Easy Container Gardens
Now that the weather is warmer I’ve been taking walks through my Roanoke neighborhood. Most yards look manicured with fresh mows, pruned trees, a few hedges by the house, and a couple flowerbeds scattered through the yard. Then, all of a sudden, the occasional homes with showstopping gardens in the front or backyard, sometimes even both! I find myself pausing and taking a moment to view the work these homeowners have put into their outdoor spaces. Hard work that feels in many ways like a gift to everyone living in the vicinity.
In Roanoke this week, Irises are opening up and providing pastel colors that feel almost dream-like. Roses planted along property fences are blooming and reaching out to the sky. Peonies are providing their big luscious flowers, while smaller plants like Impatiens are spilling out, creating perfect and bright mounds along the ground. Even Liriope, which is not quite a grass or a lily, has become greener than I remember it to have been years prior.
It can be hard to find time to take a walk through the gardens of our neighborhoods, which makes the thought of finding time to think through our outdoor spaces even more daunting. Between work, kids, and household chores, who actually has time to build a gorgeous garden?
Some folks are lucky and not juggling 1,500 tasks in a day and so have the time to devote to building and maintaining Better Homes & Gardens quality yards. For those of us that fall firmly in the 1,500 tasks a day category, manicuring flower beds feels like an unattainable feat.
It doesn’t have to though! Maybe we don’t all have the time, the resources, or the property rights to set out digging up our yards and installing new garden beds, but there’s a simpler way to beautify our outdoor spaces – container planting! Small pots, big pots, prefab raised beds, wall planters, hanging planters, you want to pot it- your local hardware store has a receptacle to meet your needs. So what are we waiting for, let’s get into the roots of the issue:
In the next several paragraphs we’ll take you on a cerebral walk through nature- one we very much hope leads to some new and beautiful yard additions in the coming weeks, months, and years.
We’ve put together an easy mnemonic device to help you remember the 9 key concerns that have to be thought through before planting in a container.
Homely Lawns Calmly Wait To Simply Wear Special Roses
Did you really think we weren’t going to create a mnemonic device that wasn’t yard related?
Let’s break this down. We’re contending with:
The height of a plant,
The length it spills over,
The width it will take up,
The color of the blooms and greenery,
The texture of the plant,
The plant’s soil needs,
The plant’s watering needs,
Knowing the sunlight needs,
And, the space needed for the plant to grow healthy roots
Not too bad when it’s written out so plainly!
The basic premise of a showstopping planter is keeping in mind the Big 9 and knowing how to play with juxtaposing elements. You want to keep the eye moving, rather than stagnating in one place- which happens if you aren’t thoughtful when designing your planter. Most plants are either upright, broad, or trailing and the most successful container combinations usually include at least one of each form.
It’s important to think through the height of each plant..
1. So that you know which plant to position in the middle of your planter, and 2. (and we’ll speak more to this later) knowing how deep the pot needs to be to accommodate its roots. For visual aesthetics it’s important to bring height into a container. A plant that grows upwards keeps the eye moving from the bottom of the pot to the top, with new and exciting things to see every inch of the way.
Some eye popping plants that bring height to the pot:
Length.
Do you like the look of a flower pot that has BOTH height and length? You know, the pots that are reminiscent of a teapot being poured, spilling effortlessly over? A container that has trailing plants brings whimsy to your work of natural art, and, again, provides visual intrigue from the highest point to, eventually with a full growing season, the very base of your container.
Trailing Plants:
Next up, width.
How wide is your plant going to mound outward? You want to walk the line between overcrowding your other plants and having empty space. I’ve run into this issue several times when I first started creating my container garden. I was in Florida at the time, and learning about multitudes of new and exciting plants. The issue with tropical plants, is that while some can be the most luscious you’ve ever seen (think jungle, or well, Florida) others, like various succulents and in my case the Rainbow Bush, or Mini Jade, can give you some real trouble if you haven’t done adequate research.
I chose to plant a couple Rainbow Bushes in my containers that already had bursting height, and the hard to kill plant soon showed me how slow the growth cycle is and how stemmy (the space between greenery and the stalk/stems) the plant could be. While it’s gorgeous in some of my smaller pots, it wasn’t a great choice to plant in my bigger planters– after all, it was competing with my Bird of Paradise, a rather fast growing (wow is this baby tall!) prehistoric looking, wide leaf monster of a showstopper. They ultimately didn’t compliment each other the way I had wanted, so I pulled the Rainbow Bush out and repotted it elsewhere, and stuck some ‘Blue My Mind’ Blue Daze in there, and what do you know? Beautiful mounding color at the base of my salute your superior Bird of Paradise! I had achieved my desired Better Homes & Gardens look.
Mounding Plants:
Now for the fun! Color
This is likely everyone's favorite part of picking out plants. Going to the nursery and seeing all the different options: the orange of the Bird of Paradise, vibrant reds like what can be found in a Begonia, Rose, or Madavella, all shades of green in the Sweet Potato Vines, Asparagus Ferns, Elephant Ears, not to mention the various colors you can find in Impatiens, Zinnias, Petunias, and Flox. Be playful when it comes to picking out your colors, and not just with the bloomers! This is an excellent opportunity to pick bright pops of color that you wouldn’t opt for elsewhere in the home. Or, perhaps you’d enjoy a cooler muted vibe, go with monochromatic colors then! Just be sure if you’re picking similar colors you’re paying closer attention to…
Texture
The texture of plants can be broken down into 3 main categories: fine, medium and coarse. Narrow, thin, strappy leaves like Spike (Dracaena) look great next to a Philodendron, Canna, or Hostas that have broader leaves. Of course, the width and shape of the plant isn’t the only texture to keep in mind. You also have touch. Dusty Miller or White Sage have a softer looking surface, similar to Lamb's-Ear, where a Rosemary or Lavender brings a more pointy approach to the container. It’s all about balance. Just make sure as you’re shopping you’re not pairing too many of the same leaves/textures in the planter.
Onto the sciency stuff: meeting the plants basic needs for survival. Different plants require different types of soil.
This is one of the most important aspects to consider. If you want your plant to not just make it to the end of the summer season, but thrive with loads of blooms and grow to fill in your planters, use a nutrient dense soil! Think about where the plant comes from and how it prefers to live. One of the most surprising things about having been a gardener in both Florida and Virginia is the difference in soil composition. Floridian plants have adapted to thrive in harsh climates, lots of salt and sand. Sand doesn’t hold moisture well, and drains quickly so many tropical plants have evolved to need very little water and well draining soil. Surprisingly, you’ll find as you start getting better acquainted with the plants you’re choosing that many container plants are from tropical areas.
When you’re thinking through your container garden make sure not to plant a super drinker next to a plant that prefers to dry out in between waterings. You can mitigate these issues by buying soil that is specific to your plants needs. If you’re planting a palm as your center “wow” plant, maybe opt for a soil with peat moss in the mixture. Peat moss holds moisture and nutrients well and releases them back to the plant as needed! This is really cool! While you can find generic potting soils that contain hydrogels, a network of hydrophilic polymers that hold significantly more water than you’d think considering their microscopic weight when dry, these miracle sponges aren’t known to give the water back to the plant. Meaning, you might feel your container and it’s wet but your plant's roots could still be parched. Whereas, peat moss absorbs water so your plant isn’t sitting in a puddle but knows to release water to the plant when needed. Sandier soils or nutrient deplenished soils are hydrophobic and don’t absorb water, but rather repel- meaning your new plant babies could be resting in a puddle drowning, needing constant watering because you’ve created a desert, or starving for nutrients. Letting plants sit in water leads to root rot and can kill a plant, and a lack of nutrients and water deprives your plants of what they need to create new growth and beautiful flowers. Many gardeners choose a universal soil that has peat moss and nutrients mixed in. (Don’t worry, we’ll break down fertilizers and the process of fertilizing in the near future!)
Water
Canna’s, Elephant Ears, and Hibiscus love water! They will guzzle it up and in return create beautiful blooms and giant foliage. Lavender, Russian Sage, and Lantana are drought hardy plants and don’t like to be overwatered. If you’re looking to create an easy container garden that only needs watering every so often, stick to drought hardy plants all together. If you’re looking forward to the early morning waterings, the best time for watering your plants (evenings work too, but be sure you’re watering the base of the plant and not the plant itself- watering a plant directly in the evening can lead to mold growing on the foliage) then go ahead and plant water loving growers! Or mix it up and plant containers with both, just make sure they’re separated so you’re not drowning some in the pot, or starving others.
Sunlight
Hostas like shade whereas Hibiscus love sun! You wouldn’t want to trap these two in a single pot because no matter where you decide to put them, one will inevitably be unhappy. So, just as you put plants that enjoy lots of water together and plants that prefer occasional watering together, make sure you’re pairing shade loving plants in your shade containers, and placing full sun loving plants in your bright patio spots.
Pot Size
Lastly, be sure to choose a pot that can accommodate your plant’s roots. Don’t plant a tremendous “wow” plant in the center of a tiny pot, this decision will only lead to your plant becoming root-bound. Interestingly, some plants like to grow in smaller containers, growing into them before requiring the next size larger. Hibiscus love to live in snug pots. This doesn’t mean they like to become root-bound. Hibiscus will need to be transplanted regularly as they grow.
Mary Brannan, owner of Roanoke Landscapes, shares her planting expertise.
We hope this breakdown on container gardening gives you the tools you need to get out there and start planting! It’s a wonderful hobby that grows joy for both the planters and the viewers.