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There's something
rather special about plants in containers, like having
a picture framed and with its own light to illuminate it.
"Here's something exceptional, we've gone to particular
pains to keep it happy and show it off".
Plants are containerised
because they're special enough to warrant their own "frame",
because they set the "frame" off themselves, because in
a container you can give them enough attention - food
and water - that they look truly spectacular, or because
being containerised means that they can put somewhere that
they otherwise couldn't be grown - in a hanging basket,
on a patio or balcony for instance.
Myth - Containers are
a low maintenance form of gardening. In the first place
it all seems so simple, no digging in the hard earth, no
incorporating messy garden compost or manure and no worms
(included that one for my wife).
The reality is however that
despite the ease of setting them up, containers are not
an easy form of gardening. Compared to being planted
in the ground, the plants have very little substrate to
keep them going.
This means two things, first
and foremost - they will NEVER receive enough water from
the rain to fulfill the needs of the plants. You will
ALWAYS have to water them to keep them alive. Like
a hamster in a cage, they need regular attention.
Secondly, the plants will
need feeding to keep them performing well, however stuffed
with plant food the compost may be it will not be sufficient.
At the minimum, you will need to add some slow release fertiliser
pellets or more likely you'll need to give the container
a liquid fertiliser every week during the active growing
season.
OK got that? Lets start
being positive.
What
kind of container?
Putting aesthetics aside
this comes down to a question of size and material. Containers
work better the bigger they are, this is a universal
rule, no ifs or buts, the bigger they are the more water
they hold, the more compost and more food they hold and
the more stable they are. You may like small containers
but you'll have to work harder to keep them going, a day
or so forgetting to water in mid summer will not be forgiven.
For the same reasons,
water proof containers - resin or glazed pot, are generally
better than porous terracotta containers as they retain
moisture better - however I like terra cotta and about half
of the containers I have are of this material. You can around
this partly by lining the terra cotta pot with plastic,
I use ripped up bin-liners.
Heavy containers function
better, but are obviously more difficult to move around,
modern resin containers are a good alternative, they look
very realistic and are much lighter. They still look like
resin to my eye though
Balance
of plant and container
Think opposites, large tall
containers, urns etc. look better with low plants in them,
particularly trailing plants, whether annual or perennial.
Also if you try to put a tall plant in a tall container
it'll probably keep getting blown over.
Taller plants look better
in low wide containers as well as being practically better
as they're more stable.
Annuals
or perennials?
Do you intend the container
to be a short term firework or a longer term elegant statement?
On balance you'll probably have some of each and you can
always make your perennial plantings look good at other
times of the year by adding some annuals at the base or
spring or summer flowering bulbs - another advantage of
large containers is that there is space to do this.
If you have annuals, then
they'll need replacing every now and then, summer bedding
can alternate with winter pansies or primulas and bulbs
for instance.
Location
Another good thing about
containers is that you can move them about to find the best
place to put them. Don't think though that they only
have to go on a hard surface or beside a doorway. They
can be very effectively placed at the front of a shrubby
border or somewhere similar.
If you've some shrubs that
flower spectacularly over a short time period and then just
sit there being green the rest of the year, they can form
the perfect backdrop for an elegant container with some
summer bedding plants in them, particularly a tall container
such as an urn.
If fact if you want to be
particularly clever about it (and have a bit of space out
of the way to use as a nursery) you can grow some large
plants in simple large black plastic containers to dot around
the borders (but with pot hidden in this case). When your
containerised plants are flowering put them in the border
and when they're over put them back in the nursery to recover
again.
Containers are ideal for
placing in corners and awkward areas with a hard surface
that is never actually used. Think carefully though
about placing them on you patio or deck when they don't
need to be. They will almost certainly discolour the area
underneath them and are taking up space that you have probably
paid quite a bit of money for, probably best to move them
off the patio or deck.
plants for pots and
containers
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