Container Gardening Tips
Need some container gardening tips? Create beautiful hanging baskets and containers like the pro’s by following this simple recipe….
A thriller, a filler and a spiller.
A thriller is typically the biggest, most dramatic or at least tallest plant in the pot. Since grasses or Dracena spikes add height and texture to the container, they are usually considered to be this ingredient. However, a tall flowering annual or large-leaved plant like a Canna or Banana can be considered your drama maker.
Now for creating the bulk of the planter. This is what we call the fillers…they can be any flowering annual that is typically mounded or rounded, like geraniums, osteo’s or dahlia’s.
Lastly, to create an overflowing affect you need to stuff in a few trailers, like petunia’s, bacopa or any of the hundreds of options you’d find at the basket stuffer table at your local nursery. Once these put on size, you have your third element in the perfect recipe, the spiller.
When you are planting up your containers, sprinkle in a slow release fertilizer designed for hanging baskets and containers. Put some at the root level but add a top-dressing when your done planting too.
A product I’ve used for years is Soil Moist, it helps to retain moisture in the soil between waterings. Add a small amount of crystals at the root level of your plants, it will uptake the water and swell many times its size and as the soil dries out, it releases it’s moisture back into the soil. This process repeats every time you water.
Another way to conserve moisture is to top dress the pots with moss.
A note about potting soil….
Any good mix will do. What you’re looking for is a balance of peat/coir for moisture retention, perlite, about 25% of the mix which allows drainage for better root health and organic matter for micro nutrients, ( I add my compost for this ).
Stick with just a few colors throughout your planters, having too many makes the display look like potpourri. The human eye automatically picks up repeating patterns which is soothing to the mind. Even though all flowers are pretty, too many different colors can actually be unsettling and even be considered as a lot of ‘noise’.
Other ways to add height and drama to your planter is with curly willow branches or spray paint a few long twigs in a bold color. Grasses add lot’s of fullness to planters as well as giving it a 3D effect. Decorative picks or a stone frog hidden among the leaves is an interesting surprise to find for the observer.
Have fun creating your perfectly planted pots and containers!
For more crafts and garden tips
Follow Sow and Dipity on:
and
Peace Love Garden
