Using Containers Adds Flexibility to your Garden

Using containers allows a gardener a lot of flexibility. You can change up and enhance your garden frequently.  You can control the soil make up, the size and style of the container, the type of plants in it, and where you’re going to put your pot.  So using containers is not only a good idea, it gives you endless possibilities for variety.

For instance how about placing a pot of bright annuals in the middle of a garden that is in transition at the moment.  (Some perennials are at the end of their blooming cycle and others aren’t quite in bloom yet!) Using containers can bridge the gap and your garden seems to be always in bloom.

Another way to use annuals is to buy a few pots of whatever is in bloom (Pansies in the spring or Chrysanthemums in the fall,) and popping them into an otherwise dull spot for a few weeks of bright seasonal color.  Using containers full of blooming annuals are easy to swap out for other containers with new fresh flowers.

Perennials can also be planted in pots, and using containers of these allows you to use plants with different soil and water needs in the same garden.  Small evergreens can also be used as the focal point of a large container. 

If you live in a cold winter climate as I do, containers containing tropical plants can be brought into the house in winter but live in your garden during the summer.  It's a great way to enjoy plants you love that wouldn't necessarily thrive in your growing zone all year.

 

This tropical accent plant enjoys my hosta gardens in the summer, but winters in my house.

I’ve used containers in my shade gardens for a pop of color and occasionally trade them out with others that have been soaking up the sun. (Sun loving perennials won’t die in a day if they don’t receive 8 hours of sunlight!)

Using containers on top of garden pedestals is also a way to add flexibility and interest to your perennial beds.  The pedestals add architectural structure and the container on top can be whatever you imagine it to be.

Besides the flexibility, using containers in your gardens solves some other issues, too.  They can fill in empty spots or hide unsightly lower leaves of some plants, especially spring blooming bulbs that are starting to turn yellow.  Containers are great for small space gardens, balconies, and patios.  

The plant in the middle of these ferns is in a plain black nursery pot. It not only fills in an empty spot.  It adds height, interest and color to the ferns.

Plants grouped together raises the humidity and can actually help container gardens from drying out as quickly.  They still need to be watered more frequently than the rest of your garden, though, so don’t plop a pot into the center of your garden and then forget it.  (You’ll be reminded quickly enough when you kill the whole thing!)

Some perennials and grasses can be very invasive, but if you love them anyway make them mind, by using containers.  Public gardens frequently use containers in their flowerbeds.  They have the advantage of a labor force and a green house, but the same tricks will work for you at home, too.

If you are going to consistently use containers in your flowerbeds, dig a hole for the pot to slip into.  Then it is easy to lift it out and replace it with another.  If the pot is buried, it doesn’t even have to be a decorative pot.  The big black plastic pots that nursery plants come in are just fine.  In addition pots buried in the dirt don’t retain as much heat or dry out as fast either.

Specialty gardens such as fairy gardens or cactus gardens are great in containers, and sometimes you might find a special pot that dictates the kind of garden you'll plant in it.

 

This unusual pot seemed to be begging for a fairy garden!

If you have a small troublesome spot, as I do, use several containers to solve the problem.  We have a small square of crappy dirt sandwiched between the driveway, a sidewalk, and the house.

Once, I replaced all the soil and then lost it to driveway salt, and roof runoff.  Now I just cluster several containers there.  I can remove them whenever I want or need to and create new interesting vignettes all the time…a brilliant idea!

Last summer we went on vacation during the hottest time of summer.  I have many containers and I knew I couldn’t find anyone to water them twice a day, which they would need.

Instead I took all of them and clustered them under an evergreen tree in our back yard.  I watered them well before I left, and even put a few pots of water between a couple of my containers.  They still needed watering, but not near as much. 

When we arrived home the following week, all my pots looked as good as the day I left them and I happily moved them back into their sunnier homes.

If you are starting a new garden and you obtain several perennials at once, leave them in their containers until you arrive at a garden design that pleases you the most.  It’s much easier to move pots around than to dig up and switch plants around…a lot less stress on your plants, too!

Using containers in colors is another way to change or enhance the look of your curb appeal.  Several pots in similar shapes or colors can instantly give your porch or sidewalk a new fresh look, and if you are trying to sell your house it’s an easy way to make your front entry appealing.  Not only that, but if you want to take some of your perennials with you when you move, you already have them dug up and happily adjusting to their new container homes.

The steps increased the size of this small space garden.

The variety of containers available to gardeners is almost infinite: from old to new, or from found to purchased. Using containers can add a note of whimsy or humor or structure to your garden.  Your creativity is the only other ingredient needed.

Investing in urn or two is a good idea too because they can be moved around if necessary and can add structure or height to a garden.

I’m sure that there are as many ways of using containers to increase flexibility and interest to a garden as there are gardeners out there, so now that your creative juices are running have fun using containers in your own gardens.

I hope you enjoy reading Julie's garden journal and it inspires you to enjoy your own garden more!!!

Just Julie