Creating your display
1 Partially fill your pot with a good-quality peat-free compost, which will serve you well due to its fertility and free-draining properties. Feeding is not required at planting time, but will be necessary after about six weeks – a weekly diluted tomato feed will be sufficient.
2 Create a framework by planting your tall plants first to establish the highest point, in this case, the silver gomphostigma. The idea is for the rest of the plants to cascade down in height like flowing water, ending up with the trailing ones around the edge of the pot.
3 Gently tease the roots away from the rootball, if they fill the pot densely, to improve their establishment in the new pot. Otherwise, they will continue to circle round unless we break the cycle and encourage them out into the rest of the compost.
4 Place cascading plants at the edge, the final couple may need to be squeezed in. It’s a fine balance – you want to fill the pot with plants for instant impact, but they will also need room to grow and enough compost to sustain them throughout the summer.
5 Water after planting and then thoroughly every day in summer. Intense planting needs to be tended little and often, and don’t let them dry out. Peat-free composts are free draining so excess water will drain away. Reduce the frequency of watering as temperatures drop.