THREE OF A KIND

Pots are generally placed in prominent places, so whatever you choose to plant in them needs to look good. This means changing the display regularly through the season, which inevitably means you should have multiple pots with things ‘coming on’, in readiness to bring out into the spotlight when they are about to perform. With this pot I deliberately chose plants that continue to look good for weeks, if not months on end with very little effort.

How to achieve the look

In general I find displays containing either a single plant, such as with the Glandularia on the previous page, or a combination of three plants usually work best. In this arrangement I chose three mutually compatible plants that work in harmony with each other, both in terms of ‘ feel’ and flowering longevity. The overall effect is soft and diffused yet sculptural, with the slender, pale-pink brushes of the Pennisetum orientale ‘Shogun’ floating above the mound of light-grey foliage to great effect.

Choose as deep a pot as possible, to get the maximum depth of soil. It must have a hole in the bottom with crocks spread over for drainage. In most of our pots we use peat-free compost with added grit, in addition slow-release fertiliser and vine weevil control is included. I like to use grit for the top of the pot as an aesthetic dressing and to aid watering, which with large pots such as this, is required as often as three times a week in summer.

Most importantly good forward planning is critical. Wherever possible you should try to get to know how your reserve bench of plants performs and when they’ll shine to ensure your pot has a seamless succession of flowering display. Through the season I try to take notes and make drawings as an aide memoire of successes and failures, flowering times and the relative sociability or otherwise of the various companions. Photographs taken at regular intervals would also serve this purpose well.