Container planting!!!
Snow was blowing yesterday but we are less than a month from the last freeze date in our region....I CAN'T WAIT!!!
Tomorrow I will be sharing a VERY long tutorial on building a perfect swing pergola for your yard...but today I wanted to share my container plantings...you could actually start these inside, if you have space, and transfer them outside once the risk of freeze has passed!
Last year I decided my days of crawling around in the dirt planting flowers were over. So I began collecting pots and anything I thought would make a great planter...be creative!!! Think outside the box! Pots are great but so are wash tubs and old patio grills and crocks! As long as it has a little drain hole in the bottom, or can have one added, it will work. I fill the bottom 2" with rock (yard rocks are great), then add "cheap" soil, then put the more expensive "planting soil" in the top 4". Most annual plants don't root much deeper than that!
This is by far my favorite! Ferns with impatiens and caladiums. Any ole' fern, punch a few little impatiens in the soil around it and then stick some caladium bulbs into the soil. By June it will be in full bloom and super easy to water and maintain. If the planters are small, you can actually hack the fern in 1/2 or 1/4 and split it among several planters.
Here are a few pictures of a few other planters! On old tea server, old pots I sprayed with colorful spray paint, new pots in interesting shapes...use your imagination. I found an old grill that is very odd...but will make a perfect planter this year.
If you have looked at my Yardscapes page, you know I love flower gardening...especially hostas. But I love the color of annuals so rather than fill my flower beds with tender plants that take a lot of time and water, I am filling colorful planters with an assortment of flowers and scattering them around my flower beds...beautiful! And sooo easy to maintain when the weather turns brutally hot!
