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Container Gardening
Basics
The
Benefits
Container gardening is easy to do and there are lots of reasons why it's
also a sensible gardening option. Here are our top 7 reasons to grow plants
in pots.
1. Mobility. What gardener
hasn't wished that a plant grew somewhere else? Plants in pots are easy
to move around. Light up a dark corner with pots of white, pink, or yellow
flowering shade lovers such as impatiens and helichrysum. Some plants
with a short blooming period, such as lilies or foxglove, look magnificent
in containers and grow well in those temporary quarters. Transplant them
to the garden when they're finished blooming. Of course, if you are about
to move your household, containers allow you to take the garden with you.
2. Focus. Potted plants--and
pots--create interest. Grouped in strategic places, they break the monotony
of a terrace or a patio and create an ambient scene. Build a simple theme
garden around a color or an idea. A collection of yellow and blue bloomers,
such as pansies, Calendula, and heliotrope, makes a cheerful display.
Pots of sedum and Sempervivum look simple but elegant.
3. Pizzazz. Nestle containers
of bright annuals among duller plants in the garden for added color. To
keep plants looking good: Water when soil dries; pinch off spent blooms,
and fertilize weekly.
4. Flexibility. Rearrange
plantings to suit the season or your mood. Enjoy pots of violets and narcissus
in spring; petunias and dusty-miller in summer; and Coleus in fall.
5. Limitation. Contain thugs
that are too invasive to let loose in the garden, such as ribbon grass
(Phalaris), blue lyme grass (Elymus glaucus), and mints of all kinds (Mentha
sp.). Plant these or other gregarious growers in terra-cotta pots, and
then plant the pot in the ground, with the lip of the pot even with the
soil surface.
6. Ambience. Pots set the
stage in outdoor rooms or even steal the show. Group sun-loving plants
around a large houseplant that's summering outdoors. A jumble of various
pots stacked on stands and clustered loosely lends a pleasantly casual
look. Containers aligned with precision and planted with trim specimens,
such as rosemary standards or ivy topiaries, create instant formality.
A trio of large pots makes a garden appear more settled; they suggest
the accumulation of years' growth.
7. Scope. Plants that require
a longer growing season than you have to offer can be started indoors
to bloom outside in summer and fall. Frost-sensitive plants such as bay
laurel and lemon verbena make wonderful houseplants in winter and spend
the summer in the garden. Just make sure that in spring they are allowed
a transition period from limited sunlight indoors to brighter light outdoors.
This technique is the basis of the orangery concept, which includes growing
citrus fruits in pots so they can move indoors in fall.
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