Easy, Beautiful Window Boxes for Sun

Dress Up a Dormer

Window boxes are the perfect way to make dormers look extra special. Create lots of season-long interest with a mix of profuse bloomers, such as this verbena, and unusual foliage, such as flowering kale and sedge. That way you can enjoy the beautiful leaves and their distinct textures if the flowers take a break.
A. Sedge (Carex siderosticha 'Variegata') -- 2
B. Kale (Brassica oleracea 'Osaka') -- 2
C. Verbena 'Tuscany Violet with Eye' -- 2
D. Coral bells (Heuchera 'Pewter Moon') -- 2

Go Bold with Foliage

You can't beat coleus for gorgeously colored foliage. This mix of super-saturated leaf colors will give you a great view out -- and give your home wonderful curb appeal -- all summer long. Tip: Coleus also grows well indoors; take cuttings of your favorite varieties before the end of the season and treat them like houseplants so you can enjoy them all year long.
A. Coleus (Solenostemon 'Stained Glassworks Copper') -- 1
B. Lantana 'Dallas Red' -- 1
C. Bear grass (Xerophyllum tenax) -- 2
D. Coleus (Solenostemon 'True Red') -- 1
E. Coleus (Solenostemon 'Stained Glassworks Big Blond') -- 1
F. Licorice vine (Helichrysum petiolare) -- 1   

Pick Easy-Growing Plants

Create a "wow" look in your window boxes with double petunias. Their ruffled flowers create a lot more interest than their more traditional cousins. Enjoy their elegant blooms on the plant or snip a couple and float them in a glass of water for a wonderful little accent or summer centerpiece.
A. Petunia 'Ruffle Pink' -- 2
B. Verbena 'Aztec Raspberry' -- 3
C. Coleus (Solenostemon 'Frilly Milly') -- 1
D. Sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas 'Marguerite') -- 2
E. Angelonia 'Angelface White' -- 1   

Add Drama to a Big Window

A big window needs a bold window box -- and here's a great example. This container has it all: tons of texture, depth, and dimension. It's a riot of color that'll help your home feel like it's worth a million bucks. And it's bold enough that it doesn't get overshadowed by the size of the window.
A. Bacopa (Sutera 'Bridal Bouquet') -- 4
B. Torenia 'Catalina Blue' -- 1
C. Calibrachoa 'Cabaret Purple' -- 2
D. Shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana) -- 1
E. Heliotrope (Heliotropium 'Marine') -- 2
F. Daisy (Felicia 'Read's White') -- 2
G. Licorice vine (Helichrysum petiolare) -- 1   

Keep It Full

Sweet potato vine is a no-fail trailer that's perfect for sun or shade. It's a quick grower that adds a lush, cascading look and softens the window box it grows from. There are a number of varieties, but the standout is this golden selection that looks great combined with practically everything.
A. Sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas 'Margarita') -- 2
B. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum 'Floral Showers Rose Pink') -- 2
C. Browallia 'Blue Bell' -- 1
D. Pentas 'Graffiti Pink' -- 1
E. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum 'Floral Showers Apricot') -- 1   

Use White to Add Elegance

All-white window boxes are among the most elegant you can create. They're also some of the easiest -- since you don't need to worry about your color choices working with each other. After all, white looks good with everything -- especially itself.
A. Geranium (Pelargonium 'Orbit White') -- 1
B. Ivy (Hedera helix 'Glacier') -- 4
C. Bacopa (Sutera 'Snowstorm') -- 3
D. Impatiens 'Xtreme White' -- 2   

Another Take on White

Take an all-white theme to the next level with silvery foliage. From silvery licorice vine to the artemisia shown here, silver foliage adds something special to your planting. Bonus: Light colors such as silver and white show up best at night, and seem to glow at dusk so you can enjoy them longer into the night.
A. Artemisia 'Silver Broacade' -- 2
B. Baby's breath (Gypsophila elegans) -- 1
C. Daisy (Argyranthemum 'Madeira White') -- 2
D. Stock (Matthiola 'Harmony White') -- 3
E. Nicotiana (Nicotiana 'Saratoga White') -- 4
F. Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum) -- 2   

Enjoy a Pastel Color Theme

Like a soft rain, delicate blue lobelia flows over the side of this window box. Many types of lobelia have a tendency to fade out during the hottest summer days, so pair them with another heat-loving blooming trailer such as cascading petunia or million bells (also called calibrachoa) to keep your display looking good all season long.
A. Geranium (Pelargonium 'Bullseye Light Pink') -- 2
B. Petunia 'Supertunia Bermuda Beach' -- 1
C. Lobelia 'Riviera Blue Eyes' -- 2   

Dress Up Your Deck

Take the idea of a window box and put it on your deck rails for a brilliant burst of color. For an outstanding all-put-together look, use the same plantings on your deck as you do beneath your windows. Your friends will love your creativity.
A. Petunia 'Surfinia Patio Hot Pink' -- 1
B. Salvia 'Victoria Blue' -- 1
C. Geranium (Pelargonium 'StarStruck Lavender Pink') -- 1
D. Mum (Chrysanthemum 'Brunswick') -- 2
E. Dracaena marginata -- 1
F. Vinca major 'Variegata' -- 1   

Deck Planting, Take Two

Here's another enchanting planting to decorate your deck or your home. Because pansy is a cool-season plant, you have the opportunity to give your window box a new look as the seasons change. Don't be afraid to swap it out and replace it with a heat-loving plant such as blue angelonia to keep the drama going into summer.
A. Pansy (Viola 'Delta Beaconsfield') -- 3
B. Nasturtium (Tropaeolum 'Fordhook Favorites') -- 1
C. Lobelia 'Riviera Midnight Blue' -- 1
D. Dracaena marginata -- 1
   

Select Fun Foliage

We've always thought grasses have a fun, festive look -- and love to use them to create extra-special plantings. Here, grassy-looking flax lily's shape and zinnia's starry white flowers create the look of fireworks to give you a top-of-the-class container combo.
A. Sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas 'Margarita') -- 2
B. Flax lily (Dianella tasmanica 'Variegata') -- 3
C. Zinnia haageana 'Star White' -- 3
D. Salvia guarantica 'Black and Blue' -- 2
E. New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens 'Sonic Sweet Purple') -- 3   

Look to Your Home for Inspiration

Set your window boxes apart by tying in elements of your home's architectural details. Here, for example, the window box blends seamlessly with shutters, while the salmon-shaded geranium blooms play in with the buff colors of the flagstone wall.
A. Asparagus fern (Asparagus sprengeri) -- 2
B. Geranium (Pelargonium 'Fantasia Pink Shell') -- 3
C. Fuchsia 'Angel Earrings Cascading' -- 3
D. Torenia 'Catalina Blue' -- 2
E. Salvia 'Salsa Burgundy' -- 1   

Try It on a Trellis

Trellises are a great way to give your deck, patio, or yard a little privacy. If you're not able to grow vines on your trellising, try creating a colorful display with a light window box. This moss-lined basket is filled with colorful plants that, when placed strategically, give you a double dose of screening.
A. Sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas 'Margarita') -- 1
B. Impatiens 'Fiesta Rose' -- 2
C. Marigold (Tagetes 'Durango Yellow') -- 1
D. Geranium (Pelargonium 'Designer Cherry') -- 1
E. New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens 'Sonic Cherry') -- 1
F. Wax begonia (Begonia 'Prelude Scarlet') -- 1
G. Viola 'Sorbet Plum Velvet' -- 1   

Enjoy a Harvest

What could be better than reaching out to your window box and grabbing a handful of edible flowers, herbs, or vegetables for supper? Try edibles with ornamental appeal for two times the pleasure. Tip: Look for dwarf varieties, such as determinate tomatoes, so your plantings don't grow out of control.
A. Pansy (Viola 'Matrix' series) -- 3
B. Scented geranium (Pelargonium 'Rober's Lemon Rose') -- 1
C. Nasturtium (Tropaeolum 'Alaska') -- 2
D. Everbearing strawberry (Fragaria 'Ozark Beauty') -- 3
E. Bell pepper (Capsicum 'Purple Belle') -- 1
F. Johnny jump up (Viola tricolor) -- 3   

Choose Classics

Petunias and geraniums are no-fail choices for hot, sunny spots -- so fill your window boxes with their colorful blooms and know you can enjoy their display of nonstop flowers all summer long. Tip: Pay attention to the variety; many newer petunias and geraniums bloom more and with less care than older selections.
A. Ivy (Hedera helix 'Eva') -- 2
B. Petunia 'Surfinia Patio Hot Pink' -- 1
C. Geranium (Pelargonium 'Orbit White') -- 2   

Add Color to a White Wall

An all-white wall may seem like it needs an explosion of color to dress it up, but you can create an equally impressive display by going with soft, subtle shades. Petunias and geraniums are the perfect choice for adding color either way -- let your personality be your guide.
A. Geranium (Pelargonium 'Orbit Pink') -- 3
B. Swan River daisy (Brachyscome iberidifolia 'Lemon Mist') -- 3
C. Petunia Surfinia Patio White -- 2   

Mix Foliage Tones

Be bold: Experiment with fun new plants for a flashy display of color and interest. We love how this window box has mixed time-tested flowering favorites like verbena and calibrachoa with more unusual selections featuring beautiful foliage.
A. Verbena 'Peaches and Cream' -- 4
B. Calibrachoa 'Terra Cotta' -- 2
C. Flowering maple (Abutilon thompsonii 'Pictum') -- 1
D. Flowering maple (Abutilon 'Bella Deep Coral') -- 1
E. Geranium (Pelargonium 'Occold Shield') -- 1
F. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) -- 1   

Embrace Country Style

If you love country style, you can't beat the simplicity of a rustic window box filled with a few lush plants. Here, for example, purple verbena and gold licorice plant make a striking contrast against the peeling red paint on the walls. Tip: Other ways to create the country look are to pick plants with a loose, open habit and use old-fashioned or recycled containers.
A. Vinca major 'Wojo's Gem' -- 2
B. Verbena 'Aztec Purple Magic' -- 3
C. Calibrachoa 'Cabaret Rose' -- 1
D. Licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare 'Limelight') -- 2   

Make a Mock Window

Be playful with window boxes and enjoy them even if you don't have a window. This weathered box made of planking goes vertical with a vintage window frame attached to the back. The window frame is a perfect trellis for a tropical mandevilla. Bonus: Attach this to a fence and insert a mirror behind the window frame for even more appeal and the illusion of more space.
A. Mandevilla 'Alice du Pont' -- 1
B. Aster alpinus 'Beechwood' -- 3
C. Aster alpinus 'Dunkle Schone' -- 3   

Lighten a Dark Wall

Make your home sing -- even if has dark or faded shutters and siding like this one -- with a colorful window box. This one does double duty thanks to a scented geranium; its soft scent is a great incentive to open the window and enjoy some fresh air. Tip: Other plants that offer great scents include heliotrope, lavender, rosemary, and sweet alyssum.
A. Wax begonia (Begonia 'Bada Boom Pink') -- 2
B. Verbena 'Tapien Plum Frost' -- 2
C. Ivy (Hedera helix 'Eva') -- 2
D. Scented geranium (Pelargonium 'Lady Plymouth') -- 1
E: Thyme (Thymus 'Argenteus') -- 2    http://www.bhg.com/gardening/container/plans-ideas/plant-combinations-for-sunny-spot-window-boxes/

Container Gardening Ideas – Unusual Hanging Flower Baskets

Unusual Hanging Flower Baskets and Planters

Hanging flower baskets need not necessarily be of wire. They can be of wickerwork and it is quite possible that the first ones were of plaited or woven rush or cane. Deepish baskets with carrying handles, woven from natural materials, can make original and useful containers for use under the cover of a porch, sunroom, etc., hanging from either a beam or a wall. Many interesting hanging baskets are imported nowadays and are easy to find. Fishing, shopping, and bicycle baskets are often seen used cascading flowers from a wall or ceiling, depending on their shape and style. Junk shops, car boot sales and market stalls are well worth searching.

There are many intriguing and beautiful handwoven hanging flower baskets around which have been imported from China; they range from variously-sized wicker birdcages to work baskets, hampers, etc., some with handles or chains. Some are strange shapes whose actual intended use is something of a mystery.
Such baskets made of sea-grass, cane, wicker, and similar natural materials, may well suit both the modern home and the country house where antiques predominate. Of course, they display plants very sympathetically, and they do not mind getting the occasional soaking so long as they are allowed to dry out in between. They can be lined with plastic, or you can put plant pots directly into them. I love the wicker hanging birdcages for displaying a plant in a pot, in a conservatory or sun room. The round ones in particular are prettier even than the conventional hanging flower baskets.
White or green plastic-covered wire letter baskets, meant for fixing behind the front door to catch the mail, can be used as wall baskets if provided with a back made from half-inch mesh chicken wire. Lined with plant material such as moss, they make an effective decoration. Brightly-coloured plastic cutlery drainers, with a hole made in the back for a hook or nail, can look effective if chosen in a colour to match the house.
Some other container gardening ideas include a macrame string plant holder, which will hold a half or three-quarters coconut shell just as easily as an expensive small bowl. The shell should have a hole in it for drainage. A matt-textured grey-green succulent or stonecrop can look well against the rough texture of the coconut and the string, a good effect indeed at all times of the year, and especially in harmony with ‘cottagey’ bay windows or in country gardens hanging from the low branch of a tree.
This reminds me that some friends have a large real shell hanging in their bathroom window, planted up with blue-grey succulents. It is eye-catching against fine voile, and hangs on fishing line which, incidentally, is a marvellous idea for ‘invisibly’ hanging any container in a window.
Modern buildings in particular look good when hung with plastic hanging containers of ‘modern’ shape. Generally of soft ‘earth’ colours, they come in various sizes. They have no drainage holes, so care must be taken with watering and to ensure that they do not become waterlogged with rain. Slightly better, modern gardening containers do have drainage holes and are supplied with a useful built-in saucer which catches excess water underneath. There are also containers which are completely covered except for holes in the top to take the plants.
It was once thought vital that all growing plants must be in containers with drainage holes. In fact, indoors or under cover of a porch etc. if care is taken over watering, drainage holes are not necessary, and I have successfully grown everything from geraniums to exotic bromeliads with no thought to drainage other than the usual bits of broken pot at the bottom.
I was amused recently when I saw a kettle hanging in a cottage tea-room, filled with a mass of orange nasturtiums which were growing in a pot hidden inside the kettle. The proprietor told me she had different potted plants coming along all the time, to keep the display in the kettle fresh and attractive. See-through plastic or coloured glass looks sparkling in a window, and I have seen a great green plastic ice bucket with a handle showing off dark-foliaged dwarf pink begonias. See left for unusual container gardening ideas utilising coloured tin pots and pegs.
Some of my own very best effects with container gardening have been won with the help of some chunky white plastic buckets sold at our local fishmonger’s very cheaply. They originally held deliveries of cockles, but hanging from a beam in my conservatory their depth allows me to grow many things from schizanthus (a half-hardy annual, which I allow to trail over the sides) to runner beans (which make a handsome jungly trailing plant), golden hop (another trailer for summer), strawberries, and so on. You do not have to spend a great amount of money on containers — any dish, pot, or vase with handles can be hung just as well as stood, and I have seen keen flower arrangers display pot plants in a hanging piece of suitably-shaped driftwood!
In recent years there has been a fashion for growing woody-stemmed plants such as fuchsias ivies, geraniums, and even mint, in upturned wine bottles, and you might wonder how this is done. You need a large bottle with a dimple in the bottom, then with a glass cutter or a special bottle cutter you make a round hole in the dimple of about an inch in diameter. Next cut a strong piece of galvanised wire about 9 inches longer than the bottle and push it right through, hooking one end over the base to secure it and making a hook at the neck end for hanging it up. Holding the bottle upside-down, half fill it with compost, pass a well-rooted cutting through the opening at the base, and you will see that when the bottle is turned the right way up the compost settles down, securing the cutting, which should grow into a fine plant, covering the bottle as it develops up around the sides. Water the plant from the top.
Conversely, some hanging containers have flat bottoms and can be stood instead of hung. They can be filled with plants to stand in an alcove out of doors or on a deep window ledge. Terracotta and stoneware ones look good outdoors, and china, light plastic, etc. indoors.
Flat-backed and other containers of all kinds to hang on walls can be attractive and are, of course, like hanging baskets, space-saving. They can be arranged together in a row or group, or singly, along a wall or trellis, round a door or window, or in a porch. They come in pottery, plastic, metal, basketware, and terracotta, some with holes in the back for hanging, others with built-in baskets, and some with a saucer as part of the hanger. Or an ordinary plant pot can be used by twisting a length of strong wire around it, under the rim, with the ends of the wire formed into a loop for hanging.
A visit to an equestrian shop that sells bridles, stirrups, etc., can be interesting, for they will have (or will be able to get) those marvellous old-fashioned black metal hay racks. They come bow-fronted to fit against a wall or in a corner. They require an extra liner of fine mesh wire netting, and hold lots of moss and plenty of compost. They make handsome decorations for terraces, patios, yards, wide passageways, balconies, sides of garages, or the entrance to a house or flat, and are excellent for places which have no garden at the front other than a paved sunken area. I have also found similar planters on sale at a flower and plant shop and I understand they are available throughout the country.
While you are in the equestrian shop you may see that they sometimes stock deep green or white plastic feed and water containers designed to hook over the bottom half of a stable door. With a short length of suitably sized pole fixed ‘proud’ of a wall (this taking the place of the door) you have an unusual and most useful container for planting, ideal for a houseboat or mobile garden. It seems there is no end to the unusual container gardening ideas available to us – just use a little imagination.
Many different kinds of container are available and better things are offered each year – particularly for indoor sunrooms, conservatories, covered balconies and so on, or where some cover such as a porch is available.
From Italy and Spain, pottery hanging containers come in all sorts of shapes, including tub and butter churn shapes, updated versions of a Victorian idea though on the whole far better, being deeper and roomier so that less watering is needed and more plants can be accommodated. They also have the advantage that they don’t drip.
They are generally hand-painted underneath and round the sides, with somewhat brightly coloured flowers and leaves and this is a point to watch when choosing them, as it might be difficult to find real plants to tone in colour with the painted ones. Certainly they can look great with matching or toning flowers, but are easiest to use with foliage plants. However, the growing leaves should go with the artist’s colours. If the painted leaves are a blue-green, try planting up with grey-green ivies, sedums, and such, but if they are yellow-green then lime-green ferns, or the acid-coloured helxine (Mind Your Own Business) will be pleasing and effective.
Sometimes antique shops and junk stalls have Edwardian or Victorian hanging pots. Like many available today, they have holes in the top to take wire, ribbon, or cord hangers. I have a matching pair of these cottage window pots; they are a strange pink-red decorated with an embossed acorn design. They are very small and quickly dry out, but are amusing to have.
There are real baskets of various sizes to take pot plants indoors or in porches or similar situations. They hang from long plaited wickerwork ‘chains’ and come from the East. The chains are designed for indoor hanging but as a temporary decoration for a party, a number along a verandah or below a balcony, each holding a plant, can be most eye-catching on a still summer evening. They can also be used in a conservatory or sunroom.
Out of doors, real baskets of suitable shape, as well as wire ones, make romantic-looking hangings for garden archways, pergolas, or the bough of a tree. Though real baskets possibly work best when used to hold potted plants than actually being planted up themselves.
Imagine a stone archway or porch overhung with pale pink roses and underneath it, a real basket holding warm pink begonias. Or think of a white clematis over a trellis arch supporting a white wire hanging basket spilling with yellow double calendulas. The pots can be placed at different angles by cushioning them in moss.
Container gardening ideas are limitless once you start thinking around the subject. One spring, for example, I hung a staggered row of wire mesh baskets the whole length of a very large wedding reception marquee which was lined with blue and white. The moss-lined baskets held pale blue and deeper blue hyacinths, and were caught up with ribbons of darker blue and white. On another occasion, for a friend’s daughter’s wedding, I close-planted baskets for the church porch with coleus plants in massed colours to match the Bridesmaids’ dresses and bouquets. The effect was very novel and much admired, and afterwards the bride enjoyed the plants in patio pots at her new home.
A point worth remembering always is that a basket should never be hung so high that it cannot be reached easily for either watering, tending, or taking up or down. However, if for some reason you find you must hang a basket sky-high a stepladder or a handy bedroom window can come in useful although now baskets on adjustable chains or pullies are available. A rafter or beam is best for hanging a basket from a ceiling or in a porch or conservatory, and this is simply a matter of a strong hook screwed into firm wood. Swivel hooks are available which allow hanging flower baskets to be swivelled round so that all plants can get the light.
If a hanging flower basket is to be hung out from a wall an arm or bracket support, in wood or metal, is required and this must be attached to the wall very firmly by means of screws and wall plugs (such as Rawlplugs and similar makes). Special hanging brackets are available to buy; the metal ones not only look decorative but are strong and long-lasting and usually have a hook on which the basket can be hung. Types in which basket and bracket are permanently fastened together have the disadvantage that, once fixed to the wall, the basket cannot be easily removed for replanting or other attention.  http://www.gardeninginfozone.com/container-gardening-ideas-unusual-hanging-flower-baskets

Growing Fruit in Containers and Pots

Growing Fruits in Pots

The growing of fruit in pots is a very old practice which has come back into favour over recent years. The full range of fruits may be grown including apricots, apples, pears, cherries, plums, peaches, vines, figs, nectarines, citrus fruits, strawberries and so on. No great demand on space is made and greenhouses are available for other activities at various times of the year. The growing of fruit in pots allows the production of limited quantities of superlative quality fruit in areas which may be so bleak and exposed that outdoor culture is impossible. It is also useful for the production of fruit for the show bench.

Only greenhouses of good design and well situated to receive full sunlight should be considered: a greenhouse partially shaded by a vigorous peach or vine is not really suitable, although if it is a lean-to structure and a peach is grown on the rear wall, pots may certainly be grown in the front portion. Fruit in pots is an interesting and tempting subject for the conservatory that is also used for recreation. It is not generally necessary to think in terms of artificial heat, except perhaps the very minimum in the coldest areas. The pots are placed on the greenhouse floor — soil, ashes or concrete — and frequently on bricks to prevent supplementary rooting.

Type of bush

A restricted growing habit is essential, which involves the use or training of specially shaped trees grown on dwarfing rootstocks obtained from a reliable nurseryman. The skilled gardener can start with a ‘maiden’ (one year grafted) on a dwarf root stock and shape the tree, but it is generally better to buy specially shaped trees from a nurseryman, and better still if the bushes are already established in pots, three years old, and well furnished with buds so that fruiting can start immediately. With maidens it takes time to build up the framework before fruiting commences.

Cultural procedure

Delivery of trees is best taken in the autumn at dormancy or leaf fall, when they are potted up into 23cm (9in) pots. It is unwise to put a small bush into a large pot of 25-30cm (10-12in) diameter, as the secret of success with pot-grown trees is root restriction, though as the trees get older 30 cm (10-12in) or even larger pots. The pots used should be very sturdy and have drainage holes in the sides as well as in the base. Only the heaviest gauge plastic pots should be used, it being necessary in some cases to put one inside the other to impart sufficient strength, boring holes in the sides with an electric drill. If new clay pots are used they must be soaked well before use, and all pots must be scrupulously cleaned by washing. All pots are given a deep layer of drainage in the form of broken pots of pebbles over which is put a layer of coarse peat or coarsely shredded peat.
Much is made of the need for a good turf-based compost derived from stacked turf and it is unlikely that this can be bettered by any of the modern composts. Through the loam for apples and pears should be mixed onc-third part of very well rotted farmyard manure or well-made, reliable garden compost. For apricots, peaches, nectarines and figs avoid the farmyard manure but add bonemeal and lime at 114g (4oz) and 56g (2oz) per 36 litres/bushel respectively. The compost should be well mixed and under cover for a few weeks before use, finally adding some coarse bone-meal plus a liberal scattering of ground limestone. The compost should be sufficiently moist, rendering it so by watering if necessary.
Shorten all vigorous lateral and downward growing roots before potting up with great care, packing the compost in with a potting stick in layers until it is 2.5cm (1in) below the rim of the pot.
After potting the trees must be well watered and placed in a sheltered situation at the foot of a sunny wall, the pots of `hardy’ trees being plunged to their rims in good soil or ashes or alternatively protected with straw or peat to avoid damage by freezing, care being taken that they are not waterlogged. Hardy trees — apples, pears, plums and cherries — can remain out of doors until the buds begin to swell; apricots, peaches, nectarines, vines, figs and citrus fruits are better brought into the greenhouse immediately after potting, being given plenty of room and ventilation.

Seasonal treatment

While the culture of fruit in post demands considerable care and attention to detail, it is remarkable what can be achieved by regular watering and feeding; indeed, because of the limited root area the importance of this cannot be over-stressed. It is also essential that free ventilation should be given in the morning and excessively high temperatures avoided, particularly during the initial period of stoning in the case of peaches and nectarines. Assistance with pollination of all trees is desirable, using a rabbit’s tail or cotton wool.
Regular spraying is essential to encourage healthy growth of leaves and to discourage attacks of red spider, which can have a disastrous effect. Feeding with liquid manure should be practised after the fruits are set, once fortnightly at first, increasing the applications to once weekly later. As soon as the trees are in full growth a top dressing of equal parts of well rotted farmyard manure and soil should be given and moulded up round the edge of the pots, raising their height several inches to allow watering. Alternatively rings of linoleum or other suitable material can be used to contain the top-dressing material effectively.

Pruning and fruit thinning

In spring and summer there should be reduction of new growth. With apples and pears lateral growths should be pinched back to about 10-13cm (4-5in) or less, leaving only a proportion of them in the case of apples, otherwise the tree will become a tangled mat of growth. Peaches and nectarines, which fruit on new wood, should have well-placed shoots selected and allowed to make reasonable growth before having the tips pinched out. Some thinning of fruit will be necessary, leaving only one fruit per cluster on apples and pears and thinning plums out singly every 5-8cm (2-3in) or more, while peaches and nectarines should only be allowed to form one fruit per reasonable area of tree to avoid overcrowding. Figs should only have their shoots thinned. Apples and pears can be taken out of doors when the fruit is ripening and the pot plunged in soil for safety and conservation of moisture. Wind damage can be avoided by securing each fruit with raffia to a convenient branch.
After fruiting, all types of trees are ripened off by placing out of doors, carrying out any re-potting in mid autumn. Annual repotting is advisable in many cases, moving vigorous trees to a slightly larger pot. Again, the hardy trees can remain out of doors in a sheltered spot but the rest should be brought into the greenhouse.
Pruning is carried out by reducing the laterals in apples, pears and plums to within two or three buds of the base, and on trees such as peaches, which fruit on new wood, leaving only a proportion of well-placed sturdy shoots to bear the following year’s crop.
Specific pest and disease control is best; there is generally not the same need for the routine practices necessary with bushes out of doors.
  http://www.gardeninginfozone.com/growing-fruits-in-pots-and-containers

Container Gardening Ideas – Window Planters – Colour Schemes

Creating Colour Schemes for Window Planters, and Garden Pots and Planters

When walking along a short residential street, a square or a close, or even when looking up at a block of flats, it would be nice to see some overall colour scheme for their window planters, hanging flower baskets or other plantings. For individualists, however, there are plenty of ideas to be found. I recently admired a large cartwheel painted in a colour to match the house and hung around with potted plants.
Another idea I liked, outside a gipsy’ caravan, was an arrangement of three gaily-painted barge water cans planted up with coleus plants which complemented the strong colours and patterns on the cans. Both these novel ideas fitted the homes which they adorned.
What about making a leafy jungle around the front door with wall-hung flower planters and individual pots? These might be placed on wooden shelving painted to match the door. Another way would be to place wall baskets and tubs around a piece of sculpture — wood, stone, or ceramic. This can look great arranged against a plain white wall, and here sculptural foliage will really come into its own. There are inexpensive yet good-looking lion masks and cherub heads on sale, meant actually as water spouts for garden pools, and they make excellent wall pieces to give emphasis to a grouping of plant containers.
Colour and texture can be exploited in all kinds of interesting ways. For instance, a stone bird-bath might make a very unusual container for ‘grow anywhere’ plants, like bright yellow stonecrop or mixed houseleeks with their subtle colouration, even if the bird-bath has no drainage hole. I make a mound of compost rather than leaving it level below the rim of the bath. Climb pastel-coloured sweet peas and yellow canary creeper or variegated ivies up a metal or wickerwork bedhead fastened to a wall, to make a dramatic feature for, say, the balcony of a flat. These bedheads with their swirling designs make remarkably impressive and original supports for climbing plants. 
In some situations a large, deep, home-made wooden box lacquered a brilliant Chinese red or orange can look expensively effective with, for example, flamboyantly-coloured nasturtiums growing out of it, or try yellow and orange Charm or Cascade chrysanthemum plants. This scheme might not look so good in the depths of the country against old timbers (where the box might be better stained to link with its surroundings) but could be stunning outside a smart town dwelling. Novel ideas soon come with a little imagination. How about hanging an old birdcage, painted black, in the entrance to a town garden? Plant it with variegated ivies, ferns, or fuchsias. It can hang from its own stand, or from a simple archway of white, blue, or green trellis.
Near the sea I have seen old small boats used to great effect as planters, hung — not too high —from a handy beam by chains fore and aft. One I saw painted blue and white and planted with scarlet zinnias looked patriotic as well as eye-catching, but a totally different visual effect could be managed by planting with mixed jewel-coloured dwarf zinnias.
Ideas which might look funny in one situation are perfectly at home in another. Old oil drums may not immediately catch the imagination as containers, but I once saw them used to great effect as the entire container garden on the deck of a houseboat moored on the Thames in London. The boat itself was painted black and white, and the oil drums were black to match; they had been cut down to a variety of sizes and vigorously planted with flowers in a motley collection of colours.
Do your own thing and be inventive, as much with colour as with the things you can press into service as plant containers. There is no special virtue in the British love of mixing lots of different plants (and colours) in one container.
More memorable results may come for you by displaying a greater quantity of just one kind of plant in one container. You might experiment with mixed pink and white trailing geraniums (pelargoniums) or the hardy garden anthemis cupaniana with its grey foliage which is sprigged from early summer onwards with white daisies. After anthemis seem to have finished flowering you can cut back all the shoots which have bloomed and new shoots will continue to flower for many weeks.
Instead of one kind of plant in one container, what about that idea of just one colour? Variation and visual interest can still be achieved with variety of shape and texture, for one colour need not necessarily mean only one kind of flower. You could have a refreshing scheme of frilly white azaleas under-planted with crisp white pansies in your window planters, white trails of lobelia set off by more white pansies, or white begonias, in the hanging baskets, and white pelargoniums massed in boxes by the front porch. The flowers’ own green foliage does, of course, make a cool setting for immaculate white.
Or you could go to the other extreme and select a more vivid colour, say joyous orange. There might be African marigolds of a good, strong, look-at-me orange, with pendulous tangerine begonias for the hanging flower baskets and paler orange tagetes in window planters, and terracotta garden pots and planters might have gazanias with orange marigolds. Such colour schemes look magnificent if planted fearlessly, full and fairly close.
Another idea would be to take one colour, perhaps yellow, and ring changes on the theme with tints and shades ranging from pale creamy yellow to bright butter yellow, and even on towards copper or old gold. The flowers could be polyanthus, wallflowers, alyssum, and doronicum, with trailers of Hedera Goldheart or Hedera Buttercup for the spring.
Softly-coloured blue hydrangeas in garden pots and planters in summer could be colour-matched with hanging baskets of the ever-useful lobelia in pale to deep blues, both dwarf sorts and trailers, plus that remarkable nautical blue convolvulus tricolor ‘Royal Ensign’ to make the whole thing shipshape. The colours we use must depend on the plants we can get. Excellent sources are well-stocked nurseries and garden centres, Women’s Institute market stalls, or florists’ shops with good suppliers. Some of these, if we inquire early enough, will try to get the particular plants and colours we need. Other plants can be lifted from the garden as they come into flower, or can be specially grown in the garden in pots and transferred to the containers as they bud up. It is a matter of planning ahead, and it is best to try to resist the ‘one of this and two of that’ philosophy, the job lot of bulbs, and so forth, when you are hoping for a good display.

Caring for Your Hanging Flower Basket

Container Gardening Ideas

Hanging Flower Basket Care

As only a few pounds of compost, at most, can be accommodated in the average hanging flower basket, window planter, or other gardening container, and this will be the only support the plants will have, it is obviously sound practice to use good compost so that they grow well right from the start. Too many people simply dig up a spadeful of any old earth from the garden, thinking that as so little is required it is hardly worth the bother and expense of buying a bag of special compost. This is a great mistake, and problems can result. Soil lifted from the garden is often impoverished or otherwise unsuitable. I recommend you buy a bag of John Innes Compost No. 2, to which I always add a few handfuls of peat to lighten it.
A hanging flower basket must be lined before being filled with compost. Green sphagnum moss, which has always traditionally been used for this purpose, can be gathered in woods in moist areas if you know where to look and can get permission from the landowner. Fortunately, most florists sell it along with wire hanging baskets. Reindeer moss, a curly kind of moss, comes in big dried-out packs which have to be soaked before use. This moss has the advantage that it looks good even when it is not very moist. I have successfully used moss scraped up with a rake from a friend’s lawn in springtime – and it is very satisfactory to put such a tiresome thing to such a good use.
Many people use black or green plastic film as a liner, but personally I think this is ugly when viewed from underneath. This is certainly true until the plants become established and hang down to cover the sides, or unless some of the planting is done through holes made in the sides. It really is far prettier to do the basket in the old way. I knew someone who lined a hanging basket with moss and then interlined it with plastic, but this proved not very successful as the plastic prevents the moss receiving any moisture and it soon turned brown. Even so, I thought the dark man brown moss looked far better than the shiny plastic.
I have heard of hanging flower baskets being lined with hessian, sacking, and artificial ‘grass’ sold for patios. I prefer a suitable growing plant as a lining, and I have used many things, including low-growing mat-like alpines such as stonecrop. I have even used the moss which grows in ‘pads’ on a low garage roof at the back of my house. Really. I have found you can use any moss you can come by, though it should be reasonably thick, and the short velvety kinds must be in large pieces. If you can get only small pieces, line your basket first with fine mesh chickenwire. Truly the only moss I have found useless, was some short stuff brought to me by a friend from sandy woodland; it was impossible to handle without it breaking up. Most mosses stay nicely green if the basket is properly and regularly watered.
Best of all linings, to my mind, is Arenaria balearica, a charming little lime-green evergreen foliage plant studded in summer with tiny white stars. Normally a plant seen growing in crevices or walls and paving, it is beautiful all the year round and is like a specially lush green moss. If kept regularly watered it will never go brown. If you do not already have it in the garden you will need to buy a number of plants to line a basket. However, if you do have it handily growing, as I do, you can simply lift a ‘mat’ of it. Place it in the basket ‘growing side out’, of course. Used in an indoor hanging basket, for example in a sunroom, it grows quite fluffy and luxuriant and quite changes its character.
Among alpines I have used as basket liners, in addition to stonecrop, are asperula suberosa (like a pink-flowered stonecrop), dwarf campanulas, aubretia, dwarf alpine helichrysum (with grey or silver foliage). Also successful are violets, helxine mind your own business), and for indoors nertera depressa (bead plant), a tiny creeping herb which covers itself with many little orange berries.
First cover the bottom of the basket thickly with moss or your chosen plant material (I sometimes mix several different ones for unusual effects) and bring the lining about two inches up the sides of the basket. At this stage many people place a plate or saucer in the bottom of the basket to help hold water. I don’t do this myself, for it seems almost certain that any plants or moss under the plate will brown and die. However, if you wish to try it, a deep plastic saucer of the kind sold to go under plant pots serves well as a small reservoir of water in dry conditions.
Other people recommend an extra lining of turf, grass side out, or bulb fibre on top of the moss. I would not personally introduce grass to my baskets in this way, as in my experience it simply grows out through the moss towards the light, and I think most of us have enough trouble grass cutting on the lawn without having to clip grass round a hanging basket.
Continue lining the basket with moss, bringing it up the sides and filling in with compost as you go. If you want trailing plants to grow out from the sides, plant these as you proceed, laying the plant on its side, covering the roots with compost, and firming it in so that you leave no pockets of air. Do not take the compost right up to the top, though the moss lining should reach the rim. After planting up to the top leave a small depression towards the centre of the surface of the compost, to hold water.
Some hanging flower containers, such as the white plastic-covered wire ones, are so attractive in their own right that I sometimes leave a couple of inches clear of lining and compost. This seems specially appealing when a basket is planted at the top with decorative foliage plants, or when the basket is hanging in a sun room or conservatory which has white furniture.
It is sometimes recommended that, before planting, a hanging flower basket should be well watered and allowed to drain. I do not find this very practical, for the wet compost makes the job of planting messy and dirty. I plant first and then water the contents after, and if the compost then compacts, I just top up with a little more. John Innes Compost used straight out of the bag is, I find, usually moist enough to handle, but if it is very dry I add a little water from a can with a rose, spraying it straight into the bag and mixing it until the compost just holds together when squeezed lightly in the hand.
Planting at the top can consist of one vigorous trailing plant, placed in the centre, or four or five plants placed round the edges with one in the centre. I was talking to a member of a municipal parks department and was admiring a trailing variegated plectranthus in a hanging basket. I was told that they place one plant in each hanging flower basket and in a season that cascading growth can reach as much as ten feet and has to be trimmed back. The idea is lovely for an indoor decoration, especially in a conservatory, covered walk, or on a balcony or verandah.
To get a really trim and rounded effect with any gardening container which contains a trailing plant, hairpins or short U-shaped pieces of wire can be used to hold the outward-growing stems close in to the sides of the basket. For more free or unrestricted growth, just let the plants go their own sweet way. The tailored-looking basket is easy to achieve if only neat-growing plants of one kind are chosen, instead of a mixture of plants of different habits, which result in baskets of haphazard shape (though these have their own definite charm).
With such plants as fuchsia, geranium, lobelia, ivy, etc., four or five plants are required to fill the top of the average sized container to provide a really good show. Obviously the earlier the planting is done, the better and longer-lasting display you shall have. Anyone who has a light, airy, frost-free place, such as a sunroom or conservatory, can plant up a basket in April and get a head start on those who have to wait for the end of the frosts, which can mean as late as the end of May in most parts of Britain. Using hardy plants, however, we can make up our hanging flower baskets at any time of year, except in snow or hard frost, and either put it outside or enjoy it indoors.
Potted plants should have been watered an hour or so before they are ready for final planting in the garden container basket, so that they will knock out easily from their pots or boxes with a few sharp taps on the side. This also prevents the soil coming away from the roots. Make a hole in the compost to receive each plant, and press the compost firmly round the roots.
A round covering of black or green plastic film at the top of an exposed basket, or one which hangs high under a clear glass or plastic roof, can be an advantage. Suitably sized holes are made where necessary for the plants to grow through. The idea is that the plastic conserves moisture. A covering of damp moss can serve the same purpose. The same idea can be adapted for troughs, window boxes, etc., especially where the top surface is above eye level. The edges may need to be held down with small stones, hair pins or can even be stapled down to a wooden container. Suitable plastic is sold in rolls but these are far too big for the average person with just one or two gardening containers, window planters or baskets. In this case the answer is to cut up an ordinary black plastic dustbin liner.   http://www.gardeninginfozone.com/caring-for-your-hanging-flower-basket

Gardening Tips for Watering Hanging Flower Baskets

Importance of Watering Hanging Flower Baskets

I have found that when making up a hanging flower basket of permanent plants, such as ivy, it is a good plan to leave the basket standing on the ground in a shady place for a week or two after planting. This encourages good rooting to take place if the basket is watered carefully and saves the plants being rocked about in the wind while they are getting established.
On the subject of watering, I always try to make things as easy as possible for myself by positioning baskets at eye-level or at least within arm’s reach, to avoid having to climb up on a stool or stepladder. Although now you can buy baskets on mechanisms which can be lowered very easily for watering. Don’t water in ‘dribs and drabs’ — do it thoroughly and regularly. A sad sight in winter is the basket which has been left hanging forlornly with its summer plants long dead. It is probably too high to have encouraged regular watering and attention. Once a basket has really dried out the plants will take ages to recover, if they ever do.
Undoubtedly baskets need a deep drink every week, perhaps twice or three times a week, or even every day or twice a day in windy, dry, or sunny weather, or when hanging in exposed places. Thirsty baskets result, too, when they are sited in sheltered courtyards surrounded by walls which store up heat during summer days and continue to giving off heat for hours after the sun has gone.
The best way to give a basket a deep drink is to use an old washing-up bowl filled with water (a liquid plant feed can be added occasionally). The bowl should be large enough for the basket to be immersed with room to spare for the side growths so that they do not get bruised or damaged. The water should reach almost to the top of the basket. The drinking process can be speeded up by watering the top of the hanging basket with a can. Flowering side growths and trailing growths can be placed over the edge of the bowl so that they are never submerged. Contact with the water can spoil delicate ‘thin’ petals, and a soaking under water will make double flowers ‘ball’ – their petals stick together and they look a sorry sight. The roots, of course, revel in their bath. I give a soaking of about half an hour and then stand each flower basket gently on a bucket to drain well before re-hanging. This method does not work with a hanging container which has no drainage holes. In this case the soil should be tested for dryness with the fingers; the moment it feels dry just below the surface is the moment to water. You will soon develop a ‘feel’ for this. A plant which is actually growing in the container can be watered with a can, but one which is in its own pot inside the container can be simply lifted out, pot and all, and immersed in a bowl of water.
A tier of wall baskets, one above another, reduces the daily watering chore – water the top one with your can and the surplus will run down on to the one below, and so on. However, all the baskets should be taken down regularly for a really good soak in a bucket or bowl. At all times keep a can of water handy to nudge your memory about watering. Rainwater is generally preferable to tap water if you can collect enough in a butt or buckets and bowls.
Some plants, such as button daisies, pansies. and fuchsias, have little built-in resistance to drought. If they are allowed to dry out and flag they can rarely be completely brought back to full health. A first-aid treatment for flagging plants is to completely immerse them in water for a couple of hours. When the basket is returned to its hook, you will need to pull a large plastic bag right over it, plants and all. Make as good a closure as you can and leave this mini-greenhouse overnight. More often than not, every plant will be crisp and well by morning – and you will no doubt resolve never to let them dry out again!
With constant regular watering, the top surface of compost in a hanging basket exposed to sun or wind may soon form a crust through which water may then find difficulty in penetrating. The remedy is to gently stir up the surface compost; weeding also helps. In the growing season, all plants in hanging baskets should be fed one of the proprietary liquid feeds once a week (although I know of friends who swear by cold tea!) Do not feed sick plants, one which is resting after flowering, or newly planted ones. A feed just before flowering is most helpful though. Liquinure, Maxicrop, Kerigrow and Baby Bio are among the many currently available. Outdoor hanging flower baskets usually need feeding every week from around mid-June until the first frosts.  http://www.gardeninginfozone.com/gardening-tips-for-watering-hanging-flower-baskets

Discover the Beauty of Hanging Flower Baskets – Container Gardening

Container Gardening – Beautiful Hanging Flower Baskets

Think of a hanging flower basket, and I expect you think at once, as indeed most of us do, of an open mesh wire basket of blue lobelia, red or pink geranium, and fuchsia, high in the air. These wire baskets are bought in their thousands every spring by gardeners keen to start container gardening early, and are seen everywhere, with their displays of … blue lobelia, red or pink geranium, and fuchsia.
In both town and country, local authorities hang them to swing lightheartedly outside the town hall, the swimming baths, the public library, and from the Victorian bandstand in the park, trailing lobelia, geranium, fuchsia. From all the lamp standards in the main streets and along the pedestrian precincts enlightened councils arrange for frivolous riots of … blue lobelia, geranium and fuchsia, to decorate the summer days. Recognising a good thing when we see it, we tend to copy the lavish, beautifully grown local authority baskets and plant up similar schemes to hang outside our homes.
And so in our sun rooms and outside the little cafe in the High Street and on the old hook above the solicitors’ office, as well as outside the brand new office block, there are our familiar and well-loved lobelia, geranium, and fuchsia cascading from the baskets. All so pretty, so very reliable, so showy, but perhaps – dare I say it? – a tiny bit boring.
Couldn’t we try a new scheme for our container gardening and hanging flower baskets – plan a fresh planting, maybe a different mixture, or even be very brave and work out a basket effect, or get a crazy idea for spring?
As you are reading this website, I expect you are all the way with me in my longing to see more hanging flower baskets around the place, but to see more that are created to be airy delights each with its own particular individuality.
To begin with, you will obviously need something reliable to hold your flowers aloft nicely, and the sturdy galvanised wire baskets so readily available, sometimes with the wire covered in plastic, really do take some beating and last for years. These won’t rust. They can be spray painted, if you like, green, pale blue, or any colour to match your proposed planting scheme or the colour of the house. I use spray-on car body paints (from motor accessory shops) as they are quick to use and cover the wire mesh speedily and easily. A wide range of quick-drying colours is available. However, the basket’s growing content should quickly cover all the visible mesh so you may feel it is unnecessary to pay extra for plastic-covered ones or to the trouble of painting.
These hanging flower baskets normally come in three sizes, from 6 inches to big 18-inch ones. If you fancy a really enormous affair you could use one of those big galvanised mesh ‘umbrellas’ over which are grown standard weeping roses, turning it upside down and hanging it from three strong chains. I have even seen old wire litter baskets, and basked sold for blanching vegetables, used in this way.
Before deciding on the maxim ‘biggest is best’, consideration should be given to the weight of the basket when filled with a potting medium plus plants and – something easily forgotten – weight of water. The added weight in a large quantity of freshly-watered compost can be considerable. Then, too, as plants grow away strongly they weigh a great deal more than they did as youngsters.
Certainly anything off-beat and unusual is attention-seeking and interesting in its own right. The occasional Victorian or Edwardian hanging flower basket can possibly be found, recognisable by the very attractive decorative shape. Country people have always adapted whatever happened to be handy; I have seen an old log basket, and a wine bottle decanter basket, used to hold a potted plant, also a plastic garden sieve and even half a coconut shell hung up with plants growing directly in them.  http://www.gardeninginfozone.com/discover-the-beauty-of-hanging-flower-baskets-container-gardening

How to Grow Hanging Flower Baskets and Window Flower Boxes

Container Gardening Ideas

Window flower boxes, tubs, and similar gardening containers for planting should, if possible have a number of drainage holes in the bottom. Each hole is carefully covered with a piece of broken flower pot (crock) and then the whole of the base is covered with about an inch deep of small stones or crocks. Over this place a layer of turf, coarse moss, peat, or dead leaves. Then fill up with John Innes Compost No. 2.

Hanging Flower Baskets and Window Flower Boxes

Take the compost to about an inch below the rim — many people make the mistake of filling right to the top, which makes watering difficult. A suitable tray containing a layer of pebbles, placed under the box, is a help to drainage. Some experts suggest leaving the container for a week 5 for the compost to settle before planting. I think that is unrealistic; the majority of people — including me — can’t wait to put the plants in at once!
When planting, remember that an informal effect is better than a regimented one which results from placing plants in rows. Obviously tall plants need to be at the back or sides, and shorter or trailing ones at the front and sometimes the sides. I find it useful to arrange the plants experimentally before removing them from their individual pots. By standing back and walking around I can achieve an appearance which is balanced and effective both from indoors and out. After planting I like to give the container a top covering of peat, pebbles, Forest Bark, or small stones to act as a mulch and prevent too much evaporation; this treatment gives a smart, neat finish to the container at the same time. Now give the planting a really good watering with a can which has a fine rose. Take the water right over the foliage to freshen it and wash away any soil which may be adhering. Do this in shade, for the sun’s rays on wet leaves may damage them.
I like to have a number of garden containers coming along as seasonal replacements to bring into prominent positions when others finish flowering. An alternative is to fill permanent garden containers with compost, Forest Bark and use this simply as a means of supporting plants in pots, which can be replaced as and when necessary. If the whole thing is kept watered and the plants given an occasional feed you will find they romp away in the idyllic conditions of constant humidity coming up around them from the compost. Indeed, more often than not when the pots are removed, the plants will be found to have rooted out through the hole in the bottom of the pot and into the compost.

Care of the Plants

Regular removal of dead flowerheads before a plant can set its seed is important for a long flowering season in all containers, and I always do this job at the same time as watering. Dead, dying, or insect-nibbled foliage should also be removed, as should any any dead wood. Window flower boxes containing bulbs which have finished flowering are best moved out of vision until the foliage dies down; it is important to leave the foliage on, as it feeds up the bulb for the following year.
Perennials should be cut back, and divided if necessary, in the autumn. Geraniums and fuchsias should be either moved in their containers to a light, airy, and frost-free place before the frosts come, or else lifted and replanted in suitable pots. But if you do not have room indoors for a number of large plants, you can gently prune back the roots and cut back the plants. In late winter or early spring new growth will quickly get under way. By feeding all winter, a geranium will probably flower all winter indoors.
I put most of my indoor hanging flower baskets, window flower boxes, etc. out of doors when there is any light, warm rain in spring, summer, or autumn. This is a marvellous wash and pick-me-up. I even put out collections which are growing together, and single plants which have no drainage holes in their containers. It generally takes rain some time to penetrate any depth, and by then I will have brought them in again. If it rains so hard that a plant is standing in a puddle of water, which really is too much, I simply lay the container on its side to drain for an hour or two. The only disadvantage of this whole system (or perhaps I should say advantage) is that it usually stops raining as soon as I have taken everything outside!

Watering Your Plants in Containers

Many gardeners are concerned about the danger of over-watering plants growing in containers. This frightens many inexperienced people into erring so far in the other direction that their plants die of dehydration, or take so long to recover from the enforced thirst that they never make more than puny specimens with a half-starved look. With experience you get the feel of the thing, learning the signs a plant gives to let you know when it is dying for a drink, such as lightly flagging foliage and drooping flowers. The soil or compost feels dry to the touch; when you tap a pot it ‘rings’ rather than gives off a dull thudding sound. Dig your finger into the compost just under the surface to test how dry or damp it is – this is my favourite method. When a little water is poured on, very dry earth or compost will make a soft crackling sound which you can hear if you listen carefully, and this is a very good indication that watering is required.
Plants need a great deal of water when they are growing well, and in warm conditions. Watering everything perhaps once a week is not a good system, for the requirements of each plant differ according to the time of the year, its state of growth, and so on. Watering large garden containers can be a problem in spells when the earth has really dried out and water poured on the surface tends to run straight off. One solution is to sink one or more pieces of pipe or tubing vertically into the soil, or use a slim plastic bottle, with the bottom cut away, in the same manner. Water is poured down the tubes or into the bottle, and so penetrates to where it is needed, at root level. The device can usually be disguised with bits of moss, pebbles, or something similar, if the plants are not sufficiently big to cover it from view. There are also many useful automatic watering systems available, ideal when plants under cover of balconies etc. have to be left during holidays and other absences from home.
When the weather is warm and dry, an overhead spraying is appreciated by most plants, particularly on their foliage, for it creates humidity as well as removing dust, freshening the colours, and generally livening everything up. It is amazing how dirty plants can get outdoors, in particular if they are near a drive or the road. I sometimes use an ordinary watering can with the rose in place, as this provides both a spray and an ordinary watering at the same time, but more effective is a small mist spray which can be held in one hand. The spray is fine enough to be directed exactly where you want it. Spraying also discourages that scourge of plants in dry sheltered places, the red spider.
If you find that flowers have flagged very badly, perhaps on a very warm day, first water them well (even if the sun is beating down) then cover the whole container, flowers and all with a double sheet of damp newspaper. Cover the newspaper with a sheet of lightweight polythene, which prevents the damp paper drying out. This treatment provides the plants with a moist atmosphere to revive them, and also keeps off the worst of the sun. Remove the polythene and newspaper in the cool of the evening or the following morning.

Putting Your Indoor Containers Outside

Lots of indoor container plants find it a bit of a treat to be put outside for a ‘summer holiday’, after the risk of late frosts is past. Round about early June I put many of my indoor plants out into window flower boxes, tubs, hanging flower baskets, or other garden containers. Indoor plants can be planted directly into the containers or else plunged into large containers still in their own pots, the space between being filled with gravel. I find they usually thrive and make a good show. Colours and leaf patterns become brighter and livelier, and the plants will often burst into bloom for the first time. In fact, they seem to generally enjoy themselves. This can certainly be a tonic for a slightly ailing plant. If possible, select a sheltered, warm, slightly shady position for it. Make a daily check on plants in outdoor containers for watering and signs of greenfly and other pests.
Indoor plants, which I have found greatly benefit from a refreshing spell outside during the summer months, are all kinds of geraniums (pelargoniums), bilbergia, ferns (placed in a very shady border), ivies, the kangaroo vine (cissus), aspidistra, pittosporum, grape ivy (Rhoicissus rhomboidea), mother-of-thousands (Saxifraga stolonifera, or S. sarmentosa), streptocarpus – a broken leaf will root in a shady border, campanula isophylla, plectranthus, pilea, fatshedera, aphelandra, aechmea, and Dracaena marginata tricolor. Keep an eye on them, and if they show the slightest sign of discomfort bring them indoors again.  http://www.gardeninginfozone.com/how-to-grow-hanging-flower-baskets-and-window-flower-boxes

Container Gardening Ideas and Garden Containers

How to Plant Up Your Garden Containers

Whatever type of garden container you choose, the methods of filling them will be much the same, although the type of compost may vary. But always play around with them for a while before you fill and plant them up, until you are sure that they are in the right place, as it is no fun humping any but the smallest ones when they are full.
Apart from the usual drainage holes, they will also need a minimum 5cm (2″) layer of drainage material, except in the very small pots. It is quite a good idea to put something over the holes and under the drainage layer to keep the holes from becoming blocked, minimise the amount of soil washed away and to prevent a variety of nasties from creeping up for a cozy rest. Perforated zinc does the job well, and you can also use hessian or nylon curtains, or a pair of laddered tights could be crumpled up in the bottom of a pot. Another excellent material is the thin fibreglass sheeting used as carpet underlay.
For the drainage material itself you can use bits of broken brick and flower-pots, stones that you have raked from the garden or picked up on the beach, gravel, Vermiculite or chopped up bits of polystyrene. Pebbles and gravel are usually cheaper when bought from a builder’s merchant rather than from the garden centres. The larger the container, the sturdier your drainage material should be.
After this, spread a 2.5cm (1″) layer of granulated moss or pulverised bark to help conserve moisture. A layer of well-rotted and chopped up turves would be good if you have some but you will need to have planned this in advance. Very greedy feeders could have some well-rotted manure added at this stage or, failing that, some home-made compost. Then you are ready to add the potting compost; this can be John Innes 1, 2, or 3, the contents of last year’s Gro-bag or one of the peat-based composts. Lime-haters can be given a compost free of lime, and alpines can generous amounts of grit mixed into theirs. At a pinch, you can, if you have a very good garden soil, use some of that, with the addition of plenty of peat and coarse sand to improve its texture.
You can also add your own leaf-mould and garden compost if they are ready to use and you have enough to spare. Tired city soil will not do, however.
For very large garden containers, such as water-tanks and raised beds, it will be more economical to use bags of mixed soil, adding peat, manure, compost and leaf- mould to improve and enrich it. The better the growing medium the better the display your plants will give you, and the better their health will be also. Once the containers are filled and planted up it is good to add a final top-dressing of gravel. This helps to conserve moisture, prevents soil splashing out during heavy rain or careless watering, gives the plants a cool root-run and stops the soil becoming compacted. If the containers are raised up a little, see if you can insert some kind of drip tray beneath them, as this will help to prevent staining and slippery algal growth on the paving.

Choosing Plants for Garden Containers

Almost any plant can be grown in a container, although some will be more successful than others, whilst the more vigorous may grow a bit too big for their boots and have to be planted out in the open garden or given away. Having said that, some ‘thugs’, such as the Russian Vine, would soon be out of control if planted in the open ground but can be kept within bounds of a sort when container-grown. The Russian Vine, when left to itself in a garden will quickly strangle everything in sight and probably lift your roof as well. One that I planted on a side wall of my house, in a moment of sheer madness I hasten to add, shot up two storeys in one summer, found an airbrick I did not know existed, crawled through this and suddenly appeared fountaining out of the chimney pot; but when it began to demolish the chimney, it had to be cut down and dug out. Planted in a container, on the other hand, it remains quite decorous and will twine itself prettily along a trellis or over an arbour.
It is, as always, a good idea to choose a fair proportion of the plants from those that keep their foliage throughout the year, as a collection of dead-looking twigs in bare pots will not do much to lift the spirits in the dark days. It will usually be desirable to have variations of height and shape of both plants and containers, if the the scheme is not to appear monotonous, except perhaps if you have chosen a very formal plan where uniformity may be part of the whole look and effect. For a more relaxed effect, some kind of triangular planting could be just right, with a tree or large shrub at the back, and the other plants descending and spreading out in an irregular and slightly abandoned fashion.
Apart from the permanent planting, keep some garden containers to be filled with bulbs and annuals as the seasons change. If you have a quiet corner where plants can be rested when they aren’t doing anything special, you can ensure that those in full view are always at their peak.
Remember that silver-leaved plants and white flowers can give an especially magical quality to a garden, and this effect is heightened at night. On gloomy days, the golden plants are very cheerful, so you have plenty of scope to ring the changes. If you do plan to move the plants about in this manner, you will find it helpful to have a pot trolley which you can make by screwing castors to strong pieces of timber cut to appropriate size. Onto this you can heave the pots and trundle them around quite happily. Alternatively, you can move the containers on planks, set on rollers made from lengths of strong metal piping or short scaffold poles. Tie a rope to the container and haul away, replacing the rollers as necessary.
If you have to get the garden containers up or down a flight of steps, place boards or an old door over the steps and fix a strong rope round the container. Then you can haul it up or lower it away. Do this with a partner, as it is easy enough to lose a finger or toe if they are trapped between the walls or the paving by a monster, completely out of control. For the sake of your back, keep the moving of full containers to the absolute minimum. When heavy containers have to be moved, try to empty them first. This is not too difficult in many cases, if you have some light plastic pots ready to comfort and protect the evicted plants. If the plants themselves are heavy however, and some of those with large root-balls can be very heavy indeed, tie up their branches in plastic sheeting and place them, in their pot, onto some kind of sheet so that they can be dragged, rather than lifted to their new positions. This is also the way to deal with heavy sacks of soil and peat, etc., if you do not have a trolley or a barrow.

Aftercare of Plants in Garden Containers

The after-care of plants in garden containers and raised beds is simple enough but essential. If you have crocked them up properly, there should be little danger of them becoming waterlogged, but they will need regular and thorough watering, as often as twice as often as twice a day in hot, sunny spells, and windy conditions can also have have a pronounced drying-out effect. In cool, damp, shaded conditions and during the winter months, the waterings can be reduced to once a week or even once a month, but do not rely on rain to do the job for you.
It is quite difficult for sufficient rain to penetrate the foliage and soak into the compost, while plants on a sill or in the lee of a wall may be out of the reach of even the most driving rain. Peat-based composts will need even more frequent watering than other mediums. It is best to make no rash assumptions but to test the soil yourself, every day. There are various little gadgets on the market to do this, but you can make a pretty fair assessment by sticking your finger as far into the soil as possible and seeing if there is any moisture there. Lime-hating plants will prefer rain water, and many plants will be happier with tepid water which have been standing around for a while.
Because of all this frequent watering, nutrients can be quickly leached away, so the plants will need regular feeding, about once a week in the growing season. Start feeding roughly six weeks after planting, if the plants are making some growth. Make sure they are watered before being fed, and use tepid water if possible. I prefer the liquid foods and find Phostrogen hard to beat and very economical, but I have used both Maxicrop and Tomorite with good results.
A dose of sequestered iron can do wonders for a bad performer and one that is showing signs of chlorosis, that is, its leaves are limp and yellowing. Read the instructions on the fertiliser very carefully and follow them exactly; overfeeding with too strong a mixture will be as bad as, if not worse than, not feeding them at all, and expensive to boot.
Plants should be re-potted every two or three years with compost. If this is not possible, remove the top couple of Iii from the old compost and top-dress with fresh, keeping up the liquid feeds.
All the plants will look better if you regularly remove dead leaves and dead flower heads – unless, of course, the plant bears berries or spectacular hips. The dead-heading will help to keep many plants in flower over a long period. Many shiny-leaved evergreens will enjoy having their leaves washed from time to time, to remove deposits of grime and the odd rapacious insect. Keep your eyes peeled for early warnings of attacks from pests and diseases. Prevention is better, as the saying goes, and the earlier it starts the better. Once garden pests get established, it takes a while to eliminate them, and a horrendous amount of damage can be done in a short time, which may lead to permanent injury or death, in severe cases, whilst, at the very least, the plant will be unsightly.   http://www.gardeninginfozone.com/container-gardening-ideas-and-garden-containers

Container Gardening Ideas for Window Planters

Great Container Gardening Ideas

Flower Planters, Window Planters, Large Planters – Anything Goes!

It is good to have a number of interchangeable window planters so that jaded, faded plantings can be removed as they go over and be exchanged for fresh plants just coming up to their best. These need not necessarily be expensive – look around and see what you can find in the way of boxes. For instance, butchers often have empty plastic boxes which can be arranged together in a row.
Small coloured tin buckets which I have sometimes found in children’s toy shops and which I use as hanging containers, can be used equally well in window planter situations. Three or four together along a ledge are quite expensive-looking and make perfect containers for growing flowers, herbs, or even things such as lettuces and strawberries. At the front of the house they display neat arrangements of marguerites or petunias.
However, it is not always possible to find space for accommodating a number of replacement planters, and in that case it is necessary to replant existing boxes more often, or else go in for permanent plantings.
Although it will be easier if I talk about window flower planters, box-shaped plant holders can be placed in many different places around the outside of a house, not only immediately outside windows. The great advantage of the window position is, of course, that we can enjoy the flowers from indoors also. Plain walls close to front or back doors make very suitable places for hanging planters however, and often a dull garage wall will prove to be an ideal spot. Sometimes garages are attached to the house but project forward a little way, so forming a cosy L-shaped alcove which nicely shelters the front door. This is a superb place for a wall-hung box and creates a note of greeting.
A plain wall which faces on to a wide walkway or a balcony outside a town flat simply asks for one or more flower planters, perhaps on each side of the door. Indeed, you can make your front wall into a veritable hanging garden with a number of boxes or baskets glowing with colourful leaves and flowers.
Choosing the site of a flower planter is clearly very important. For instance, they are often best in uncluttered surroundings, not hemmed in by garden plants growing too close. Any spot we pass daily as we come and go is good; in such a place we can not only enjoy our window box all the time but also do a bit of speedy weeding or dead-heading as we pass and, most important of all, we can easily see when the box needs watering.
Windows with deep ledges of stone or tile will accommodate flower planters easily, and shelter the plants from the worst of wind and weather. So close to the house, they are often warm enough to risk planting out frost-tender subjects slightly earlier than with boxes which hang on the outside of a bay window, for example, where they are open to the elements with little protection.
There are other things about container gardening and the siting of a window box to which you perhaps at first, don’t think about. Being human, we choose a fine bright day to go outside and put up a box. Few of us consider whether the box will face north or south, whether the site is open to the prevailing wind, whether the building has deep eaves which will shelter the box from the rain, and so on.
The wise amongst us, however, will work with our individual situation. Handsome window planters can be contrived for every aspect, but if there is a choice, we should pick a spot which receives good light and has the possibility of sunshine for at least part of the day if we want to grow flowering plants or foliage plants with brightly coloured leaves. Green-leaved plants will put up with shade and flag more quickly in a hot or windy place.
Many tall modern buildings seem to funnel the wind round themselves, creating strong airflows even on otherwise calm days. This can be a real problem to the window box gardener and make hanging baskets even more difficult, for wind is drying (perhaps even more than sunshine) and rapidly takes moisture from the soil. If you have such a site and cannot fix up any kind of wind filter such as a bit of fine trellis on each side, or even bamboo stakes placed fairly close together to form an interesting-looking shield, it might be best to cut your losses and take your window box indoors.
Indoor boxes, in sunrooms etc., are very easy to manage and can be filled with geraniums, begonias, succulents and any of the wide variety of house plants now available, or with pots of ageratum, French marigold, streptocarpus. etc.
A permanently planted window planter can form a screen to give privacy indoors – plants are far more interesting than curtains or voile, and block out far less light.
I think that even against a frosted-glass window, a box full of colourful subjects has a part to play, as bold scarlets, bright blues, yellow, orange. and white shine through from outside. Boxes may be hung under the window as well as actually on the ledge so preventing soil splashing on windows: with a light trellis bordering the window to carry climbers the effect can be quite countryfied. Even the gardenless can grow sweet peas in a deep hanging box or tub against the wall. With either wooden or plastic-covered metal trellis you can grow clematis, climbing roses, or honeysuckle round the door. Really the sky is the limit!
Window planters can be constructed or bought to fit any size, type, or style of window, even the curved bays and bow windows. You can place one long box or three shorter ones at the centre front of a five-section bay window, leaving the outer sections free to open, or you can have a separate box for each section. The easiest way is to make these of wood, covering the joins and linking them into one sleek whole planter with a long piece of pliable hardboard or thin plywood nailed into place and painted to match the house. With this method, only the simplest of flower planters are required but the stronger they are the better when it comes to fixing the linking facia board.
Even a french door need not defeat the keen window box gardener. I once saw two large planters attached one each to the bottom woodwork of a pair of french doors. The hotelier owner, a keen DIY man, had fitted the boxes with very strong supports underneath and at the sides to take the weight. The doors were in constant use, and the flower-filled boxes, moving with the doors, caused much interest.
An idea I like is to use a wall or fence in the garden to support hanging planters; this is especially pleasing with the boundary wall of a patio or terrace. Where there is a rise of level in the garden it is often possible to build a low retaining wall with a flat top to hold boxes. Similarly, a swimming pool or garden pond can have a backing of well-planted boxes or tubs.
Any flat roof, such as a garage or the top of a bay window, will take a long window box and look attractive with flowers hanging down. A white flower planter or one painted to match the house looks as good above a window as below, and the effect of a short light curtain of flowers or leaves can be achieved if trailing plants are chosen. Balconies with railings will also allow the installation of boxes for trailing plants.
Of course, some provision must be made for watering garden containers. It is a nuisance if a ladder or stepladder is needed every time a box has to be watered (and very regular watering is necessary where flower planters are mounted high and open to sun and wind). Often if the planter is suitably placed it can be watered from an upstairs window with the aid of a long-spouted watering can. The more prominently a box is sited the more it needs to look always well-cared-for and attractive.
Planted flower planters often look exceptionally well near a front door, perhaps on wide steps leading up to the door or on flat piers either side. Here a collection of one sort of plant – perhaps houseleeks, ivies, or even cacti in summer – make an effective display by being raised and presented to view in this way. Another idea is to plant neatly clipped golden privet or box, or holly. You could even go in for a bit of topiary!
A clever gardening friend of mine displays a collection of fine fuchsias each summer on homemade wooden staging – shelves of varying heights and widths – under the dining room window. This is a wonderful idea for showing off a number of interesting plants together where space is at a premium. I display plants in my conservatory in the same way, using old metal display units from shops. Painted white, they look rather like expensive Victorian ware. One was given to me after I had seen it outside the shop when it was waiting to be collected by the dustmen. The kind of metal staging sold for greenhouses could be similarly painted and used outdoors. The aluminium kind won’t rust.

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