Welcome Rosemary Arnold, a local writer, photographer and veteran gardener extraordinaire! Since it’s spring, we thought a post from Rosemary would be appropriate, given her tremendous eye for color and garden design. She exceeded our expectations by preparing a guest post that’s not only full of beauty, but also teeming with her expert knowledge on enhancing your garden–with containers! Read on, and enjoy!
We appreciate your time Rosemary, and hope you join us again soon!
Enhancing your garden with containers is such a good choice and March is the ideal month to plan where to place them and how to be successful with them. Do you need a special spot of color? Do you need some height in a garden bed for more interest. Is there a dark corner in your yard or on your porch that could use brightening? Are rabbits nibbling at your plants? Are you out of space and still have the urge to try something new? Container planting will fill your needs. Choose the size and color planter you need and put a broken pot shard or rocks over the drainage hole. Fill the planter with moisture- retaining potting soil, fill with your picks for shade or sun plants and plan to water often and fertilize with slow-release plant food. Then sit back and enjoy your treasure.
Bromeliad, bell petunias, potato vine, purple flowers and leaves and palm would normally seem a rather ‘hodge-podge’ mix if planted all together in a garden bed. However, when placed into containers in small spaces, such as this porch corner, this lively mix can give a green-house effect and can afford the owner the pleasure of being close to favored samplings of greens and colors.
A large planter placed with ground plantings emphasizes the show-cased fuschia petunias giving the whole mix a punch! The color blue of the planter gives a cooling and refreshing touch amid the warm colors of the surrounding plants.
Small plantings in containers can add beauty and simple charm and can complement certain color themes, here various shades of red and green. Caladium, ivy and fern greatly enhance a small porch meditation area.
These large deep planters are loaded with red begonias planted at the base of hardy Windmill palms, bringing your eye to the front door of this lovely entryway. They give height needed for the two-story home.
A large concrete container is great for larger plantings such as this cherry tree and tulips. The largeness of this gives great structure and emphasis to this part of the garden.
Mixed caladiums and Loriope make a simple yet striking display.
Orange trees line the walkway of this back yard, making an unusual exit-way and conversation piece. The owner takes them into the garage for the winter.
Plant herbs and lettuces high up in planters to avoid nibbling rabbits. Thyme, rosemary, romaine lettuce, dill and oregano grow happily here in their pots. In the winter, place hardy plants under a roof so they only get water when you need to water but never before a freeze which would cause the frozen wet soil to expand and break the pot.
Line your hanging containers with moss matting to help preserve the moisture in your potting soil. Use a moisture-retaining potting mix and water well several times a week. These plants are placed so that the shade-loving fern gets only bright light but the other plants are happily in the sun.
