Gardening Friends,
Here in Ohio, the race is on to begin the search for the best plants
at the best price. It seems like one out of every three homeowners
on our block has been busy getting their flower beds ready for
planting this week. High on their list is finding just the right
flowers for their pots and window boxes. I thought I'd share a few
tips I've learned along the way and I hope you will too. These are
not 'rules', mind you ,merely suggestions.
Mixing and matching plants:
By 'mixing' plants, I mean mixing different colors and shapes of
blooms, different colors or shapes of foliage and different species
of plants. Generally, you will want more than one kind of a plant
and more than one color of a plant per container, but you can go
overboard too with too many colors and give passers-by a headache.
(You've seen them in your neighborhood and thought What WAS she
thinking?! Or is it just me that thinks these things?)
By 'matching', I mean you'll want the height of your tallest plant
(at maturity, not necessarily when you first plant them)to be in
proportion to the height of your pot or container. For instance, an
annual ornamental grass 'Rubrum' would look great in the center of a
tall pot since the plant gets 24-36 tall. It would look too top
heavy in a 10 pot. So, when you're buying those spikes,
snapdragons, grasses or other tall plants for the center of your
pot, keep in mind the height of the pot it's going in!
Containers:
If you've ever planted something in a container with no drainage
hole in it and wondered why the plant didn't do so well, it's
probably because you either overwatered it and drowned the plant's
roots or underwatered it because you didn't know how much water to
give it and didn't give it enough. Play it safe, and use only pots
that have drainage holes in the bottom.
The new lite pottery made to look like stone or iron are fantastic
in that they are lightweight enough when full of soil and plants to
move if you need too and also, you can drill holes in the bottom for
drainage if there aren't any already. They're lots less expensive
too than stone, concrete or metal.
A great tip to saving you some soil when filling a large container
is to use a couple inches of packing peanuts in the bottom before
adding soil; it's great for drainage too.
Potting soil:
I've used just about every brand name of potting soil there is on
the market and my favorite is still Walmart's Expert Gardener's
Professional Mix in the yellow and orange bag. It's got just enough
vermiculite in it to get oxygen to the plant's roots and it's also
got fertilizer in it to last up to 9 months (although I still
fertilize my plants regularly). I use this to start my seeds in as
well. It's also cheaper than any other brand I've seen with
fertilizer in it. The large bag runs about $7.47 around here.
Planting:
When it comes to containers, most people tend to cram too many
plants in one container (that would be ME) because they want it to
look nice and full immediately. This is fine but keep in mind that
as the plants mature, you might have to pull something out that
isn't doing so well because it's getting crowded out. Actually,
there are some plants I intentionally plant around the edges because
of this. Allysum and Lobelia are two that usually don't make it
through the season before they begin to decline. I'll usually pull
these out when they start looking ratty, cut them back and stick
them in the ground somewhere until they start showing blooms again.
Yes, both of these respond well to haircuts!
When you take a plant out of it's cell pack or tray and the roots
are heavy and/or circling around the pot, it's a good idea to damage
the roots (which encourages new growth.) I usually pick off at least
a half inch of roots or more depending on the plant and how badly it
was pot bound.
When planting your flowers in your container, don't be afraid to
squish the rootball between your hands in order to make it a certain
size to get it to fit in the spot you have for it. This kind of
gentle damage is actually good for the plant.
I try to always make it a point of watering my plants well at least
a few hours before I plant to pot them up. This gives them a good
drink of water before the stress I make them go through..grin.
Anyone have any other tips?
Becki
