Dish gardens breathe life into small landscapes

There’s no need for gardeners to go dormant along with their landscape when cold weather arrives.

Arranging plants in small dishes and pots can be an enjoyable indoor alternative at the end of the summer growing season.

“By creating a dish garden, you are in fact creating a miniature landscape,” said Dawn Pettinelli, an educator with the University of Connecticut.

“It can be as plain or as frivolous as one desires.”

Dish gardens generally consist of several different plants arranged together in a single container.

The most important thing is choosing plant varieties needing similar surroundings and care. For example, dish gardens combining succulents with cacti would work. Mixing plants preferring direct sunlight with something like shade-favouring orchids might not.

Or choose a theme: desert garden or tropical garden, moss garden or rock garden, herb garden or woodland garden, and many others.

Indoor gardens, with their miniature, low-maintenance plants, thrive in small spaces, and that makes them a natural fit for succulents. “Thanks to their intriguing forms and ease of care, succulents are replacing African violets as the plants of choice for indoor gardens,” said Debra Lee Baldwin, author of Designing With Succulents (Timber Press, revised second edition).

Succulents are shallow-rooted. “For a windowsill, a pot that fits into your cupped hands is perfect,” Baldwin said.

Container plants should not be encouraged to grow too rapidly, so Pettinelli recommends using halfstrength liquid fertilizers two or three times per year.

“For succulents, I would use a cactus potting mix,” she said.

“For all others, I would use a layer of coarse sand or gravel at the bottom and then a thin layer of horticultural charcoal.”

Stick a finger into the soil to determine when to water, she said. “If it feels on the dry side, add some water. The soil should not be saturated but it should feel moistened.”