BIG POTS ARE THE WAY TO MAKE HUGE STATEMENTS
Plant a large tub cleverly and it’s like having a stunning f lower display that lasts for months
ALTHOUGH a collection of small pots is always a good addition – especially if it repeats a theme by just using pelargoniums or pansies or grasses so you get a rhythm from the same shapes and outlines with small differences between each one – there is no question that a large container planted with a dramatic selection can be the jubilant centrepiece of any garden, acting like a flower arrangementg but one that lasts for monthsths rather than days.
Like good flower arrangerrangements, the secret is to have a relatively limited choice oice of plants that harmoniseise in colour, shape andnd growing habit, but thenn to plant them so theree is a real sense of abunndance and energy.
If you want a fieryy summer combination,n, this one works very wellell in our Jewel Garden and is based upon tender and half hardy plants thatat can be bought now and plantedanted out when the risk of frostst is over – which is not for at least another four weeks in our garden.
The centrepiece is a canna like ‘Wyoming’ which has orange flowers or ‘ Durban’ which also has orange flowers but coupled with chocolate coloured foliage. I would then plant three or four dahlias around this – either picking up on the canna’s orange with the lovely apricot flowers of ‘David Howard’, or on its bronzed foliage with ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ which has red flowers and an orange central boss. Good orange annual cosmos such as ‘Sulphur Orange’ or ‘Brightness Mixed’ can be interplanted, along with the perennial Cosmos atrosanguineus – called chocolate cosmos (left) because the flowers have a distinctive chocolate aroma – which has lovely plum coloured flo flowers and quite delicate ferny foli foliage. Finall Finally, some nasturtiums can trail o over the edge of the pot with splashes of orange and red flowers. Petunias will als also do this job and I love the burgundy Surfinia varieties. et iT
These can be squeezed into the gaps left by the larg larger planting and the lack of n nutrition that this forces upon them will promote more flower flowers and less foliage – which is ideal. It’s a dr dramatic – even brash – display that m may not be to everyone’s taste but it does hav have a colour theme, layers of foliage and height, and will stay in flower from July through to November. However, it will need watering
Just like a good f lower arrangement, the secret is to have a limited choice of plants that harmonise
almost daily and feeding weekly if the plants are not to become exhausted. A liquid seaweed feed does the job well but the real secret is to add a third in volume of home-made garden compost to the potting compost as well as a generous measure of grit that allows good drainage. This is an intense, powerful performance you are demanding so it needs the best possible growing conditions.
A softer, gentler arrangement can be based around the combination of plants that thrive in the very different Mediterranean conditions. In early summer cistus produces delicate, papery flowers that only last a day but keep on being produced for weeks. There are 20 or more species of cistus and all are evergreen shrubs.
Cistus x Cyprius makes an excellent permanent centrepiece to a large container, or the lowergrowing C. x dansereaui is a good alternative for a smaller one. Cistus combines well with rosemary and lavender and the two herbs can be combined to provide a subtle series of blues, greens and greys planted around the base of the cistus.
The trailing rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis is a good suggestion and I would go for the smaller English lavender Lavandula angustifolia ‘Munstead’ or ‘Lavenite Petite’. Both are fully hardy.
Cotton lavender, santolina chamaecyparissus, is completely at home with this group of plants, both in its growing needs and appearance, and the trailing helichrysum will add a softness and swooping elegance as the summer progresses.
All these plants need very good drainage in order to survive – let alone thrive.
I would mix a peat-free (and it is essential that you do not use a peat-based compost for these plants as they need an alkaline compost) bark- or coir-based compost with up to its own volume again of horticultural grit.
THIS will make it very free-draining and reduce the nutrients – which are exactly the conditions that they love. It will still need watering well at least weekly and a fortnightly feed of a weak seaweed solution will do no harm. Finally, the container must be placed in a really sunny, hot spot to give this combination of planting its perfect home.
Even the deepest shade can hold a container planted with ferns and ivy and look mysterious and dramatic. However, most shady spots have some sunlight, and what you plant will depend on what time of day it is shadiest.
Morning shade is a protective shroud for plants such as camellias that are easily damaged by bright sunlight. Shade at midday stops pale colours burning out and all but the most heat-loving plants will prefer to be shaded from the sun at noon. Evening shade is good for white flowers that will attract moths rather than butterflies to pollinate them and are likely to be exceptionally fragrant.
Remember, shade is shelter, and shelter is usually the most important thing for any plant.
A container planted with a woodland plant mix of alchemilla mollis, euphorbia amygdaloides var, robbiae and heuchera along with the trailing strands of vinca minor will be perfectly happy as long as it gets a few hours of sun a day and does not dry out too much. Both acanthus mollis and A. spinosa look superb in large pots and both seem to thrive in deep shade, though perhaps acanthus spinosa is a better choice if conditions are very dry.
Ferns are a useful and beautiful solution to dry shade and I am finding myself planting them more and more. Dryopteris filixmas will grow seemingly untroubled by lack of moisture or light and polystichum setiferum is also particularly drought-resistant, while most of the adiantum and polypodium ferns will do fine. Even so, the potting compost should ideally be split half and half with leaf mould (not compost) and they will need a weekly water.