Thursday, April 14, 2011

Container Gardening

I love to plant flowers in pot all over our yard. Some are by choice to spice up the patio like the ones below.






Others like the one below are born out of necessity. We have lots of trees in our planters and the soil is often full of roots and I can barely get a spade into it. I bring color in by stashing pots throughout the planters.


Some of the pots help to soften the garage wall which backs up to our patio. Our vines are planted in some of the pots as well.


The secret to lovely full pots is using only potting soil. You cannot use soil from your planters but most people know this already. I like to pack the pots full of plants. This gives them the overflowing fullness that looks the best. I always generously mix in time released fertilizer into the soil when I am planting them. And lastly, don't let your pots dry out too much. They don't want to be soggy either, but on really hot days I will water twice a day. But most summer days, once is enough. A labor of love for sure. I always hire a neighbor girl to water daily when we travel. You don't want to spend all that money on creating your container garden to see them dry out while you are gone.



Here are my latest inspirations. Just picked these up at Home Depot and with names like "Lemon Zest" and "Rhythm and Blues" how can I go wrong? Not sure what pots they will go in yet but I am sure something will come to me once I get out there and put those gloves on.



16 comments:

  1. Gorgeous!! I love planting in pots. With the sun so brutal here in Phoenix, it's nice to be able to move them around into the shade everyonce in a while. Loving the lemon zest and Rhythm and Blues!

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  2. You are dedicated to water every day. I am not at the yellow house all the time so I must pick flowers that can take the heat and be watered 2x a week. Your planters are gorgeous.

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  3. Hello,


    Love the colours you combine in this pots!


    ~ Gabriela ~

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  4. So pretty! I have flowers in pots all over!!! But we have awfully hot summers, and they do take a beating by summers' end.

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  5. Love your container gardening style! And don't you just love the names of the flowers they come up with like "lemon zest"? I would totally buy them too!

    Happy Cottage Flora Thursday!
    -marie

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  6. You are seriously making me get the itchy dirty finger bug! I cannot safely plant much for another couple of weeks.

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  7. I will be planting some containers this weekend. I can't wait to plant them! I usually like to wait until April 15 due to frost.

    Your containers look lovely!!!

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  8. Gorgeous containers. I love your plant selections. The most recent purchase is going to be so pretty together.

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  9. I love using pots in my beds. Its a great way to add color. I've been to Lowes twice already, but mostly just looking...it is still a little too early here.

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  10. Hi, I am your youngest and newest follower from the bloghop, hope you can follow the little blog of a newbie like me, thanks in advance!

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  11. Your pots are lovely! I am hoping to get mine planted this weekend. I also saw the lemon zest. There was also an orange that was yummy. Beautiful work!

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  12. Hi there, I am following from the bloghop. Please follow me back at Obstacles & Glories, thanks!

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  13. Your flowers are beautiful!! I also plant a lot in containers since our soil is hard as a rock. Yours are so full and healthy looking. Thank you for joining my Open House party.
    Hugs,
    Sherry

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  14. Such gorgeous pots! Can't wait for the season of "potting" here at Fishtail Cottage! Thanks so much for linking this gorgeous post up to Cottage Flora Thursday's - enjoying my time peeking around! xoxo, tracie

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  15. You can't go wrong with flowers anywhere! Their brilliant blooms make me smile. ;)

    Thanks for linking to the party again. Hope to see you next week.

    Have a terrific weekend!
    Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
    http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

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  16. love the look this is what I plan to do and have all ready created some

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