, but they're not really that tall! I don't know if something like "spikes" would do well in shade or not!

I agree with Barb that if they're now open all the way to the ground it would be best to reduce the volume of soil somewhat, and in addition to Barb's recommendations, since it appears that you have a "handyman" there that built them, you might consider putting some bricks or a couple concrete blocks in the bottom and then put a "false bottom" in the boxes by putting a piece of wood on top of the "supports." If you do be sure to drill several small holes in the wood for drainage. I'd recommend reducing the soil by about one third. Don't make the soil "too shallow" or it will make it hard to keep it wet when it gets hot in mid-summer.

Have fun planning, and, whatever you finally decide on, we'll be looking for a couple pics later in summer!

Skybird

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/38/e9/18/38e918283f2ebd51232817563ff24d57.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/56154326580289729/&tbnid=tonDaqwE_dglPM&vet=1&docid=uTMjpPqmCvBrwM&w=2448&h=3264&q=rex+begonia+container+garden&hl=en-US&source=sh/x/im

Well you know, I'm going to recommend some hostas! There are some really lovely hosta varieties with very upright form that would look great in there. Take a look at Praying Hands hosta. And bonus if you have a decent amount of soil in those planters, they should be perennial in there. I would look into some heucheras or heucherellas also. And one really nice annual I had last year that was so different because it has true blue flowers:

DescriptionEvolvulus. Check out Proven Winners Blue My Mind. Great little trailing plant and was happy in mostly shade last year in my yard.

My suggestion would be some perennials + some annuals. popmama is sorta our hosta expert here as the beautiful foliage provide a beautiful show all season long. People like pairing Heucheras and Heucherellas with Hostas. Perhaps some annuals with the perennials?

AWESOME THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! I can’t wait to go find all of these and see what works!! The advice to cut down on dirt was awesome too, thank you!!! I did bottles in my planters up front but didn’t have any and couldn’t figure out what else to put in there sooo got so much soil (thank you Santa Fe Gravel for being somewhat affordable!) and filled them all on Saturday before I saw the advice on other things to put in the bottom 😬 Well at least they’ll last a while!! And thanks for the compliment treebarb!! My new boyfriend offered to make them for me since I was having such a hard time with plants working in the shade in that rock. I picked a good guy. Lol! Next project might be a little pond in the middle! 😄

Oh on the topic of getting these plants... does anyone know of a garden center near-ish to old downtown Littleton? Or a good website to get plants from? Or a shop online/pickup place? O’Tooles is open but only 10 at a time for 30 min sooo that’s tough. Good to do that of course! But tough.

Thanks again everyone! You are all amazing!!!

Pool noodles from the dollar store make excellent space consumers in planters.

O'Toole's is doing shop and curbside pickup. Personally that doesn't work for me. I need to see the plants, read the tags, etc. Shopping online is very expensive. I tried it twice and was just sorely disappointed in what I received for the price.

That's a good idea about filling with milk jugs or similar. You can also just throw any old logs or thick branches in the bottom. The logs will decompose naturally and provide some compost and drainage.

Ok, thanks everyone!!!! I wrote every plant down and am heading to O’Tooles this afternoon with my list (wish me luck that the line isn’t insane! Haha). Btw I was thinking about it and realized the majority of my O’Tooles plants don’t last. Or even things like my hydrangea which is supposed to be huge has barely grown at all in over 2 years (or 3... can’t remember). I thought it was just me but my Lowe’s and Home Depot plants seem to do fine... problem is the selection isn’t as good. Has anyone had this issue with O’Tooles or could it just be random bad luck? 🤔

I just went to Marcela's on 72nd and Kipling this weekend. They had a great variety of Coleus and begonias. Good Luck!

I have never had any issue with plants purchased at O'Toole's. May I ask what type of hydrangea you purchased?

Thanks DeZi! I’ll try them! Do they have any kind of reservation requirement or anything like that? O’Tooles lets 10 people in at once so it’d be good to know because with them I’d need to plan extra time and whatnot.

Pop mama, probably user error then 😬 Oops! Not sure the type of hydrangea :/

If the hydrangea was one that was blue or had pink round mopheads, then it may have been a macrophylla-type such as Endless Summer which are often referred to in this area as Endless Bummer. They will almost never do anything beyond the year you buy them. Sure, they will sustain themselves and even leaf out, but they won't get any larger and they will almost never bloom. That is why I asked.

@ Beth, they actually were not that busy. there were maybe 5 cars in the parking lot. but we got there at 5pm on Sunday. I didn't ask what their hours were.

We tried two or three different hydrangea plants in Boulder and they all died and never looked good. Maybe, as popmama states we had the wrong variety.

I agree with Popmama that only certain types of hydrangeas work well here. In particular, they are called Hydrangeas Paniculata. They don't require as much water as others when established and they can take way more sunlight than others. I have a Limelight and some Pinky Winkies in my yard that do well.

https://plantaddicts.com/paniculata-hydrangeas/

Yeah Popmama I think you’re right. Bummer! They are so pretty too :( Off to the garden center today! O’Tooles had a line around the parking lot yesterday so I didn’t wait :(