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Plants for Pots and Container Gardening |
 The
Ultimate Container Garden David Joyce |
There are a great many plants that can be successfully grown in containers, those listed here are amongst the easier ones to grow and most successful in containers.
Summer annuals
and half-hardy perennials
There are loads of new varieties and species of plants that are made available for purchase each year with most of them being hopefully described as "a great breakthrough" or similar. A few years later however and you can't find them any more. Also, if you plant up a mixed container, the plants that are still looking good at the end of the season are the "old" traditional ones. Not for nothing are they used year in year out. Remember to water, feed them well and remove dead flower heads for a continuous display
Fuchsias, marvellous bell-like flowers in a huge range of colours and growth habits. Tend to be a bit sparse around the base and stem so under plant with something bushier. Better with some shade.
Geraniums (properly known as Pelargoniums), these just keep going all summer long and are heat and drought resilient, get the F1 varieties, more expensive, but worth it. Ivy leafed geraniums are trailers and great in hanging containers or trailing over the edge of large urns, chimney pots or the like.
Impatiens, Busy Lizzies. The Labrador puppy summer bedding plants always bright enthusiastic and eager to please, but without the mess and they don't rip up your favourite cushions. Not so good in full sun but will tolerate pretty much all conditions down to full shade with no direct sun at all, though perform better the brighter the shade is. Plant a container with a single colour for best effect. Good for under planting taller plants such as shrubs or trees in containers.
Petunias, One of my favourites and another star performer. They come in upright or trailing varieties, so make sure you know which you're buying. I prefer the trailers placed in a basket or tall container. Better when planted in a single colour for a much more sophisticated effect.
Pansies, another old favourite that keep on going in virtually any conditions available in almost any colour and good on their own or as temporary under planting for other annuals or shrubs / trees in containers. Strictly speaking, they're perennials, but never very good the second year so best treated as an annual.
Lobelia, Delicate little plants that will withstand the most surprisingly harsh conditions with a constant supply of bright little flowers that often almost completely obscure the leaves. Good on their own or as a hanging or spreading under planting, tolerant of shade I hang a simple one variety basket under my apples trees and they flower all summer long.Great in semi-shaded positions, I always hang a couple beneath my apple trees in single species baskets - wonderful!
Summer bulbs
There is only one summer bulb worth bothering with as far as I'm concerned and they are Lilies, I recommend that you have many varieties in great quantity. They're not that long lasting (though they do better than many spring flowering bulbs), but are simply so elegantly beautiful. Underplant them with something else, remove the flowers once the petals have fallen and leave the leaves to build the bulb up for next year. Depending on the variety and the size of the bulb, you'll get multiple flowers per stem. The older and larger the bulb is, the more you'll get.
Alliums are popular, but not with me, they make me think of florists on day time tv who spend too much time flouncing about and worrying about their shirt cuffs and not enough time in the garden growing anything - ok rant over.
Shrubs
and trees
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Acer
palmatum "atropurpureum"
Longer term container plants tend to be elegant and sophisticated rather than colourful. While any plant can be grown in a container (that's usually the way you buy them in the first place after all) not that many do very well in the longer term. Inconsistent watering, (you're bound to forget sometimes like in winter when it's dry and windy for a while and you're indoors most of the time) speed of growth, and susceptibility to frost, (as the pot is out of the ground it freezes solidly) all take their toll.
Make sure you keep an eye on the plant and re-pot it when appropriate. I don't let plants stay in the same container for more than 2-3 years, even if it's not pot-bound, taking it out, loosening the roots and changing some of the compost that falls off can give many container grown plants a boost.
Here are some suggestions:
Conifers, a great variety are available, make sure you choose one that is slow growing so that it doesn't outgrow the pot too soon. Watch the watering though, conifers do a trick where they can die but don't go brown for ages. By the time it does start to go brown it's far too late to do anything about it.
Buxus sempervivens, Box. The evergreen shrub for containers (as well as bay), understated and graceful. Easily coaxed into a variety of shapes for the topiary fan, traditional ball or pyramid shapes are the ones you're least likely to get fed up with in time. Fully hardy.
Laurus nobilis, Bay. The evergreen shrub for containers (as well as box). Shiny aromatic dark green leaves that can be used in cooking. Not as hardy as Buxus, needs a more sheltered position preferably in sunshine.
Lavenders. Herbs in general lend themselves well to container gardening as they do well when they get a lot of sun and many types are tolerant to drought. Many of them however get straggly quickly are are not so good in the longer term. Lavender is the exception to this rule and will perform well looking all Gallic and self contained while being aromatic and producing many gorgeous flowers. Make sure you get a dwarf variety such as Munstead.
Rhododendrons (these are acid lovers so make sure you buy ericaceous compost). Wonderful large colourful flowers in late spring with handsome glossy evergreen leaves. If your Rhododendron isn't so large to begin with, bear in mind that it will get large, so you'll need to put it into bigger containers or plant it in the soil - not really an option in much of the country as the soil isn't acid enough.
Roses Many roses are good for containers, but not all varieties will be happy. As long as you avoid the shrub roses, hybrid teas and climbers and in particular look for "patio roses" you shouldn't go far wrong.
Spring bulbs and pansies
If you start before about the middle of September (but the sooner the better), you can have Spring Flowering Bulbs for the house in flower at or just after Christmas. If you can get them planted before November, then they will have a chance to start growing before it begins to get very cold which will help them to flower all the earlier, they'll certainly be up early in the new year and long before the outdoor ones have woken up.
The key point to remember is that these are temporary plantings, so you can plant the bulbs very close together, almost touching, for the maximum density of flowers. Buy the largest bulbs you can afford, smaller ones just don't perform as well and the smallest may produce lots of leaves but no flowers at all. After flowering plant them in the garden as soon as you can, they won't perform as well next year, you need to start with large bought ones again.
Bulb fibre is often recommended, but is only really necessary if the bulbs are to be planted in bowls without drainage. I've always treated bulbs like any other container plants and use ordinary potting compost in containers that have drainage holes and get excellent results.
Plant Hyacinths for scent, tulips for elegance and narcissi for bright enthusiasm in a Labrador puppy sort of way. spring bulbs and winter shrubs