Plants for summer pots
Petunias
and pots have enjoyed a solid partnership for decades but today’s petunias are more pot perfect than ever. Thanks to extensive breeding we enjoy petunias with unprecedented weather resistance and flowering performance. The choice of varieties is vast, with colours and forms to suit every taste. Though dramatic enough to go it alone, petunias (and their smaller relatives, the calibrachoas) mix beautifully with other flowers.
Pelargoniums
are famously tolerant of heat and drought. In Europe they have long rivalled petunias in popularity for pots and hanging baskets. They are very much back in fashion but today’s improved strains are far superior to the ones in Grandma’s garden. Cascading ivy-leafed pelargoniums look great in hanging baskets and window boxes. Upright forms make a colourful statement in large pots. Choose snowy white, classic red or one of many beautiful shades of pink, orange and lilac.
Verbenas
flower in umbels - circular clusters of little flowers (florets). Modern verbena hybrids such as Superbena and Voodoo verbenas are substantially more mildew resistant that those of old, with neater growth habits and huge volumes of bloom. Many retain the cascading or trailing habit of their hanging basket heritage. Today’s heat tolerant varieties come in an expansive range of rich colours including some spectacular two-tone forms. They respond well to trimming, although an ability to ‘self clean’ means they stay looking tidy between trims.