Container Gardening - One Of The Newest Gardening Trends

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If you are looking for some great ideas on new ways of bringing quick beauty to your garden, consider adding beautiful containers. This is one of the newest gardening trends to help you in the quest for instant gardening.

Among the popular gardening trends of the past few years is a renewed interest growing plants in areas besides the garden. Container gardening is part of a fast paced society. They want color but they don't have time for huge flower-filled beds that take lots of time to plant and weed.

People go to containers for gardening. People in condos will do tomatoes in containers. They still like their fresh fruit and vegetables. People are looking for maintenance free landscapes in their yards.

There are three important things to remember when you plant containers. They are the thriller, the spiller and the filler. The thriller plants are the spikes. These are the salvias, they ornamental grasses, the gaura, and something tall for the middle of the pot that is eye catching.

Spiller is anything that hangs over the pot. These include bacopa, lobelia, alyssum, trailing petunias and verbenas. Filler can be anything else you want to put in. This includes geraniums, marigolds, dusty miller, gazanias, impatiens, regular petunias and nicotiana and anything else to fill up the extra space.

While virtually any container is adaptable to grow plants, lightweight, attractive and durable pots make it easier to grow plants in containers. Any garden center carries A myriad of styles, sizes and color of pots to delight any gardener. They are usually frost proof, less likely to break while being handled and moving them does not mean visits to the chiropractor.

The kind of container really does not matter as long as it drains. People come in and complain that they cannot grow anything. We look in the container and see all of the holes are plugged so the plants are swimming and they end up rotting.

Use a variety of sizes and shapes of pots with these characteristics. If you have large cast iron or concrete planters, grow the plants in other containers and then slip them inside the heavy unwieldy containers. Make certain all of the containers have holes so they drain well.

Plant roots need oxygen. The quickest way to kill container planter is to have them sit in water. Adequate drainage is essential for all container plantings.

Avoid dark, black pots unless they are going into another container. Black pots may get too hot so unless you are trying to grow steamed plant roots select a lighter colored container. Avoid growing plants in containers that are too small.

Use containers that hold several gallons of media so they do not dry out too quickly. I prefer containers that are at least 16" in diameter so they do not dry out too quickly.

The second important improvement for growing plants is artificial soils. These soil less mixes or peat-based soils are light in weight and they have excellent water and air drainage. They are free of harmful pests including insects, diseases and weeds so they are excellent growing mediums for producing superb plants

Use artificial or soil free mixes. Commercial mixes have peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite The mix is free of pathogens and drain freely so there are no problems with root rot or over-watering.

The final development is wonderful new plants to make showy, long blooming containers for any growing area. Many new plants and an abundance of exciting new cultivars are some of the best performers in containers.

Many trail over the side of the pot with masses of blooms in a myriad of colors. Decide where you want to grow the container and select the plants accordingly. Some plants work well in shaded, protected areas and others work best in full sun. Plants for shade are coleus, many kinds of begonias and impatiens.

For full sun, consider some of these favorites :
‘Imagination' Verbena
‘Symphony' African Daisies or Osteospurmum African Daisy are larger and showier than older types
‘Twilight Blue Sparks' Verbena
Superbena, ‘Pink Shades' Verbena
‘Blue Bird' Nemesia
Diascia Hybrids

For trailing plants, try the ornamental sweet potatoes or ipomeas
The lime green variety is ‘Marguerite'
The dark purple black colored variety is ‘Blackie'
The multicolored variety is ‘Tricolor"

Because the plants are large and we want them to bloom profusely include slow release such as Osmocote in the pots. You can use liquids and fertilize them every time you water to keep the plants blooming

Many people plant them or purchase them in the spring and they look good. Then they often become overgrown and straggly. Cut them back and or deadhead them and keep them well watered and fertilized. Then they will stay attractive through the entire season. All containers need some regular attention and care. These maintenance requirements include deadheading, watering and fertilization.

Handle deadheading by selecting your plants carefully. Many new and exciting plant varieties offer flowers that continually replace themselves without the need to keep picking them off. Otherwise, remove the flowers as they fade.

Look for plants that have the same needs. One critical selection criteria is the sun or shade requirements. If you ignore the light requirements and group plants with dissimilar requirements, neither of them will survive.