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These authentic looking stone trough and
sink gardens have been made from a light weight polymer resin material,
and look like natural stone at a fraction of the cost of original hand carved
rock. Even when planted they can be easily moved around the garden.
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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