Designing and growing your own container garden is a lot easier than you think. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish using nothing more than a well-chosen combo of pots and plants.
For example, you can jazz up the entry to your home, create focal points on the patio, grow herbs and vegetables in small spaces, cover eyesores or create a garden where it wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
Once you’ve figured out what you want from your container garden, it’s time to get inspired. Luckily, ideas are everywhere.
If you’re inspired by the prairies of the Midwest but don’t have room for buffalo to roam, re-create your home on the range by pairing up a medley of ornamental grasses and wildflowers with a rustic whisky barrel as a container.
Want a tropical getaway? Fill a colorful pot with a tropical ti plant, hibiscus and an ornamental sweet potato vine to trail over the pot’s edge.
You can even grow creative combinations of herbs, fruits and veggies, such as a pineapple plant with strawberries and thyme draped over the edge.
For a quick burst of frost-resistant spring color, use annuals like alyssum, petunias, dianthus and violas — and combine them with bold perennials or shrubs to add height and drama.
Since you’re trying to create the look of a real garden, use a variety of plants with colorful flowers and attractive foliage to build up layers of different heights. Usually container combinations use three different types of plants to serve as thrillers, spillers and fillers.
There’s more to choosing plants than just using those that look good together — they have to live well together, too. Some need full sun to bloom their best, while others will get burned unless they’re grown in shade.
Another consideration when pairing plants for a container garden is moisture — though it’s a bit easier to control than the sunlight you receive. If you have a hard time remembering to water your plants, grow drought-tolerant annuals, perennials and succulents.
An arrangement consisting of a dramatic yucca surrounded by blooming Portulaca and colorful Sedum is low maintenance and high impact.
You can also add peat moss or coir to your potting mix before planting to help the container hold onto moisture better. Whatever you do, though, choose a container with a drainage hole so that the water can escape without stagnating and rotting your plants.
Creating a container garden is so easy that the youngest of kids can help do it.
Here’s how to plant your container garden.
In most cases, caring for your garden is as simple as watering plants before they wilt, trimming stems to keep the arrangement from getting out of control, and, in some cases, removing spent blooms to encourage more flowers.
However, if you plan on keeping your container combination together for more than one year, use a time-released fertilizer to keep plants healthy.
When plants outgrow their space, just remove a few and fill the hole left behind with potting mix for the remaining plants.
When flowers start to decline, replace them with new ones and fresh soil. When properly managed, a container garden can last for a very long time.
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