I have two containers on a north facing porch that I have placed sweet potato vines (along with other annuals) in annually for the last three years. They only received about an hour of direct sun in the morning and shade the rest of the day. They do wonderful, practically taking over the porch by October.

I was wondering if sweet potato vine would work. There are some beautiful variations of it out there now. Thanks I'll give that a try.

I know you are sticking to annuals due to $$$. What you might consider, though, is one beautiful, smaller hosta, and then put a few shade-loving annuals around it. I did that years ago, and now the hosta has taken over the whiskey barrel. It looks like a beautiful fountain, and now I don't have to plant anything else in the barrel, which saves me $$ in the long run. You can get one smaller hosta for the same price, or less than, a bunch of annuals. I hope I helped you.