Have you ever put together a really beautiful container garden , only to see some plants turn sickly and expire after just a week or so ? Or have you ever seen a beautiful container garden , and thought , “ I like I could do that ” ? Either direction , this clause is for you . We ’re going to search the secrets of successful container horticulture , as well as a few summit and tricks for making your container garden beautiful and interesting .
The first affair to keep in mind when starting a container garden is not all plants like the same sun , stain , and water conditions . Rosemary , for example , likes it red-hot and cheery and dry , with soil on the common and sandy side . So do ice plant , oregano , and thyme . These you do n’t H2O until the top of the soil is really dry .
But suppose you decided to mate a creeping rosemary or ice plant life with an upright fern . That would look good ; the blue emergence of the one complements the upright habits of the other . Why would n’t this scenario work ?
Well , because the fern is a timberland - dwelling plant . It stay cool and shady at the feet of massive oak tree , where leaf cast lies like mulch over loam , keep its roots damp and nourished . Put a fern and a rosemary plant together , and either the fern will snuff it from want of urine , lack of food , and too much estrus and Lord’s Day , or else the rosemary will die from root rot ( from too much water ) , not enough heat , and not enough sun .
Either agency , it ’s a no - win situation . And if you try on to balance their indigence — you end up with both of them turn sick and dying on you !
So how do you avoid that job ? Well , an intimate cognition of the likes and dislike of each plant is always a in effect start . But barring that , face at the tags that get with the plant when you buy them . If you did n’t purchase the plant , or for some cause it does n’t have a tag , go online and type its name into a hunting railway locomotive . You should be able to bump all the information you call for .
The care tags should tell you everything you need to know about the plant , its height , its growth habits ( sprawling / creep , vining , shaggy , or vertical ) and its sun , grunge , and water prerequisite . Choose plants that will grow together happily . Remember , sun , dirt , and water are the most important .
Once you ’ve narrowed you choices down to industrial plant that can really live together , it ’s time to look at that all - important design process . Generally in a container garden you need contrast . Tall , upright plant contrast with low sneak ones ; extensive , flat leaves contrasted with tiny round ace ; plants grown for their flowers contrasted with flora grown for their leaf .
What you do n’t require to contrast , however , is color . The colours should work well together . Now , I ’m not preach ditching the blues and the purples , because in the right setting , puritanic and purple can go quite well together . But in general , attempt to stick to dissimilar color sept ; earth tone , brights , atomic number 10 , or pastel , for example .
Dusty Miller ’s silvery leafage is a pure complement to an upright gray - green rosemary . Both colors are set off by a border of dark green mother - of - thyme , and the tiny pastel pink blossom on the female parent - of - thyme complement ( rather than direct contrast ) the tiny lavender flush on the rosemary .
Such a container garden would be subtle , elegant , understated . It would go well in a soft gray marble container ( or in a plastic container made to look like gray marble ) . Now imagine the same container garden , this time with splotches of bright pink Petunia in it . laughable , is n’t it ?
Alternately , imagine a doughnut of shining pinkish or purple Petunia around the edge of pot hidden inside a white wickerwork basket . A few sprays of bright pink Blazing Star spring up from the centre , with ice plant draping over the side of meat . The integral tableau vivant is vibrant , alive , colourful . Now imagine adding a few delicate Quaker Ladies to it . They ’d be lost , swamped by the coloration and the size of the blossoms around them .
Remember , you want contrast , not clashing . When you go to garden centers , gather up the plants that you think will look good together . Arrange them as they ’ll be arrange in your container . ramp up your fiddling group one plant at a time , read this out or adding that in , depending on what you find most pleasing to the eye .
And recollect : always , always see the Dominicus , grease , and piddle requirement for each plant before you sting them together .
