Have you got pots gold? of
Do the pots on your patio make a bold enough statement about you? Monty Don reveals his own terracotta warriors
ALTHOUGH I live in the country and have a large garden with borders, the containers we have are really important, especially in the various paved areas where we sit on warm summer evenings.
Today I’m giving you my tips for the best plants to grow in these outdoor havens, but you may have your own particular favourites.
In my opinion, the key to creating the perfect space is to balance permanent and transitory planting.
I love good-quality terracotta pots but they are expensive, so I feel they have to earn their keep by hosting a display for as much of the year as possible.
With smaller pots, this is simple enough. I pot them up in September and October with bulbs – irises, crocus and snowdrops for February, muscari, scilla, fritillaries and daffodils for March and tulips for April and May. When the flowers have finished, I either let the foliage die back naturally then empty them or immediately transfer the bulbs into a border so that the pots can be reused for a summer display.
For summer, I like pelargoniums, cosmos, lilies, dahlias, succulents and my current favourite, Tulbaghia violacea, which never seems to stop flowering.
A single variety of tulips, a small group of ‘Tête-à-tête’ daffodils or even just one snowdrop in a tiny pot can look jewel-like. Repeat this with a number of small pots and it’s very powerful.
However, really big pots demand a dramatic display. I have just ordered a pair of Cornus ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ for two pots on one of my paved terraces and they will look magnificent with white bracts of flower heads in spring and the brilliant orange of the autumnal leaves. Maples would also do well, and viburnums.
I have grown climbing roses, clematis, hawthorns, Portuguese laurel and acers in pots, and they’ve flourished, as have citrus, bay and large rosemary bushes. Largish pots are ideal for annual climbers such as sweet peas, Cobea scandens, thunbergia or morning glory, using a wigwam of canes to support the growth.
But it is important to replace the compost at the end of the growing season, as the plants will have used up every available scrap of nutrient.
A fiery summer combination that works very well in our Jewel Garden is based upon tender and half-hardy plants such as cannas, dahlias, cosmos, petunias and perhaps some grasses such as Stipa tenuissima or the Japanese blood grass, Imperata cylindrica ‘Rubra’.
These can be squeezed in quite closely together and the relative lack of nutrition will promote more flowers and less foliage, which is ideal.
However, the pot will need a compost with plenty of added garden compost and a weekly feed of liquid seaweed or a general tomato feed.
In October I dismantle the display, storing the cannas, dahlias, blood grass and Cosmos atrosanguineus in a frost-free place and dispatching the annuals to the compost heap, their work all done.