My herb garden gets about 3 hours of sun (afternoon sun) a day and does very well. It also get reflected light as it is against the house with very light siding. I grow tarragon, basil, lavender, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, parsley, chives and am blanking on the rest.

Franksmom, my main flower garden is growing in somewhat similar conditions -- shaded by a giant tree until 11 to 12 and then fried in full sun until around 7. I've learned that shade plants won't thrive in this situation, so I'm always experimenting with full sun plants that (mostly) work. My main problem is some plants develop a definite lean that you have to correct or train (or ignore). Depending on how you feel about wildflowers, coneflowers definitely work -- I'm growing Echinacea angustifolia, E. atrorubens, E. paradoxa, and E. purpurea in the above garden. My go-to never die plants are perennial winecups (Calllirhoe involucrata) and mealy blue sage (Salvia farinacea); they don't seem to mind the reverse shade/sun, but the salvia does lean a bit. Also, I have a Gregg's mistflower that has worked well for years, and this year I'm trying a Havana snakeroot / White mistflower (Ageratina havanensis) that I'm pretty confident will grow in this area as well. As far as annuals go, Salvia coccinea pops up like a weed in this garden. I could check my records for other examples if interested. I've tried a lot of plants with various results, but I feel pretty confident with the above examples.

two more pix ... one of each side.. close enough that we can see them ... full sun is usually considered anything over 8 hours .... so a couple hours of dappled shade is not the issue.. IMHO ... what is you base soil ... is it clay???? do you have any idea how they were planted .. could pot bound plants have simply been stuck in the ground .. how do you water ... do you rely on sprinklers??? and finally.. where are you ... how does that lawn look in summer??? IMHO .. either a planting or watering issue ... or combined ... i might be tempted to dig one up.. and find out whats going on underground .... ken

I'm not saying you aren't taking other variables into consideration. You likely are but they just are not included in your notes above so their applicability to any others is limited. Your notes only refer to just shade and sun. Shade and sun in your specific location. That would be different for anyone else. Only one mention of daybreak air temps. Both your plants are full sun lovers vs. shade plants which would have much less tolerance. No mention of container size or uniformity. No mention of plant age/size. No mention of wind. etc. I am glad this approach apparently worked for you. But you present it as a sort of guide on how to do it "at an accelerated pace" and avoiding the gradual aspect of hardening when it in no way invalidates the need for a gradual hardening. And you also asked for others for their experiences in hardening off too. My point is that hardening off plants is unique to every individual's location, plants, wind, container size, plant type and age, weather, etc. So any "how-to-do-it" info has to be taken with a grain of salt rather than as an actual guide on how to do it. And that is especially true when trying to rush the process. Like David said, it isn't an exact science and doing it very gradually is the only tip that can and does apply to all. If one cannot do it very gradually then we do the best we can and hope for good results. If all goes well, great, but rushing the process should be avoided whenever possible. Dave