Container Growing

Container growing is one of the great joys of gardening. Whether you have a huge yard and garden space or a small patio or deck, container gardening adds to your summer enjoyment. Tuck one or two into a corner or create a huge display. The sky is the limit with container gardening! 

Annuals are a great choice for container gardens, from full sun to full shade. Annuals bloom all summer unlike hardy perennials which have a bloom window each year. Annuals are considered to be plants that grow to full size, set seed and die at the end of a single season. However, for practical use, we also include tender perennials in this category. Plants like impatiens, fuchsias and coleus, for example, live longer than one season in frost free climates but die out in our climate because of the harsh winters.

 It's best to start with fresh potting mix (soil) each year for your container or basket. Starting with fresh soil and washed out containers ensures that there is no possible carry-over of disease or harmful insects from last year's season. Choose a potting mix that conserves moisture while still providing good drainage.

Flowers in containers require more frequent watering than the same flowers planted in a garden bed. Because of this, pick a potting mix that is designed for containers rather than garden beds because the container mix is designed to hold moisture.

We recommend using a slow release fertilizer to your container garden for a low maintenance garden. Typical formulations last for up to three months in the soil before being used up by the plant. The amount of time the fertilizer is effective can depend on amount of waterings or rains that dissolve the fertilizer and wash it out of the container.

If you would prefer applying fertilizer more regularly then we recommend Nature's Source Fertilizer. Although not a slow release fertilizer, this fertilizer remains in the soil until the plant uses it up. Nature's Source Fertilizer makes fantastic sense for containers. It grows a stocky plant with vibrant, healthy foliage. Nature's Source Fertilizer doesn't wash out of the soil like other fertilizers do with watering, but adheres to the molecules of the soil mix so the plant can utilize all of the fertilizer's goodness. We  stock this fertilizer because it works for us ! (It's the one we use in the greenhouse.)

Choosing your container

Your choice of plants will depend in a large part on what type of container you are designing. Sitting pots benefit from tall upright plants, while hanging baskets should have shorter, compact, and trailing plants. As well, the colour and style of the container can complement or contrast the flowers that planted.  

Choosing Colours

• Colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel will complement each other, and create vibrancy. For example; purple and yellow work well, blue and orange or red and green. Play around with it, you never know what you might create! 

• Colours that are beside each other on the colour wheel harmonize, creating a serene, peaceful effect. The serene colour combinations include different shades of the same colour, like purple and lavender with a touch of white.

Choosing Plants

Now for the fun part, choosing your plants! We have hundreds of varieties and colour choices to choose from.

Unless your container will be against a fence or wall, it is a good idea to make it balanced on all sides.

Remember to think of how much sunshine the container will get and chose appropriate plants. Having trouble choosing while doing your spring shopping? We're happy to help point out plants for shade, sun or somewhere in between, and what goes well together. 

A popular approach to picking plants for a container is to use the thriller, filler and spiller method.

THRILLERS are tall plants for the center. They add drama and energy. Hanging baskets need short thrillers or fillers for the centre plant For sitting containers consider: Spikes, Millet, Juncus, Baby Tut and King Tut Grass,  Red Sensation Cordyline, Green Fountain Grass, Purple Fountain Grass, Cannas, Agyranthemum, Whopper begonias

FILLERS go around the thriller and they add body and poof to the container. Fillers are shorter than your chosen thriller and fill in the body of the container.Consider: mounding petunias,  mounding verbena,  osteospermum, bracteantha, diascia, strawberries, Non-stop begonias, dianthus, single and double impatiens, heliotrope, pansies, violas, dahlias, Sunpatiens, geraniums, Penstemon, mounding calibrachoa 

SPILLERS hang and trail over the sides lending a romantic, softer look to the container or hanging basket. There can be a lot and cover the pot sides, or just a little. If your pot is particularly beautiful perhaps you want just a little so you can still see your pot. Consider for sun: lotus vine, vinca vine, trailing petunias, trailing verbenas, bacopa,  dipladenia, scaevola, trailing ivy geraniums, sweet potato vine, Silver Falls dichondra, Cool Wave pansies, glechoma, trailing calibrachoa, lobelia, petchoa, lantana,  Silver Mist helichrysum, Happy Hour portulaca, Double Wave petunias, Black Eyed Susan vine.Consider for shade: Illumination begonias,trailing fuschias, English ivy, German Ivy

Throw Out the Rule Book!  Sometimes the best containers are the ones that have just your favourite plants. Summer is short and there is no reason to not fill up containers with your favourite plants, even if they don't harmonize perfectly according to the colour wheel! Go wild, enjoy summer, make your own rule book!