The monkey grass or liriope in my yard do well as a decorative grass in the shade. They grow slowly there but each year put out new growth. They are also evergreen in my area (not sure if there is a place that they aren't) so they provide good greenery in the winter.

But if you are going with containers, then your soil type and even dry/wet conditions can be negated and you may be able to plant many shade plants that you weren't able to before.

For flowers, begonias and impatiens come to mind. For succulents, sedums can handle the shade and can be decorative. Sedums can grow year-round in your area and impatiens are pretty good at reseeding.

Purple jew/purple queen also can handle that shaded area and the dark purple color adds a nice touch to the shade.

I also like Mexican petunia, and it should reseed and spread also.

I have also grown canna lilies in the shade. They may not bloom in the shade but I used them for their leaves and hardiness, since I also had trouble with hostas in the same spots. They will definitely spread and keep coming back.

These can be grown directly in the soil or potted up.

This post was edited by gardenper on Tue, Apr 8, 14 at 18:09

I use archangel lamium which is a yellow blooming variety with silvery variegated leaves. It grows in the dark practically, and in poor soil like clay, and its aromatic so the deer will not touch it or other pests. In a pot it would fill in and cascade. The roots are extremely weed suppressing too. We have old oaks in the woods here, not much grows under them.