Summer Containers 2010

Every year I like to do something different with my containers out front. The first year, in 2007 a few months after we moved in, I completely underestimated the amount of sun the summer stairs would receive. That year I did simple pots of New Guinea impatiens and they fried! After a vacation out of town a local woman made a special point of knocking on our door (after church!) to tell my love how terrible our plants looked and how poorly we tended to them. Krissy evaded the woman's arrogant rant, and I was extremely thankful that she didn't mention that her man, the one responsible for said terrible pots, was in fact a professionally trained horticulturist. Hey, no matter how much training you have it still takes years to understand your site. So for 2008 I went totally tropical using plants I knew would want the sun and hotter temps. There were a lot of bright foliage plants like croton (Codiaeum variegatum pictum) and the focal point was an orange hibiscus that bloomed strong all summer long. The pots were smaller and dried out too quickly so I learned I had to increase the size of the pots. If you think about it larger pots will equal larger volume with relatively less surface area so they won't dry out on you as fast. In 2009 I had fun incorporating annuals and some sun loving houseplants together into a very poppy display. However I guess I did a little too good of a job because by the end of summer a couple nice pots full of hot orange and deep purple petunias had somehow upped and walked themselves to someone else's home. Fancy that! ...eh, thieves suck. Which brings us to this year. I went to get some new terra cotta pots for the front stoop and I guess I was excited because I ended up doubling the amount of containers I'd had in years past, going from 5 to 10. Due to the theft in '09, and based on the plants I was able to get my hands on for little or no money I opted to go back to focusing on foliage and texture for the summer season. There is a bit of everything, annual to tropical to perennial, from yellow to green to red, small to medium to large, but somehow it seems to work for me.


On the top stair planted with the annual Alternanthera that provides green to purple-red foliage is a Begonia I brought out from inside. The alternanthera will continue to grow and spill over the side of the pot in time, along with tiny white flowers soon to begin. Begonia maculata 'Wightii' is a sensational begonia with white polka-dots on the leaves. I hacked it back hard before moving it out so it is coming back slowly and looking pretty peculiar. A few begonias in the mix this summer are kids from inside and ultimately they'd be happier being more sheltered and protected but whatever, they are holding on fine and providing enough of a look. They're annuals for us here so destined for the compost pile this fall they might be. That is basil in the center, Ocimum basilicum, and so far it has been able to keep a nice low profile. On the other side the pink-silver leaves of Begonia 'Sinbad' I've always admired.
On the left side of stair four is another Sinbad begonia. That one I have had for a few years, and too cut it back hard this spring, but it always looks full and fantastic by the end of the season. The right two pots have a total of five different colored Korean chrysanthemums. They will bloom mid to late fall and I have no idea what color they will be, but their big daisy-like flower will undoubtedly be a great late season surprise. In front of the pot with only two plants I stuck another Begonia chunk, this one a rich dark foliage begonia that I can't remember the name of. Like I said, it's kind of a hodgepodge but it works.
Another of the alternanthera and the dark-leaved begonia are at the left side of the third stair. In the center is Teucrium, the medicinal herb known as germander. A tight little plant with fine texture germander will put up small spires of pink blossoms in full sun, but has yet to get going for me this year. And then on the right is the big light green badboy, Hosta plantaginea. This plant likes to get huge so kind of funny to pot it up, but the white flower spikes that are forming now are so strong and sweet and fabulous that I had to try it. The metal awning overhead and associated runoff has left a few rust stains on the leaves but I don't mind so much.
This Jasminium on the left was offered by a friend last year who couldn't figure out where to put it in her garden. Obviously the fresh, bright yellow foliage is something, so I quickly took her up on the offer. I have no idea what species or cultivar it is. The annual salvia in the center is Salvia 'Cherry Blossom' and the spikes of white and pink flowers are very ornate, though I have found they aren't lasting very long on my hot little stoop. In both of those pots the Oxalis 'Charmed Wine' I had actually written off. The dormant corms of the plant had been inside on the windowsill all winter so I potted them up with the same sort of "oh, whatever" kind of attitude. The little shot of purple definitely helps, not to mention I forever love how the foliage of oxalis retracts and closes up at night. So the big perennials on the lower right of this years display are Boltonia asteroides, the late summer blooming garden favorite. Like the hosta these plants like to get big, but I figured the experiment of seeing how they do potted up was worthwhile. I wondered if they might stay smaller with a more confined root space. Yeah, not so much, as I've already pruned them back a couple times. As the name would imply they too will have daisy-like flowers in a month or two, white with a yellow center, and very charming. Last but not least is one of my favorite cascading evergreens for containers. Juniperus procumbens 'Nana' is a creeping juniper that doesn't grow fast but can still get to a good size over many years. It'll be time to repot that one soon enough, as it too is one of the stoop veterans.
So there you have 'em, summer containers 2010. Cheers,

summer containers 2009

This year I was originally thinking about planting tropical hibiscus in my containers out front because we had one that did so well last year. Over the few years of landscaping our front stoop I have come to realize we actually get a good dose of morning and early afternoon sun. With the success of the hibiscus last year I pretty much came to assume I can pull off full sun loving annuals. However, when I finally took the time to run around town the one thing I didn't find was the hibiscus I was hoping for. Some retailers had them in stock but they looked too neglected and beat up. I had a certain color scheme in mind and it just wasn't coming to fruition. So, as any horticulturist would, I bagged the idea of what it was that I exactly wanted (if you think about it a very human-centric approach to landscaping which can often get you in a pickle) and instead began looking through what was available, seeing if I could find a decent match (a much more logical approach).

Of all places I actually got a good idea at the Home Depot. They had mixed containers of annuals pre-made and sitting outside to be easily gobbled up by the slightly less adventurous, more instant gratification garden enthusiast. One had a dark purple petunia paired with a bright orange marigold. Hmm, I thought. I continued to roll my cart along, slowly cogs began to turn. I bet I could do something like that but better.

When learning color and composition of garden design you learn about how you can pick a few dominant colors to be your guide and base your design and plant selection on those. Often you might try and pick a few colors that work easily together because whether consciously or not they are comfortable to the eye and easy to digest visually. These might be colors on the same side or close to each other on the color wheel. Then perhaps you figure out a contrast color from the other side of the color wheel as well so you have some contrast and variety and something sparks a slightly more complicated aesthetic chord throughout your design. I love contrast in the garden so I often lean towards super pop.

I had a few plants already in place out front and a few houseplants that I bring out for the summer. So I already had green (remember, green is a color in the garden!) foliage on the chrysanthemums in two different pots, and silver with a little shot of red on the succulent kalanchoe and the begonia I cut back hard before bringing out. Kind of a funny combination but in the same pot as the green germander is a Tradescantia which will produce silver/green fuzzy leaves that I hope will trail down. I decided on a color scheme of green-silver-purple(-a touch of red) with orange as the contrast color. And I give to you the arborboy summer containers for 2009.
On top to the left we have the Begonia 'Sinbad' which should push out new wing-shaped foliage in silver and purple/red to go along with the Kalanchoe on the bottom step and the trailing Tradescantia (to the right on the stair above the bottom), planted in the same container as the green Teucreum (germander). Above the Kalanchoe the Juniperus procumbens 'Nana' will continue to slowly pour out silver and green foliage year-round that will eventually begin cascading down the steps. On the top right I am hoping Oxalis 'Charmed Wine' will be protected enough and continue to do well, (it might want more shade to be happiest), but matched with the Petunia 'Supertunia Royal Velvet' you have great strong shots of purple up and down throughout the layout. And finally the poppy Tagetes (marigolds) are scattered throughout the pots and layers to provide that little bit of wow. In the big rolled-rim pot and below that with the marigolds the Korean chrysanthemum will bloom late in fall once the petunias and marigolds are on their way out. There you have it, green, silver, purple, orange. We'll see how everything does as the summer goes on. Remember too, horticulture is always a learning process no matter what your skill level. Enjoy.

potting up bulbs for spring

Even though most of the annuals were still holding on in the containers out front, like the hibiscus above, I decided to take advantage of the day off and get my bulbs planted for spring. If you don't have a garden of your own this can be a great way to add a little green to your life. Not to mention it is really easy to do and your neighbors will be totally wowed. Then, once your bulbs are done blooming in late spring you can pull them and replant the containers you already have in place for your summer display. But let me not get too ahead of myself.

You will need pots, bulbs, and potting soil. If you are going to plant big bulbs like tulips or daffodils then you want your containers to be at least 10" or more in depth. This is so that your bulbs can be planted with enough room beneath them for their roots and enough room above for the necessary winter protection and growing room. Over the winter months your bulbs will take advantage of days in the 40's and 50's and will put out a lot of root growth and shoot growth under the soil so that they are properly anchored and ready to put on a great show come spring. Glazed terra cotta or fiberglass pots are less likely to crack if they are exposed to a lot of moisture and freezing and thawing temperatures, but they can be much more pricey too. I opted for basic 12" terra cotta pots (at only $10 apiece) and I think they will hold up fine for a season or two. For the bulbs, I am experimenting this year with five or six different cultivars, two different tulips and four different daffodils. Last year I got double tulips and double daffodils and although beautiful, I realized the over-petaled flowers were a bit too heavy and required a lot of staking. This year I picked based on some height variation and different color combinations that I hope will play well off each other. As far as the soil, a brand-name potting soil will be fine, as long as it has good drainage and won't retain too much moisture. Don't bother with some generic bags of pulverized who-knows-what. Bulbs need good drainage and it's always worth investing in good soil because that is the base of good plants. You might also want to grab a tape measure and sharpie.
Usually first I mark the inside of my pots. Putting your tape measure against the inside of your container, mark your pots 2-3" from the base, making sure you have at least 6"-8" of room above that marking. This is the level at which you are going to plant your tulips and/or daffodils. Put down your base of soil and then you can place your bulbs. In a garden setting you would space your bulbs a few inches apart, but for containers we want to max-out the space and the wow factor so you can place them closer against each other. Think about how the shoot and foliage of the plant will be narrow and upright and it makes sense that you can jam them together a little more closely. One container I did with the two different tulips, a yellow 'Big Smile' and deep purple 'Queen of Night' for a little contrast. The four kinds of daffodils I placed randomly in the other three containers. Then I slowly fill in the rest of the containers with the potting soil, packing it down some, but not with too much force. Remember the importance of drainage when it comes to bulbs.
Because of the flare of my containers I stopped before filling them up all the way. Minor bulbs are what horticulturists call the many different bulbs that you can find that are significantly smaller in size. These would include such plants as Chionodoxa, Muscari, Scilla, Crocus, and others. Here I have some Crocus corms from last year which did really well for me so I figured I would reuse them. For these bulbs I have measured down about 2-3" from where the soil level will ultimately be and leveled the soil around the edge of the container. In years past I have laid down a whole layer of minor bulbs but found that they put out enough roots of their own that it wasn't the easiest for the larger bulbs underneath to penetrate. Therefore this year I decided just to ring the smaller Crocus around the edge of the containers so that the containers are nice and full of foliage and flower from lip to lip.
Then top off your containers with soil and again pack it down just a little bit. Place them and you are pretty much done and ready for spring. I crumpled some leaves as a quick-fix mulch and during the holidays will probably recycle some Christmas tree cuttings to add some interest and protection to the tops of the containers so that we're not just looking at pots of soil. The mulch will also help absorb a little bit of the winter freeze so that the soil temps can be more regulated, which is why we mulch in the first place. If it rains that will be fine because I know the soil is free draining enough, and if it snows I will wipe off excess snow so that the pots do not get too overly saturated.
And then before you know it spring will be here and you and everyone around you will be psyched. Happy planting!