Our cover star: Geranium ‘Mavis Simpson’
This gorgeous, smallflowered variety is a summer stunner and will finish off your pots beautifully.
While many of us obsess about the edges of our lawns, how many gardeners give the same attention to detail to the edges of containers? Of course, a sharply trimmed lawn edge can set the garden off a treat. But making sure that the edges of your patio pots are thriving with beautiful dwarf or trailing plants, will have at least an equal impact on the overall look of the garden. Here are some easy and effective plants to squeeze into bare compost around the edges of your pots now. It will provide a finishing, colourful touch to the patio, and unlike edging a lawn, you’ll only have to do it once!
Calibrachoas
These plants are some of the easiest bedding to grow. They tolerate drought better than large-flowered petunias (which they're related to) and they naturally shed their old flowers. They form very neat and manageable plants, gently spilling over the edges of pots without smothering everything around them. There are many colours, from rusty orange to deep purple. They flower almost continuously through summer and well into autumn too, if the weather stays mild.
Small sedums
Small sedums such as ‘Coral Reef’, ‘Blue Carpet’ or ‘Coral Carpet’ are tremendous plants for adding an evergreen edge to a container. Despite their tropical looks, they can survive a mild winter outside if drainage is good and will add some gorgeous textures and leaf colours to hanging baskets or the rim of pots in summer. You only need the tiniest of gaps to squeeze one of them in and they're exceptionally tolerant of drought. Avoid growing in pots filled with compost that has a water-retaining agent because excess wet will be their downfall. Otherwise, these are superb low-maintenance plants for finishing off a pot and there's the added bonus of clusters of star-shaped flowers in summer, too.
Geranium ‘Mavis Simpson’
Although hardy geraniums are often considered stalwarts of the garden border, there are smaller forms that will add quick and easy colour to pots. This delightful form has small, pink flowers (loved by bees) in summer and grows to just 20cm (8in) tall while spreading to about 50cm (1¾ft). A very useful, hardy perennial plant to ‘rescue’ a container showing too much bare soil. If growth gets too straggly, you can give the plant a trim at any point in summer to tidy it up, and it will quickly grow some fresh new foliage to give your pot a spring-like flourish.
Diascia ‘Diamond Pink’
This is one of the most ‘well-behaved’ plants for planting around the edge of your containers because it naturally makes a compact, bushy plant. It forms a real solid block of flowers for most of summer, at a height of around 25cm (10in) tall and the same across, making it perfect for covering the base of shrubs or trees that are growing in large containers. A perfect plant for any gardener looking to create the feel of a ‘cottage garden’ on their patio.
Heucherellas
A cross between a heuchera and a tiarella, these hardy plants add wonderfully intense leaf shades to container edges. Try ‘Copper Cascade’ to transform containers by displaying a mix of gorgeous warm coppery-orange and red tones, with more sober yellowy-greens. Or for something louder try ‘Yellowstone Falls’ with lime-green leaves patterned with red veins. Both grow to 25cm (10in) tall and 60cm (2ft) across. Remember to protect these plants from vine weevil. Try Nemasys Natural Vine Weevil Killer.
Short grasses
Some small grasses provide a very elegant soft edge to a container. Try those with leaves that gently ‘cascade’ over the edges. For some warm, maroon shades, Uncinia rubra is a dramatic plant that looks great against contrasting silver or light green variegated leaves and grows to around 30cm (1ft) in height and 50cm (1¾ft) wide. It needs protection from frost in cold areas if it’s to be treated as a perennial. Carex ‘Evergold’ is hardier (down to -20C/-4F) and will reach a similar size, although slightly taller, adding beautiful grass green and cream striped leaves to the edge of a container. The leaves hang beautifully over the edges of pots and stand out well against terracotta. If grown in compost that drains very well then they should survive winter.
Helichrysum petiolare ‘Goring Silver’
This elegant foliage bedding plant is a vigorous tumbling plant that will spread 60cm (2ft) across a container and stay around 20cm (8in) tall. The soft leaves feel like felt to touch, and perfectly complement mauve and purple flowers. The beauty of this plant is that it’s tolerant of drought and grows well in very free-draining conditions. If it starts to trail too much you can just snip it back when you need to, to tidy it up.