Pots and Containers

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

Container plants for outdoors in stylish pots

Half Price large Tunisian urn
Was £59.99, now only £34.99
77cm (32") high, this huge creamy white terracotta urn makes a spectacular display inside or out. It can be used on its own to add dramatic impact either upright or on its side, or filled with a planting of cascading plants to add height and colour to an existing scheme