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disco_owl

Suggested plants for pots for North Facing porch?

Disco_Owl
12 years ago

I have 2 large ceramic pots i want to dress up with plants, but have no idea what to use. My porch faces the North so receives no sun whatsoever in the winter, but a moderate amount of sun in the summer. I guess maybe i'll have to just stick with annuals and change them out each season? Does anyone have any suggestions? I am open to anything, really.

Comments (6)

  • grant_in_arizona
    12 years ago

    I have a couple of pots, and a few close-to-the-house narrow beds on the north side of my house too. I have GREAT success with Portulacaria afra, the so-called "elephant food" or "dinosaur" food. I've had it in pots on the north side of my house for years and it's done great. I slop water on them once a week when it's really hot, and once or twice a month when it's not. It's very, very easy to find at local nurseries and big box hardware stores. Just be sure it's been growing outside already for awhile.

    I have good luck with Aloe vera and Aloe saponaria too, and with Hesperaloe parviflora ("red yucca") although the hesperaloe doesn't bloom quite as much as its friends in sun.

    If you like the look, I'd say give Portulacaria (*not* portulaca) a try.

    Let us know what you pick and how it works out,
    Grant

  • az.Lemon
    12 years ago

    I find that the fluffy bright green fern plants as well as purple hearts do well in shade. Succulents too. Any succulents I have put in sun (as said they can take full sun) have died by mid-summer...but the ones in the north side shade are going strong. Elephant food has done well anywhere I've put it along with rosemary. Few good options there. With being in the large pots maybe you can get the 'carts' that hold large pots with wheels on them to move them around to get a little sun every so often. Happy gardening :)

  • Haname
    12 years ago

    A lot of houseplant types would do well. I have a Radermachera Sinica "china doll" in the shade that has been very happy for years. It does get some morning sun but I think it would do just as well on a north facing porch.

  • waterbug_guy
    12 years ago

    I like Canna in a pot. They can take standing water once sprouted so you can't over water. I grow them in closed pots, no drainage. But they do very well with drainage and watered daily in the summer. Without drainage they don't need a lot of water. You can epoxy drain holes if wanted.

    The most clay soil you have in your yard is best imo. They do like a fair amount of food. Couple of chunks of fruit tree fertilizer spikes works great and good for months.

    Many kinds. I like the older kinds, simple green leaf

    The downside is you really have to divide them every year else they can break a pot. Did mine today. With a little protection from frost, like a roof eve, they bloom through the winter. If frost gets them they will come back from tubers. If you can move the pots to full sun in the winter, so much the better. Disclosure: I've only grown these on the west side of house and in full sun.

    They bloom pretty much continuously. But each flower only lasts a few days so for best appearance cutting spent flowers a couple of times a week is best.

  • lazy_gardens
    12 years ago

    Spider plant and Sanseveriua thrive on shady porches here.