Container Gardening for Gardeners
Perennial Plants Vegetable Plants in Mixed Plantings for Containers
Today for some, container gardening is the only way to garden. Perennial and annual plants or vegetable plants with flowers are ideas for mixed plantings.
Annuals, herbs, and tropical plants have been the traditional container gardener’s arena of choice, outside and indoors. Now, container gardeners have moved outside the preverbal flower box and have dared to use plants previously thought to be off limits.
Mixed Plantings for Containers
Today, it is not unusual to see a mix of plants used in one container. Whether it is annuals with herbs or vegetables, perennials used with annuals or an evergreen used with bulbs, it is all perfectly acceptable.
Creeping Jenny has a trailing habit that creates vertical interest in a hanging basket or tall urn planter with other plant choices. The sedum, Hens N’ Chicks, is a common plant. But its multiple growth variations planted in a shallow clay pot bring undeniable interest when set in a rock garden, then, if necessary, brought indoors to a sunny window to over winter.
Perennials Plants in Pots
Many perennials are used as annuals; at season’s end when pots are emptied, cleaned and stored for winter, the perennials may be tossed into the compost bin. One effective use of assertive perennials, in the ground, is to dig up a section of plant for a container. This gives the perennial plant a good rejuvenation and the gardener a free plant and new look for his container garden.
The 2008 Perennial Plant, Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is an example of a plant that could be used this way. An additional benefit, ‘Rozanne’ will bring a striking red fall color to the container planting.
Other ideas include the Lamium maculatum cultivars like ‘Beacon Silver’ and ‘White Nancy’ that have been around for a while. But try ‘Purple Dragon’ with the deep purple flower or Lamium maculatum ‘Cosmopolitan’ with the very small silver leaves.
Container Vegetable Gardening
When thinking about growing vegetables in containers the ‘Tumbler’ cherry type tomato immediately comes to mind. Today, the ‘Sugary’ hybrid, All America Selections 2005 winner, and the ‘Grandaddy’ hybrid that yields 12-16 oz. fruit should be on the list too.
Cucumbers have the ‘Bush Crop’ that has been tried in a hanging basket or ‘Fanfare,’ another All America Selections winner. Sweet peppers like ‘Gypsy,’ although not a bell, can be picked when yellow all the way up to an orange red color. ‘Fooled You’ pepper has a jalapeno flavor without the hot temperature. And do not forget the Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’ that add fantastic color to any container garden. All of these ideas and more await the home vegetable grower whose garden happens to be in containers.
Of all the garden styles, perhaps container gardening has received the most discussion and focus since the beginning of the 21st century. In the Garden Writers Association’s 2007 Summer Gardening Trends Research Report, it was stated that 47 percent of consumers surveyed use some form of container gardening.
