One of the best reasons to use containers in your garden is to have plants in places where you wouldn’t otherwise be able to grow them. Commonly this means on a deck, patio or porch. Containers also work wonderfully in areas of your garden or yard where you can’t plant in the ground for one reason or another.
There are many situations where part of a garden may be unsuitable for planting. Perhaps there are buried lines or pipes that make it dangerous to dig and unwise to plant perennials. There may be areas of your yard where you’ve had difficulty getting things to grow because it’s too wet, too dry or too shady. Using containers can help solve all of these problems.
For example in the back of my house, not far from my deck is a cluster of boxes, meters and pipes for various essential services into my home. While it’s nice these are all clustered into one area, it’s not aesthetically pleasing. Planting something in front of this was a definite must. However, at the base of this cluster is a tangle of buried lines. When Gopher One came out to mark the ground for planting the first year I had a beautiful rainbow of flags and spray paint indicating that everything meets right here. Right where I would like to plant something to hide the unattractive stuff up there.
Ideally a shrub of some sort would have been wide enough and tall enough to cover the area. However, aside from the wires in the ground I wasn’t digging around, I didn’t think having a shrub in that area was a good idea as it would make access difficult in case something needed to be repaired. Instead I used a grouping of 3 large containers and 4 medium sized ones. In the 3 larger containers I use tall fast growing annual ornamental grasses. In the 4 smaller ones, I use flowering annuals for color. Not only does the grouping camouflage this otherwise unsightly area but it also adds a colorful, multilevel arrangement that is far more interesting than a single shrub.
Other areas where containers are useful are in excessively dry or wet areas where you have trouble getting things to grow. Yes, choosing appropriate plants is the best option but sometimes, even those don’t grow in some areas. An easy and inexpensive solution is to plant in containers where you can more easily regulate moisture and get the full colorful plants you were hoping for when you planted them in the ground. An added bonus is that containers give height and interest where they are used. A feat that is difficult to achieve with strictly perennials.
Shady areas can benefit from containers as well. In those areas too shady for successful growing use pots of colorful shade loving annuals and trade them out every few days. They’ll do fine and brighten up an otherwise dark area.
Think outside the patio when it comes to containers. You will pleased at how containers in groupings or placed strategically through your garden can change the whole landscape.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
What Are You Calling a Mistake?
Recently, I attended a garden seminar at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. I love attending garden seminars mostly because I’m a flower geek and I love to be around people who like to talk flowers as much as I do. Plus there is always something to learn about new cultivars, different trends and general tips and tricks. This particular seminar was on container gardening and I did take lots of notes on new plants for next spring and some great ideas on container combinations. The idea, however, that really stuck with me is that no matter how much experience, education or eye for design one has, complete and total flops still happen. A lot.
This was not the topic of any speaker but most spoke on their garden failures as well as their successes. I heard from a professor of horticulture to seed representatives to a landscape designer. Failure is a part of gardening and they all had the pictures to prove it!
The horticulture professor worked on annual trials throughout Minnesota. He and his students planted trial beds in 3 locations across the state. In addition, they also did trials of different container combinations. There were many, many successes both in the trial beds and in the containers. And several flops. The professor seemed particularly proud of the containers using gladiolas. They did not work. At all. He had many pictures of these “failures”. It seemed like a good idea. Glads in containers as a vertical element. Why wouldn’t that work? It just…didn’t.
The difficulty in gardening, particularly when trying to combine plants is that plants don’t always cooperate. Even when you take into account growth habit, water, fertilizer and light requirements and the design looks good on paper and particularly in your head sometimes it just doesn’t work. There’s no exact science to it. There is nowhere where trial and error is more in play than in the garden. If this gentleman who teaches this stuff is still making mistakes and proud of it, then I’m on the right track.
While it seemed almost each speaker talked of some disappointments in the garden, no one hit that idea home more than the landscape design company owner. She had 30 years of experience designing landscapes and containers for her clients. 30 years! Her pictures showed one gorgeous container after another but my favorite part of her presentation was the pictures of containers gone awry. There was one combination that seriously looked like a brain that had been sliced in half. I doubt that was the look she was going for but she took it all as a matter of course. Yes, most of the containers were gorgeous but still, even after 30 years, every once in a while there’s one that is just an epic fail.
I think why all these gardeners are so at ease with failure is that it’s just one more thing they now know about gardening. Gladiolas don’t work in containers. A spike between two mums looks like a dissected brain. They’ve accepted that no matter now much experience or knowledge they have plants aren’t always going to perform as expected and that things on paper don’t always come out as planned. And really? A combo planting that doesn’t exactly work is still not that ugly. It’s still comprised of plants which are beautiful in their own right. And all this “failure” does is open the door for them, you, and me to create something a whole lot better next time.
Check out some of my failures here, here, here and here.
This was not the topic of any speaker but most spoke on their garden failures as well as their successes. I heard from a professor of horticulture to seed representatives to a landscape designer. Failure is a part of gardening and they all had the pictures to prove it!
The horticulture professor worked on annual trials throughout Minnesota. He and his students planted trial beds in 3 locations across the state. In addition, they also did trials of different container combinations. There were many, many successes both in the trial beds and in the containers. And several flops. The professor seemed particularly proud of the containers using gladiolas. They did not work. At all. He had many pictures of these “failures”. It seemed like a good idea. Glads in containers as a vertical element. Why wouldn’t that work? It just…didn’t.
The difficulty in gardening, particularly when trying to combine plants is that plants don’t always cooperate. Even when you take into account growth habit, water, fertilizer and light requirements and the design looks good on paper and particularly in your head sometimes it just doesn’t work. There’s no exact science to it. There is nowhere where trial and error is more in play than in the garden. If this gentleman who teaches this stuff is still making mistakes and proud of it, then I’m on the right track.
While it seemed almost each speaker talked of some disappointments in the garden, no one hit that idea home more than the landscape design company owner. She had 30 years of experience designing landscapes and containers for her clients. 30 years! Her pictures showed one gorgeous container after another but my favorite part of her presentation was the pictures of containers gone awry. There was one combination that seriously looked like a brain that had been sliced in half. I doubt that was the look she was going for but she took it all as a matter of course. Yes, most of the containers were gorgeous but still, even after 30 years, every once in a while there’s one that is just an epic fail.
I think why all these gardeners are so at ease with failure is that it’s just one more thing they now know about gardening. Gladiolas don’t work in containers. A spike between two mums looks like a dissected brain. They’ve accepted that no matter now much experience or knowledge they have plants aren’t always going to perform as expected and that things on paper don’t always come out as planned. And really? A combo planting that doesn’t exactly work is still not that ugly. It’s still comprised of plants which are beautiful in their own right. And all this “failure” does is open the door for them, you, and me to create something a whole lot better next time.
Check out some of my failures here, here, here and here.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Falling for Fall—Reviving Container Gardens
The sight of my burnt out flower containers at the end of August depresses me to no end. True, sometimes the cause of pathetic looking plants is my own fault for neglecting plants as I rush to get as much fun in as I can in the last bits of summer. But often for many plants, they are just at the end of their life cycle and there’s not much that can be done about that. Sure, some of the “annuals” we grow are really tender perennials not hardy to our climate and those, with a little care, we can stretch into the fall.
Early spring favorites of mine, pansies and violas will make a resurgence in the fall. While many people think these delicate looking flowers are tender, they actually thrive in cooler temperatures. It’s the heat that gets to them. A true Minnesota plant! Plant pots of them, baby them through the hottest days of summer (which means shade and some water), shear off the spent blooms and they will shine again in the fall. This is also true of most cultivars of osteospermum. They like cooler temps and will look great in the spring, take a breather during the heat of summer and come back swinging in the fall. In the case of osteos, I find that no matter what, they don’t do well in containers. I have much better luck planting these right into the garden. Other annuals that do well in the fall are calibrochoa (million bells), strawflowers, euphorbia, oxalis and sage. Using these annuals in some of your containers will give you some plants you can salvage to combine with other fall beauties when the others have gone to seed.
Ornamental peppers, kale and chard are also at their peak right now. I saw at one store where fully mature ornamental kale was being sold in a 8” pot for around $8. Not bad I suppose, but considering that if I was going to use kale I would want more than one, this is cost prohibitive. If I plan ahead in the spring I can purchase a 4 pack of kale for under $3, plant them either in my garden or in pots and have them ready to use in my fall containers. Easy and cheap, what could be better? This is definitely on my list for next spring.
I’ve also found that sacrificing some bloom time in the summer yields a longer bloom time into the fall. Specifically, I’ve found this to be true of petunias. Year after year, around mid to late July I found that my potted petunias were leggy and a little played out looking. Despite this, they would still be blooming so I was reluctant to cut them back. Short season and all, you know. This year I bit the bullet and pruned the plants by half around the beginning of August. Although my containers all have time release fertilizer, I also gave them a shot of liquid fertilizer as well. Petunias a
re heavy feeders and benefit from extra feedings even if you are using the time release fertilizer. I also had some lantana in some containers and trimmed those back as well. The result was, well, kind of ugly for a couple of weeks. But now they look like this:
Except for being windblown, this actually looks better than it did in the spring/summer. I’m sold. I’ll be pruning back potted petunias midsummer from now on.
You can also revive containers by pulling out the stuff that’s past its prime and replacing it with other annuals or things like red or yellow dogwood branches, curly willow, bamboo, or cattails. The cattails are rampant in ditches near here and I’d like to go steal some. It is okay in Minnesota to cut a few cattails for personal use in fall bouquets. Just don’t go trespassing…another experience I’ve had so you don’t have to. You can preserve cattails with hairspray. The cheaper the better so it has more lacquer in it. You can also add gourds, pumpkins and other seasonal items as decorative mulch to fill in where you have removed plants from containers.
This is my first attempt at reviving containers. I chose to do only the largest ones close to my front door since we’ll be spending less and less time out in the yard. Might as well make the effort with those containers that will provide the most punch. I removed the dried out sweet pea vines and the trailing verbena which if watered properly would have been just fine (oops, live and learn). I left the bacopa and sweet potato vine (which needs some dead leaves removed I see). I planted potted mums and placed several gourds around the base to fill in. Last, I pruned some errant branches from my red-twigged dogwood, stripped them of leaves and stuck those in to add height, color and texture. Not bad for a first attempt and certainly better than burnt out sweet peas and dead verbena.
Be creative. Recycle those cold hardy annuals and tender perennials you planted in the spring. Use branches from trees and shrubs in your yard for filler. See what fun fall containers you can create.
Early spring favorites of mine, pansies and violas will make a resurgence in the fall. While many people think these delicate looking flowers are tender, they actually thrive in cooler temperatures. It’s the heat that gets to them. A true Minnesota plant! Plant pots of them, baby them through the hottest days of summer (which means shade and some water), shear off the spent blooms and they will shine again in the fall. This is also true of most cultivars of osteospermum. They like cooler temps and will look great in the spring, take a breather during the heat of summer and come back swinging in the fall. In the case of osteos, I find that no matter what, they don’t do well in containers. I have much better luck planting these right into the garden. Other annuals that do well in the fall are calibrochoa (million bells), strawflowers, euphorbia, oxalis and sage. Using these annuals in some of your containers will give you some plants you can salvage to combine with other fall beauties when the others have gone to seed.
Ornamental peppers, kale and chard are also at their peak right now. I saw at one store where fully mature ornamental kale was being sold in a 8” pot for around $8. Not bad I suppose, but considering that if I was going to use kale I would want more than one, this is cost prohibitive. If I plan ahead in the spring I can purchase a 4 pack of kale for under $3, plant them either in my garden or in pots and have them ready to use in my fall containers. Easy and cheap, what could be better? This is definitely on my list for next spring.
I’ve also found that sacrificing some bloom time in the summer yields a longer bloom time into the fall. Specifically, I’ve found this to be true of petunias. Year after year, around mid to late July I found that my potted petunias were leggy and a little played out looking. Despite this, they would still be blooming so I was reluctant to cut them back. Short season and all, you know. This year I bit the bullet and pruned the plants by half around the beginning of August. Although my containers all have time release fertilizer, I also gave them a shot of liquid fertilizer as well. Petunias a
re heavy feeders and benefit from extra feedings even if you are using the time release fertilizer. I also had some lantana in some containers and trimmed those back as well. The result was, well, kind of ugly for a couple of weeks. But now they look like this:Except for being windblown, this actually looks better than it did in the spring/summer. I’m sold. I’ll be pruning back potted petunias midsummer from now on.
You can also revive containers by pulling out the stuff that’s past its prime and replacing it with other annuals or things like red or yellow dogwood branches, curly willow, bamboo, or cattails. The cattails are rampant in ditches near here and I’d like to go steal some. It is okay in Minnesota to cut a few cattails for personal use in fall bouquets. Just don’t go trespassing…another experience I’ve had so you don’t have to. You can preserve cattails with hairspray. The cheaper the better so it has more lacquer in it. You can also add gourds, pumpkins and other seasonal items as decorative mulch to fill in where you have removed plants from containers.
This is my first attempt at reviving containers. I chose to do only the largest ones close to my front door since we’ll be spending less and less time out in the yard. Might as well make the effort with those containers that will provide the most punch. I removed the dried out sweet pea vines and the trailing verbena which if watered properly would have been just fine (oops, live and learn). I left the bacopa and sweet potato vine (which needs some dead leaves removed I see). I planted potted mums and placed several gourds around the base to fill in. Last, I pruned some errant branches from my red-twigged dogwood, stripped them of leaves and stuck those in to add height, color and texture. Not bad for a first attempt and certainly better than burnt out sweet peas and dead verbena.
Be creative. Recycle those cold hardy annuals and tender perennials you planted in the spring. Use branches from trees and shrubs in your yard for filler. See what fun fall containers you can create.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Falling for Fall—Perennial Beauties
I have a love/hate relationship with the fall season. I actually like the cooler weather, the back to school vibe and the bounty of the fall harvest. But as a gardener in Minnesota, it’s a rather sad time. The annuals are generally played out or perhaps dead (because someone forgot to water, oops!). Most fall gardening consists of cleaning up for next spring and cleaning in any context is my least favorite thing to do. What I’m left with is a fairly barren landscape that only gets bleaker as the snow arrives. And because our fall season is even shorter than our summer season, it’s always seemed there really wasn’t much I could do to improve my view. I threw in the towel gardening-wise, perhaps a bit prematurely and let nature take its mostly unattractive course.
I know I don’t generally talk perennials as container gardens ar
e more my thing but I have to say that right now I am absolutely in love with my Autumn Joy sedum. I’ve come to this love late although Autumn Joy has been a popular perennial for years. My mother gave it to me after ripping it out from the front of her house. She despised it. As an herbaceous perennial with fall glory, location is everything with this plant. Plant it in the wrong place and what you have is a hole in your garden that will drive you crazy all summer, which is what happened with my mom. Surround it with spring and summer blooming plants that detract from it while it’s growing and you will be pleasantly surprised. Since my mother has moved her sedum to more appropriate place, she is learning to love it, too.
Another issue I’ve had with Autumn Joy sedum I’ve worked with in other gardens is that it can get leggy and floppy. I’ve had this problem with older plants but not the ones I planted just a couple of years ago. I can only guess that as the plant ages this is more of an issue. Cutting the plants back by half around the 4th of July will make the plant grow thicker and more able to hold up those dazzling flower heads in the fall.
Another fall perennial I adore is New England aster. Unfortunately, I’ve killed mine somehow. I think I accidentally pulled them up during spring clean up so I recommend cutting them down rather than pulling on dead foliage, no matter how easy it seems to come up. I kill so you don’t have to! Asters can also be pruned by half around July 4th to provide for a more compact habit and later bloom time although it’s not absolutely necessary.
Other perennials still blooming into the fall season include my burgundy Gaillardia, Veronica and Shasta daisy. Both the Veronica and the Shasta daisy were pruned during the midsummer due to ugliness and now are blooming for the second time. The blooms are less vigorous than earlier but I like the bonus flowers. And of course my Karl Foerster feather reed grass looks fantastic and will remain so through the winter. As much Karl Foerster as I see in landscapes I just never tire of this plant.
I love all these fall surprises. In many ways they are more rewarding than spring bloomers, not least of all for their unexpectedness. I will continue to seek out and plant more fall blooming perennials to balance out my landscape.
I know I don’t generally talk perennials as container gardens ar
e more my thing but I have to say that right now I am absolutely in love with my Autumn Joy sedum. I’ve come to this love late although Autumn Joy has been a popular perennial for years. My mother gave it to me after ripping it out from the front of her house. She despised it. As an herbaceous perennial with fall glory, location is everything with this plant. Plant it in the wrong place and what you have is a hole in your garden that will drive you crazy all summer, which is what happened with my mom. Surround it with spring and summer blooming plants that detract from it while it’s growing and you will be pleasantly surprised. Since my mother has moved her sedum to more appropriate place, she is learning to love it, too.
Another issue I’ve had with Autumn Joy sedum I’ve worked with in other gardens is that it can get leggy and floppy. I’ve had this problem with older plants but not the ones I planted just a couple of years ago. I can only guess that as the plant ages this is more of an issue. Cutting the plants back by half around the 4th of July will make the plant grow thicker and more able to hold up those dazzling flower heads in the fall.
Another fall perennial I adore is New England aster. Unfortunately, I’ve killed mine somehow. I think I accidentally pulled them up during spring clean up so I recommend cutting them down rather than pulling on dead foliage, no matter how easy it seems to come up. I kill so you don’t have to! Asters can also be pruned by half around July 4th to provide for a more compact habit and later bloom time although it’s not absolutely necessary.
Other perennials still blooming into the fall season include my burgundy Gaillardia, Veronica and Shasta daisy. Both the Veronica and the Shasta daisy were pruned during the midsummer due to ugliness and now are blooming for the second time. The blooms are less vigorous than earlier but I like the bonus flowers. And of course my Karl Foerster feather reed grass looks fantastic and will remain so through the winter. As much Karl Foerster as I see in landscapes I just never tire of this plant.
I love all these fall surprises. In many ways they are more rewarding than spring bloomers, not least of all for their unexpectedness. I will continue to seek out and plant more fall blooming perennials to balance out my landscape.