basket full of hens and chicks

Planting something that is usually hard to kill off [ like Sempervivum (hens and Chicks)] can turn a small corner in the garden into a really nice feature.

Sempervivum is a succulent making it an ideal summer plant to hang out under foliage.  Especialy if the summer is a dry one and the watering gets forgotten.

Tips for Making Container Gardens

Mix plants with at least three textures of foliage to make a container garden interesting. Use plenty of plants that are foliage plants (with no flowers) in your designs. In most cases, foliage color, leaf shape, and texture are just as important as the flowers themselves. Some good foliage contrasts would include: downy with glossy; dark with gray; small with large; yellow with violet. Use colorful foliage (like Coleus) to “echo” the color of flowers in the container. Vary the shape of the flowers in the container garden to add interest. Bicolor flowers are becoming more available and are great for color echoing. Sometimes you just have to do some “snipping and tucking” of faster growing plants when they are mixed in with slower growing ones. Otherwise, you will lose the slower ones and your design gets destroyed. Vegetative annuals mix well with other annuals, perennials, tropicals, and bulbs. Everything and anything goes as long as it is pleasing to the eye of your customer. Nothing lasts forever! Container gardens need to be gardened. Plants in container gardens need to be trimmed, dead-headed and replaced.

Grow-Together Combinations

Grow-Together Combinations Good to Use Do Not Work Well One vigorous foliage plant in the center Growth retardants Upright verbenas, double impatiens, geraniums Rampant growers Foliage plants for neutral color & texture Tall plants Summer bloomers for summer market Slow growers Plants with long necks Creeping and very compact plants Various textures and forms Too many fine textures Analogous color harmonies Salmon with violet or fuchsia with bright red Slight succession of bloom for earlier market Extremes in bloom times Odd numbers of plants Only two plants of one species

Definitions of Common Terms

Grow Together Container

Transplanting an assortment of plugs into 10-inch, 12-inch, or larger container and growing them on to a marketable stage.

Put Together Container

Transplanting marketable size, flowering, usually 4-inch or larger plant material into planters.

Plant Positions in Container Gardens

A plant can fulfill different positions in a design depending on the size of the container.

Center plants: provide compact, upright growth to fill in the crown of the container.

Filler plants: typically have compact, upright growth and round out the top of the container.

Corner plants: grow well over the container’s edge and benefit from a corner position where they have maximum elbowroom.

Edge plants: drape over the edge, softening the look of the container and filling out the space between its corners.

Color Bowl

A small, round container placed on a table top to house compact, annual plants.

Combination Basket

A hanging basket and usually holds mounding and trailing plants and excludes tall upright varieties.

Container Garden

Includes all shapes and sizes of containers, usually sitting on the ground, sometimes massive enough to hold all types of plant species including woodies, perennials, and bulbs.