Container edibles: lettuce, mache, mesclun/microgreens, peas (sugar, snow, shellies). Look for dwarf/compact cultivars or baby vegetables. You can also google shade tolerant vegetables to see what comes up.

Sunset Western Garden Book is THE reference for gardening in the west.

Here is a link to one seed catalog:

Here is a link that might be useful: Seeds for growing in containers

To the list of shade-tolerant succulents I'd add haworthia, gasteria, gasteraloe, some aloes and sedums, echeveria, perhaps dudleya. Sansevieria is said to be good in shade but my experience is that they don't grow much without at least some bright light.

As a general rule, anything that's sold as an indoor plant in the rest of the country will survive well outside in this part of California if it gets the right amount of water. So you can grow a whole lot of tropical foliage plants that do fine in low-light conditions. My favorite is coffee!

False Aralia! So graceful, tall, and exotic. I love it with ferns, since it has such dark green leaves that contrast well with the lighter green of squirrel-foot, sword, and asparagas fern. Kentia Palm, Ficus benjamina, cast-iron plant, impatiens, orchids, clivia, pygmy date palm. You have a great location.

If I was choosing plants I'd look at hummingbird-friendly plants and plants with edible fruit. For hummingbirds, a few shade-tolerant plants like salvia microphylla (a shrubby plant that will get about 3 feet tall in a pot and bloom most of the year in white, pink, or red, depending on variety - look for 'Hot Lips' which is currently the easiest to find and very nice with bicolored flowers), salvia buchanii (hard to find, but worth it since it thrives in a pot) or many other salvias will definitely attract hummingbirds to your balcony. Anywhere in LA, even the most urban parts, there are hummingbirds year-round and they'll readily come to plants in pots. Another plant I like for balconies is Rusellia equisitiformes -Fountain Plant. It looks like a long, hanging fern but gets red flowers - very unusual and exotic and great for a large pot with room to hang down, plus it is good for hummingbirds.
Since you're from Maryland I thinka citrus plant would be a great addition to the balcony. Cirus limon 'Meyer' (Improved Meyer Lemon) may be the best choice for a container. There are several other lemon and lime varieties that you could grow. Citrus will do well in a pot and once larger will hold fruit almost all year so you'll have a ready supply of lemons at hand - what could be more California than that? I don't think oranges do as well in pots as lemons, but maybe others will have better info on that.

Y'all know more than I do--but did anyone mention clivia? I have a patch in total shade, and they bloom nicely every year. I have not kept them in pots, though. The orange is the commonest color, but I think there is a yellow or white one out now.

I forgot to mention epiphytic cacti, like the Christmas or Easter cactus. They'd probably do quite well. Hundreds of species to choose from.

A gardenia would be very happy with your exposure!

Carla in Sac

Clivia are very happy in pots and are very easy as long as they don't get too much sun (they sunburn). Every few years you need to pull them out and put them in a larger pot. The old pot will be stuffed solid with roots and all the soil will be gone.

Sansevieria, Begonia, Clivia, now comes variegated leaves and flowers. I think you would need to grow 'Donkey Tail' in full sun being so close to the beach, you should have not trouble with frost. Azalia, some species is most genus, will have a shade grower. Pansy's, several bulbs,
many pot plants, ferns, I know people who live close to the beach, I'm a native of Los Angeles, Gardenia would be great, Lilies, 'Cast Iron Plant' I'm sorry I don't know what names you are familiar with. Well other's will tell you more. Crasulady2@dslextreme.com