Container Gardening - Choosing The Plants, part 2

Wiese Acres containers

Containers can offer four seasons of beauty and interest.  This is accomplished by choosing durable, long-lasting plants that will take you from spring through fall.  In order to have winter interest, it usually requires replacement arrangements after killing frosts.   If you have favorite plants that won't quite last the other three seasons, you can change all or part of the plantings when your favorites wear out.

For me, nothing says "spring" like pansies and primroses and I always find I can't resist bringing some of them home.  Unfortunately, they don't tolerate summer's heat, especially in containers.  So, I limit myself to one or two smaller containers right in front of the door.  This also makes it easier to bring them into the garage when spring's frigid overnight temperatures threaten them.   They do well for several weeks, and then I either shear them back and plant them in a shady spot in the garden or just toss them.

By that time, I'm ready to refill those and all my other containers with the plants I'll plan to use for the summer.   I don't want the work or the expense of changing plants  midway through the season to keep my containers looking good, so I try to find durable, long-blooming plants that will work hard right up until frost. 

For shade planters, coleus are hard to beat for color and durability.  They do require some grooming, mainly removal of the flower stalks as soon as they appear, to remain looking their best.  They also need even moisture.  Coleus come in many different colors and sizes, so you accomplish the "thriller, spiller, chiller" effect using different varieties, creating an arrangement with lots of color and textural variety using just one kind of plant.


Wiese Acres containers

I don't particularly care to deadhead, so another option I use for shade planters is perennial foliage plants.  Heuchera (coral bells) come in a wide variety of colors and have an interesting foliage shape that works very well as the "spiller" for shade containers.  I use hosta and fern as my "thrillers" and "fillers".  It makes a beautiful, virtually carefree container.  In the fall, I plant the perennials in one of the gardens, or give them to someone who has space for them.  Smaller perennials are not much more expensive than premium annuals and they are much more carefree and long-lived.

I am always looking for ways to get out of work, so last fall, I thought I would try to overwinter the perennial containers indoors, in hopes that I could simply set them outside rather than plant the perennials in the garden and then have to buy new ones to fill this year's containers.  I cut the foliage back and stored them in a cool, dark spot.  About six weeks ago, I brought them out into the light and warmth and started watering them.  The hostas and the ferns are doing very well, but it appears the coral bells didn't appreciate my efforts.  I haven't given up entirely on them, but if they aren't showing signs of growth by the time I'm ready to move them outdoors, I'll replace them.  It will still simplify my work this year, though, since I will only have to replace a few of the plants rather than the entire container.

We have a two-story, west facing deck that gets hotter than blazes when the sun shines, plus it gets hit pretty hard by wind.  Finding low-maintenance plants that do well in those conditions is a challenge.  Spikes are a good standard for the height.  I have also used smaller dahlias with pretty good results.  The dahlias need to be kept deadheaded but do add a nice splash of colorful height.  In larger containers, I have also used purple fountain grass, but it does get beat up by wind.  For a "spiller" Calibrachoa (Million bells) is hard to beat for a long- blooming, easy-care annual for containers.   They require no deadheading and bloom all season long.  Moss roses are another good choice for a draping habit.  For fillers, Scaveola, or Fan flower, is a great workhorse in hot, windy conditions.  Verbena, dusty miller, gazanias, celosia and salvia also tolerate hot, dry, and windy locations quite well. 

Petunias are always great container plants in full sun and they provide a heavenly fragrance. They require diligent deadheading to continue blooming and they do tend to get a little straggly by mid-summer.  If you shear them back hard, within a few weeks, they will reward you with another several weeks of beautiful blooms.

In sunny but protected areas, I sometimes use hybrid tea roses as my "thriller", surround them with Million bells as my "filler" and the silver falls of dichondra to make a beautiful "spiller".  This makes a relatively low-maintenance, long-blooming, and fragrant container garden.  I buy the "cheap" bare root hybrid teas and plant them indoors about six to eight weeks before last frost to give them a head start. 

Other sun-loving plants that will work for height in a container garden are cannas, perilla, purple fountain grass, and cordyline.  Sun-loving fillers are zinnias, pentas, angelonia, rudbeckia, heliotrope, and lantana.  Of course, geraniums are an old time favorite.  They require vigilant deadheading to continue blooming, so I am more likely to pass them by.

Sweet potato vine is a good old standby for draping, but I also love the variegated leaves of vinca and the silvery foliage of licorice vine. 

In the winter, most of my containers are emptied and stacked away for the next spring.  I do leave a few by the front door and fill them with flowering cabbage or asters for the fall and spruce trimmings and silk poinsettias for the winter.

You really can try almost any plant that you love in a container as long as you can give it the soil, light, water, and space it needs. And with just a little creativity, you can keep those containers looking beautiful all year long.