GOING POTTY
Don’t have a garden? Transform whatever outdoor area you have with plants in pots and containers – Tom Harris shows you how it’s done
Haphazard groups of planted pots can be perfectly presentable, however, a coordinated approach more reliably achieves a pleasing result. Many of my own groups have gathered piecemeal over time, but every now and again I spend a therapeutic hour or two making better sense of them. Through the thoughtful teaming of pots, plants and accessories, it is easy to summon an evocative atmosphere. Even a stand-alone pot – perhaps lime-washed and filled with bougainvillea, evoking the Mediterranean – can conjure a distinct feel, but clusters of pots offer the greatest thematic scope. They may stir treasured memories, reflect a particular gardening style, such as ‘cottage’ or ‘prairie’, or adhere to a colour scheme. They may celebrate a season or a single genus or type of plant, such as pelargoniums or succulents. The simpler and subtler themes are usually more comfortable to live with, though: it’s easy to tire of overstated ones. There is no need to conform slavishly to a particular theme. Much enjoyment derives from personal interpretation and blending your own notions with inspiration from books, magazines, gardens, holidays, flower shows or social media. Even a stroll along the beach or in the countryside can provide a wealth of ideas – and props – for your container garden.
CREATING A PICTURE
By the thoughtful addition, subtraction or substitution of components, you can change the emphasis or entire feel of a scene composed of potted plants, with only a restricted palette of materials. A group of bold-leaved hostas and whiskery grasses held in weathered terracotta will form a textural tapestry of leafy contrast: the rigid, rugged-leaved hostas tempered by the wispy, flowing grasses. If the site is slightly shady, a few ferns will increase
texture, while in full sun one or two succulents will ramp up the sculptural element. Add a Japanese maple (acer), a dwarf bamboo and a few small boulders to the shady scene and an oriental air descends. A handful of pebbles, lengths of gnarled driftwood and perhaps a young dwarf fan palm (such as Chamaerops humilis), mulched with seashells, will give the sunny version a maritime slant. Remove the hostas, and replace them with softer, daisyflowered tender perennials, such as argyranthemums, and that scene becomes more relaxed and airy. Restricting yourself to just one or two varieties each of the hostas and grasses, and then repeating them in a row of symmetrically arranged, square, grey terrazzo or metal holders, instead of terracotta, will achieve a more formal, contemporary result.
And so it goes on: the possibilities for the adaptation and reinvention of your container scenes are unending.
A SEASIDE THEME
It’s possible to create an evocative mood or summon up a distinct feel using a few appropriately planted pots and accessories. You can be as subtle or as obvious as suits you – that’s the joy of it. A seaside theme is easy to pull off. Gather what you think might be useful from a creative foray to a beach or assemble props like driftwood, fossils or weathered rope. It’s not necessary to use only plants that suit coastal locations (unless you live by the sea!) – they just need a maritime look. Tufty grasses, hummock-forming perennials and plants with foamy flowers, blue-grey leaves or architectural form (such as palms) are all suitably suggestive. To discover more, you can order Pots For All Seasons by Tom Harris (£20, Pimpernel Press).