Choosing Plants for Containers
Forum Archives
Margaret Bright
Posted: Jun-22-2005 at 7:10am
Where can I get more information on choosing plants and pots for year round container gardening? I do not have a greenhouse, and would like to plant some perrenials and shrubs, but I'm unsure of how the pots will do during the winter. We never get much snow in our garden, as we're close to Lake Washington, but this past winter during a cold spell there were several mornings when the thermometer next to the house said 15 degrees.
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Jun-22-2005 at 10:41pm
If no one else answers, I'll be back tomorrow to give you advice right now I am too exhausted to give you a coherent answer. In the meantime, check here for Rainy Side's section on container gardening - lots of information.
Welcome to Rainy Side!
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-23-2005 at 10:45am
Really the best thing to do is to go to a good nursery to look at the plants. You can even call ahead of time and ask who is the best person to talk to and when a good time is. Sometimes a sunny weekend is not the best time but early in the morning is better. The other thing to do is to know have much sun it will get. Think about the colors you like and what would look good there. Realize that you will not get as much color as using just annuals. Foliage color is good. You can mix annuals and permanent plants. Have a permanent center plant and hanging plants and add some summer annuals and then pansies for the winter.
Here are a few ideas.
Center plant.
Spiky- Dracaena spike, New Zealand Flax, the ornamental grasses
Upright formal-like Upright juniper, boxwood, rosemary, other small conifers. Beware of Italian cypress, some are not very hardy and some grow tall.
Informal-Heavenly bamboo, any small shrub. Some perennials like Cape fuchsia, Crocosmia, and Dayliles are not evergreen but give alot of summer color and form.
Hanging plant.
English ivy, do not let it escape the container. Bacopa often lives over the winter. Look on the ground cover table for things like creeping rosemary, kinnickinick, cotoneaster, sedums. This is a big subject but I hope this will get get you started.
Fern
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-23-2005 at 10:54am
I guess the other thing you asked was about pots in the winter. Unglazed ceramic or clay can crack so don't use that. Concrete is the only thing that will last forever but the others can last 10-20 years as a guess. No plant, no matter how hardy it is, likes it's root ball totally frozen. Bringing it close to the house and remembering to water it occasionally during the winter is usually good enough. Alot of years just leaving it out will work but if we have a bad winter you might lose them. You can bury in the ground for the winter. Small pots freeze faster then large pots.
Fern
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Jun-23-2005 at 11:24am
In today's Homes and Gardens of the Northwest (section of The Oregonian), Dulcy Mahar wrote a helpful column, Pot ploys, that might also provide useful information.
Let us know if you still have questions after reading over all this info.
Welcome to Rainy Side!
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Jun-23-2005 at 11:27am
English ivy, do not let it escape the container.
Isn't English ivy a Noxious Weed in Washington, as it is in Oregon? I know the weed laws aren't administered in the same way but EI is a quarantined weed (not available for sale) in Oregon.
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Jun-23-2005 at 8:06pm
Some types of English ivy are a noxious weed. I won't grow those ones. I don't remember the exact ones but you could look them up on the web, I remember the noxious weed thread had a lot of good links. I was thinking of the fancier greenhouse varieties, I guess I should have said that. In a pot they can't grow upright to flower, in a pot they will die if you don't water them in the summer and in a pot we will get winters that will kill them. Even these types I would not plant in the ground. In a milder climate it might be different, I was thinking of Washington. Whenever you trim it throw the trimmings in a plastic bag then in the garbage or let them throughly dry up in the sun before disposing of them.
Fern
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Jun-24-2005 at 8:28am
I would agree, Fern. Even the varigated, fancy leaved varieties can get out of hand in the ground. I have several varigated, cut leaf ivy, planted by the previous owner many years ago, that are causing problems for my garden. I throw all ivy in the garbage. Good idea to put in a plastic bag first!
Jeanne
Margaret
Posted: Jun-24-2005 at 8:13pm
Thank you all so much. I am overwhelmed by the your generosity. The time it takes to respond takes away from gardening time, I know. The Portland journalist had an excellent point about choosing thick pots, and Fern, you're right, it makes sense to use larger pots. Good idea about burying them, although I suppose if I dug a big hole, I might as well plant something in it. ;) Maybe in all my spare time I'll make hypertufa pots (with two and four year olds watching quietly and patiently).
I planted some sedum in an unglazed strawberry pot this afternoon. If it freezes and cracks, I could always do something cool with it (thanks, Lisa for the direction to Rainyside's container section).
Regarding the evil ivy (which I have crawling through my fence from the neighbor's yard) consider using it all by itself instead of a floral arrangement. I saw it on a table at a restaurant last weekend, and it was quite striking.
:) M
Garden Spider
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jun-25-2005 at 12:54pm
English Ivy as a floral arrangement can be striking. This past Christmas, I put Douglas Fir branches, sprigs of Holly, some Evergreen Huckleberry, and vines of English Ivy in my window boxes. It looked very festive for the holidays!
I still hate English Ivy, but wish it wasn't such a pest--it can be lovely.
Instead of Ivy in a container, consider using wild (or domesticated) Strawberry, Kinnikinnik, or Prostrate Rosemary. All are evergreen, all drape nicely down the sides of containers. And if they go to seed or touch the ground and take root, it's no big deal--they're easy to control. Another plant that will drape over the side of the contaner is creeping Thyme or Mother Of Thyme. I also have some Lime Thyme that hangs over the edge of its container. There is also a native beach or dune grass that looks nice in a container, as it tends to hang down, rather than grow upright. Does anybody know what this might be? Barb
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