Creating and designing a container garden is an opportunity to experience an outstanding spectrum of colour and texture. Moveable feasts, container gardens offer a luxuriant start to the growing season and the potential for eye-catching displays that can be enjoyed during the hottest months of summer and into the cooler temperatures of autumn. As soon as our chilly spring … [Read more...] about Design tips and plant combination ideas for containers
Container gardening
Creating a spring container
If you’re keen to start gardening, but your soil is too cold and damp for digging, consider potting up a spring container instead. Depending on the weather, a few spring containers planted with beautiful, cold-tolerant plants now will give you several weeks of colour until it’s time to replant them for the summer, while satisfying your need to get your hands in some … [Read more...] about Creating a spring container
How to make an elegant topiary
A touch of formality is not out of place in most gardens, and precisely trimmed cones and spheres of foliage — classic forms of topiary — are especially suited to containers. All that’s required is a beautiful container, a plant amenable to frequent pruning and patience. There are myriad ways to incorporate a potted topiary into your landscape. Try an elegant container with … [Read more...] about How to make an elegant topiary
Perfect container plants
Trying a few new plants for mixed containers is something I look forward to every year. But when I’m at the nursery, I also consult my list of favourites — the ones that never let me down, look good all season and don’t use up my whole plant budget. These are my insurance plants in case the new ones don’t live up to their billing or just don’t work out. Most on my list have … [Read more...] about Perfect container plants
6 container plants looking good in the heat
Every year about this time, I take a close look at the plants in the pots, containers and hanging baskets in our garden to see what’s doing well, what’s flagging and what’s ho-hum. There are favourites I include every year, but I always trial a few new varieties, some of which are new to the market or older varieties I’ve never tried before. It’s important that container … [Read more...] about 6 container plants looking good in the heat
