Before The Snow Flies

As I looked at my outdoor container plantings I thought I had better get those photos taken before we are knee deep in snow.  There was one year that I never saw my containers until March!

It is too bad that pansies and parsley are not Christmas plants because we really would have blooms and greenery into December.

The concrete planters by the garage are a combination of incense cedar, huckleberry, some faux berries and red twig dogwood branches.  The Limelight hydrangeas have been spray painted in an outdoor enamel.

Geranium Magnificum could be a Christmas plant but it's not, just turning color before going to sleep.

I used some different greens this year like the Huckleberry and Port Orford Cedar and the Seeded Eucalyptus, faux melons that I sprayed with poly.  The Hydrangeas are my dried Limelights sprayed.

The hayracks on the shed are pretty casual, balsam, cedar, huckleberry and red twig dogwood, some faux apples and garland.

Max Frei Geranium is also putting on its holiday colors.

Magnolia, Port Orford Cedar, Eucalyptus Pods, Hydrangea Unique sprayed green, Green Apples and Willow.  Some are faux, some are real!

Pomegranates and Boxwood.

I sprayed the pomegranates this year with a clear poly to see if they will withstand the winter weather.

Plumbago is this great ground cover that blooms with blue flowers in the fall and then turns this great purple color.

Panicum Northwind is not a Christmas color but it sure does perk up my spirits as I drive into my garage every day.

I am not so thrilled with the resin planter this year, but it is more natural with the allium Purple Sensation.

This is one of two cast iron planters in the front, lots of cedar, white pine, a tree topper, pepper berry, dried seed pods and some faux berries.

Containers In The Front Garden

I went with the earth tones and tropical colors for the front garden this year.  I have a pretty neutral sand tone house with some weathered copper and rust tone accessories so really just about any color plantings will look good.

Hawkerii Impatiens, Bronze Moneywart, Pineapple Splash Coleus, Angelonia and Dracena with Autumnale Fuchsia in front.

The leaves on the hawkerii variety are as interesting as the flowers.

Pineapple Splash Coleus

I love Redhead Coleus in the turquoise pots!

The concrete planters in front have the bronze sweet potato, much more controlled than the original Marguerite.  Citrus Supertunia has filled in beautifully (no deadheading required) with orange New Guinea impatiens, heat resistant lobelia and Diamond Frost Euphorbia.

Orange and Saffron Yellow Calibrachoa (million bells) dominate this planter with orange and yellow Gerber daisies and bronze carex grass.

I wintered over the agave cactus and purchased new purslane and crotons for the south side containers.

Container plantings are tricky because you usually don't know until the middle of the season if they are going to work.  There are already some plants I would not use again but we'll talk about this later.

Holiday Containers

Ceramic and cast iron by front door

Concrete planters in front

Concrete planters by garage

Hayracks on the shed

Brown Ceramic Planter in front

I can't see much of the containers now since they are covered with snow and ice, so I am glad I have these photos to remember what they look like!

Fall Is Just Around the Corner

This is a fall grouping by my garden shed, mums in baskets, faux pumpkins, faux Reggie, Vera Jameson, Bronze Sedge, Rudbeckia (peeking out) cabbage, superbells, pansies, curly willow all with a background of still blooming summer perennials.

The concrete urns on each side of the garage are planted with deep colored cabbages, Vera Jameson Sedum, Bronze Lights Swiss Chard, rudbeckia, purple pansy, faux grass which has been separated out to give a more natural look, and marine varnished faux pumpkin on florist stake.  I used to use real pie pumpkins but the squirrels climbed up on my container and made a big mess.

I have tried to use my summer plantings whenever possible.  I  left the Creeping Jenny and the Profusion Orange Zinnias and added some violas and Coffee Twist grass.

I used smaller different colored cabbages along with a red swiss chard with orange and blue pansies.  The pansies are small this year so I hope they grow fast so we can see them.

I kept the cordyline from the summer as a backdrop and added peacock cabbage to the brown ceramic planters.

The cast iron containers are out in front with a very tall blue green grass from the summer plantings.  It looks very nice with the blue-green cabbages and frosty looking sedge.

Becky Rudbeckia is an annual in my area but I have had luck with Prairie Sun up in Wisconsin coming back three years in a row.

Fall begins next week, so I will be adding some gourds and small pumpkins  to the containers.  Halloween is a big holiday around here, so I will get to put out some big pumpkins and spooky things! 

Container Time

It is that time again, to plant the containers!  I don't know why I bother each year to say I am going to cut down on my container gardening.  There is something about seeing various containers throughout the garden as points of interest.  They make every part of your garden a "go to" location.

I do have some small Guy Wolfe pots that I purchased up in Wisconsin and I use them around my vegetable garden.  Even with additives they dry out quickly, but they look "cottagey" and I like that look around my vegetable garden.  I do bargain hunt for pots at the outlet stores and have found some really special containers such as the broken ceramic piece pots.  We have added drainage holes to many of these with a ceramic drill bit.  It is important to have drainage holes or your plants will rot. 

I purchased two new pots this year the same color tone as my home, and I gave away pots that were repaired or just not something I use anymore.  We put them out in the alley and they were gone within an hour.  It is good to know that someone will get use out of them.  I have a ton of too small pots stored in cabinets in my garage which I should also give away because they dry out too quickly when planted. 

I do use moisture control potting soil, but I also add water retaining crystals to my mix.  Do not add too many preinflated crystals or during a rainstorm they will be all over the ground.  I know the resin pots are getting better and better each year, but I still favor the real thing, concrete, ceramic, clay, etc.  I did purchase two pre-planted bluestone look resin pots at Costco for the far end of the garden, and from a distance, they look great.

Containers require consistent fertilization, at least every two weeks.  I mix up a five gallon pail of super bloom fertilizer, fill up my gallon jug and fertilize, fertilize.  That's what I mean about containers, they are work!  We will revisit when I begin to plant the thrillers, spillers and fillers.  Figure out your expenses per plant, soil, etc., and sometimes is is more economical to purchase a preplanted container if it has all off the colors and plants you desire.

I keep telling myself with each one I plant, they are a lot of work but so beautiful!

Bringing The Outside Indoors

I have to stop myself many times in the spring when I go to buy cut flowers for a special dinner or just to enhance my home during this exhilarating time of the year. 

Why not use something more sustaining than the traditional grouping of gerbera daisies, iris, mums, etc.  Take little pots of pansies, daffodils, primrose or hyacinths, place in a decorative pot and moss them.  When the festivities are over and you have enjoyed them in your home for a few days or more you can plant them out in the garden.  Believe me, they will come back, just do not cut down the foliage.

I am doing pansies today for my daughter-in-law's birthday, and of course I could not resist buying some beautiful daffodils for the children's table.  I love doing this, such as beautiful pink geraniums on the dining table for my daughter's birthday in May, plant them in the garden and think of that special day all summer.

Another idea for seasonal flowers is to decorate your home with potted geraniums, gerbera daisy, lavender, fibrous begonias, etc. (they can be small 4" pots) wrapped in foil and given as party gifts to the attendees to take home, such as for Mothers Day.  Don't hesitate to intermingle some faux items to enhance the overall setting.

I love to moss my outdoor containers and hayracks with an Oregon moss.  It adds a wonderful woodland feel that cannot be duplicated with the moss found at local garden centers.  I order this greenish-tan moss from http://www.kinsmangarden.com/ .  It can be soaked in a large bucket and then easily handled to moss all of your baskets and containers.

When I am doing this outside I will show it on my blog.  But, I know now is time for me to order before they run out!  If we can't have spring outdoors, let's move it inside for awhile.