Container Gardening
Breaking the Mold
Debbie Teashon
The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. Often I’m accused of having too much fun planting containers with plants. I admit I'm addicted to seeing what I can create with them. To be clear, I’m not interested in solving that problem.
At work, it's a running joke that I will turn anything into a container for plants. Partially true, the following images have either fun ready-made containers or other items not made for potting purposes. If anything can hold soil (or hold still for that matter), it is likely to end up as a planter.
Anytime my co-worker Sue Duffin sees me eyeing anything in the store she says, “No Debbie, you can’t put plants in that!” Then we laugh. Little does she know her words are like a challenge.
Coincidently, when I was giving a garden talk down at Cannon Beach during the Cottage Garden Tour, I struck up a conversation with one of the volunteers. She was from Kingston too, and as we talked, she told me about a wonderful bowl of planted edibles she received as a gift, not knowing I made it – small world!
I carry my plants with me wherever I go, don't you?
Another co-worker Dori Durbin brought in a large group of purses one day that her sister gave her. I seized three of them. I believe a few people thought I finally lost it when I planted each purse with annuals. Heck, I thought I lost it too, but went ahead and planted them anyway.
I vindicated myself from myself, when the two big purses became Mother’s Day gifts for a couple’s mothers. I hoped they enjoyed them as much as I did making them. While the purses were on display, they were the most talked about containers, giving many customers an idea to repurpose their own discarded purses.
Even a little red purse found a home. The newly planted tiny purse shown here soon became overflowing with an annual fragrant alyssum.
You don't even need a container to create something wonderful. This primrose was transformed into a kokedama with a bit of moss and string.
I believe this container was meant to be a small lantern to place a tea light in. Now it holds violas.
Of course, baskets are always great to plant something in, so of course I did.
This is an actual pot, made to look like wood. A small conifer, a bit of baby tears, and a little snail charmed it up.
The challenge for this plastic popcorn bowl was drilling a hole without cracking it. Once drilled the fun began with succulents.
For the book lover, I planted a tin book with ferns and ground covers. The fern will grow up and peek out behind the book cover.
A metal container with handles is filled with three bunny tails. That is, the grass Lagurus ovatus, a fun little annual grass that looks fanciful backlit by the sun.
At the end of a long day, there is always one pot left standing. I will save it for another day.
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Wendy Tweton and Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners)
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