Some of the fun part of what we do is planting containers for folks. Every spring we make the rounds of so many garden centers finding the best looking plants. There are the tried and true plants, the new cultivars, thrillers, fillers, and spillers and we need to select hundreds every year to fill all those containers. The deck, where we store them until they get used, is crammed full three or four times every year.
We start out the planting season in mid-April with some ceramic bowls stuffed with colorful pansies and Johnny jump-ups. There is still the possibility of snow and freezing temperatures until mid-May and these plants are troopers! Their sweet smell and cheery faces are always welcome and hold up well until the weather gets downright hot.
Once the weather stabilizes, we get busy filling all the containers. What plants go in which containers always depends on the environmental situation. Is it a hot spot, a shady spot? Will the plants get watered faithfully or have an irrigation line tapped in, or will they be left mostly to their own devices – never a good situation! Some plants are so tough that they will bounce back even after having been a bit neglected – geraniums are a case in point. I never liked to use them as they seemed so common, but boy, there is a reason why they were planted so often. Now there are so many wonderful cultivars and so many awesome colors and flower forms that it is a no-brainer, as they say!
Lantana, scaevola, creeping charlie, bacopa, purple salvia, verbena
Martha Washington geranium, verbena, variegated licorice plant
The containers above need to survive some tough conditions – harsh sun reflecting off the lake, long times between watering – and they do well. This is another container that is situated in full sun, but it is on a micro-irrigation system so we can use different plants.
Petunias, sweet potato vine, Pennisetum rubrum grass, osteospermum, lantana, gaura
Although not technically a “container,” this next one is a raised bed and has fast draining soil in it. It is situated in full sun, and also has overhead irrigation which is not ideal for annual plantings. It needs to look good all summer long.
Partial and almost full shade conditions are ideal for using begonias and this is another type of plant that has seen some great new varieties being developed.
Dragonwing begonias and sweet potato vine
Dragonwing begonias, verbena, sweet potato vine, geranium, euphorbia
And finally, midsummer comes and the pansies are looking very bedraggled after blooming their heads off for so long so the next round of container planting begins – this time with colorful zinnias and wonderful petunia plants that will last until the frost comes in the fall.
Almost the best part of the summer is planting the leftovers from all the flats and containers for myself! We installed a micro-irrigation system on our deck and all these little, unwanted plants planted with essentially no rhyme or reason, grow and blossom into these magnificent hodge-podge containers! Who would have guessed that they could look so good!
What kinds of flowers do you like to use? Do you have some favorite combinations?
