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There is a smorgasbord of containers in my garden. They are of different sizes, colors, shapes, materials and pedigrees. Some of them came from rummage sales, some from home improvement stores and several from upscale fountain & statuary places.
I love lush, overflowing, eye-catching plant arrangements in the containers near restaurants, hotels and other places which are created by professional gardeners. I admire them but never actually tried to make even the slightest replicas of those masterieces. I always remember about my containers later, after all the other works in the garden. I also rarely follow the general rule about container arrangements: to combine such categories of plants as thriller, filler and spiller.
I even noticed that my principles of putting together my outfit and container arrangements are somehow similar. I go for a limited number of elements, sometimes with just several colors involved. Like this nicotiana, for example, in a dark red glazed pot.
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Some containers are so ornate and beautiful that I try to plant them with the plants which won't spill out and hide their beauty. Let's take this pair of stone-cast exquisite pots.
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Geranium, pansy and nicotiana were their residents in different seasons.
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Below is my newest pot. It is very special to me because it was made by Jim, the hosta hybridizer whose breathtaking shade garden was featured here:
'Enchanted Garden Of A Hosta Hybridizer'
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Here it is in Jim's garden:
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It could be used just as a garden ornament, but I planted it as soon as I came home after touring Jim's garden. The plant material was found in the garden: sedum, heuchera, some type of echeveria.
What I like about containers is that you can always replant them, replace some plants or just move them out of your sight if you don't like them, thus waiting for the moment when new ideas strike you.
One of my favorite plants for containers is geranium. I overwinter the best and healthiest looking geraniums. First, I used to get the plants from the pots and keep them dry in the garage during the winter. How I revitalized them in spring is told here: 'Geranium Revival'
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Lately, I stopped doing that. Not all the plants survive, and I don't want to spend time on that. I bring pots in the garage, start watering them at the end of the winter and watch who survived and who didn't. I have Martha Washington geraniums, which are in their 4th season, in the same pots. With zonal geraniums, my success rate is ....let's say 50%.
Some containers miss a season or two. The strawberry pot, below, wasn't filled this summer but looks good just as it is.
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Sometimes, changing a pot makes a huge difference in how a plant looks. Isn't it true about us too? Change an outfit and you are a brand new woman! Several years ago, I was looking for cut flowers to decorate a room. Finding nothing suiting my fancy, I bought a potted evergreen for $10. It stood in the room for quite a long time, then was moved outside and spent two or three years there. Here it is, in the next picture, showing two young squirrels which I flushed out while watering. Squirrels are cute, but the plant looks like nothing special, doesn't it? It was still in its original black plastic pot that I put inside a nice ceramic container (by the way, it got broken later).
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After visiting the Little and Lewis garden this summer, I looked critically at my potted plants, and the above mentioned evergreen caught my attention. I repotted it into the big Italian terracota pot bought for a miserable price several years ago. It looked better. I decided to prop up the supporting stick and the stick broke! How glad I was! The plant looks absolutely gorgeous in its new pot and without that stick! Simple and elegant, don't you think so?
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I like small planters too, like this cute Tucan:
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If I can't part with some of the non-gardening items, I use them in the garden as containers:
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Now, a little follow-up about my tulip containers featured earlier in the season
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I use simple pots to host tulips. Next year, I hope to find out what happens with tulips if the bulbs are left in the pots for winter. Or, should I get them out and store them in the refrigerator? If I leave them outside, I'll place them under the big fir trees to prevent rottening from rains.
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The question was asked if I planted anything else in them to grow after the tulips wilt. Yes, I threw some parsley seeds there! And, I have some parsley growing!
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There are more containers in my garden, but I showed you my favorites. Thanks for visiting, and I hope to see your favorite pots one day!
Copyright 2010 TatyanaS
