Annuals are so much fun for the new gardener - most are non-stop bloomers once they have matured to the point where they are ready to take off (that happens quickly) and provide color and fun and a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the world of gardening. However, you will have to be sure to provide enough sun and water and feeding to have success and to have them look good until the cold weather ends it. Be sure to ask lots of questions here as they come up - some suggestions have already been made. I suggest using large plastic pots or pots that are clay but have a slick finish on the inside of them - the clay pots will absorb so much water that it might be very difficult to keep enough moisture to your plants. since you are dealing with container gardening with annuals, you want to make a statement, crowd those annuals in for a real burst of color! Be prepared to water deeply and daily or even more during the hottest weeks. Use a good potting soil that has built in food for three months, it's the easiest thing for you as a newcomer to gardening. Petunias are wonderful, they are easy and come in lots of colors and really pop in your containers - I have a few pots with nothing but petunias and a little bacopa in them, I always use petunias somewhere, they are just so easy and have such wonderful color. Research each plant you are thinking about to be sure it will do well in a pot and if you are going to combine plants, you want to know how to place each in the pot for proper heights etc. A little white in colors make the colors pop - bacopa is a wonderful trailing plant that is tiny white flowers that will make your colors pop. I'm not a fan of cosmos in pots, they get too big but zonal geraniums are lovely and come in lots of colors too. Cosmos is wonderful in the garden though, a *wonderful* starting plant for you to learn on in the soil and provides wonderful flowers for you to cut and bring into the house! Be sure to deadhead all your plants to keep them flowering. Just cut pinch the blooms as they fade and more will take their place. If you don't do this, the plant gets the signal that the season is over for flowering and won't perform nearly as well. The sun requirement is very important. If the tag says sun, you must have the pots placed in an area that will get 6 full hours of fun - if you don't meet the requirements of the plant, it simply won't do well for you and you will be disappointed with your efforts. Gardening honestly doesn't require a green thumb, it just requires the gardener providing what the plant needs and there ya go, you have a successful plant! Annuals are wonderful for you to start off with, they are easy and a good learning tool and add so much to any garden. Here's hoping you have great success!

I just wanted to thank all of you for your helpful suggestions. I had a list of all the suggested plants and I checked them all out at the nursery, but the one that I ultimately decided to go for was the Japanese Painted Fern (thanks Vickster). The silver leaves with deep reddish-purple hues looks absolutely perfect with the blues and whites. Granted, it is not as colorful or bright as some of the other suggestions, but it looks very happy in its new home. One of the garden shows I recently watched mentioned that there ferns and mosses add something to the garden that "makes it look old" (in a good way, of course). The deck definitely looks more established with all the new plants. Plus, I can transplant the fern in the fall into a shady spot near my Galium Odoratum. I loved the idea of the yellow snapdragons, but I was afraid they wouldn't do well in such a shady spot. Maybe I'll try to pair the snapdragons with the lobelia in a sunnier spot in the yard, since I do love yellow and blue together (I've had two beds of narcissus and grape hyacinth in bloom for the past month in the front yard). Thanks again for the great ideas. Here is a link that might be useful: Japanese Painted Fern

Howdy I'm a regular in the dahlia threads but I have a thought. I have 1/4th of my yard in shade and I get tired of spending $50 a year buying impatiens just for that section so I now have 2-3 Begonias in a pot, surrounded by a 6 pack of corresponding or complementary colors of impatiens around them now. I was disappointed in begonias originally when first bought because they are small and are not as 'nonstop' as the stores tell you. But once established, my begs now bloom from May until near October (in San Francisco) And the colors are to die for - super bright oranges and reds etc. American Mdws also has some different colors than I can get from my nursery store so other than purple or blue, I believe they come in every other color. They are small also, (maybe 2' high) and look fabulous in the shade, where my seem to 'glow' at dusk. I'm looking now to buy more but the stores still want $6 a begonia and they will soon be 3 for $10, so I am waiting them out.

Before you completely "pass" on impatiens, see if you can find the sometimes hard-to-locate darker purple variety... it's my favorite for cool shade...other annuals for partial shade include browallia (true blue), Salvia farinacea (mealycup sage) and lobelia. The list of blue or purple perennials for partial shade is pretty extensive - some of my favorites: Mertensia Virginia blue bells); Aconitum (monkshood); any number of Hydrangea (but particularly H. serrata 'Blue Billow'); Lobelia siphlitica; dozens of Hosta have pale lavender flowers; there are several blue Aquilegia; the geraniums 'Johnson's Blue','Rozanne', Samobor' and 'New Hampshire Purple'; Lamium 'Purple Dragon'.