A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2006 Container Landscaping

As you all know I am not a great decorator. If it hadn't been for Fernie last year I never would have gotten my livingroom looking good. Which with her help I think it does. Now next month I'll be planting outside and I'm not quite sure what to do with the planters. In one there is a nest of the burgandy colored barberry. So all I need there is something that will drape down the side and then some kind of short plant that doesn't mind being pierced alot lol.

The other container is completely empty. These are 3 feet across concrete pipes set on their ends so the drainage is really good and the soil is ok not great. I'll mix in as much compost as will fit but I still don't rate is as rich. I'm in zone 7 and the containers are in full sun.

Here are the seeds that I have. If you could tell me what will look good with what I will appreciate it. Oh, the landlord waters and fertilizes these things constantly so they have to be able to be babied big time lol. The other thing that I should mention is that the container is about 4 feet high so the taller flowers should be spike like I think?

Allium Cernuum
Artemisia Absinthium, Wormwood
Wood's Aster, Purple short perennial
Balsum
Babies Breath
Blanket flower
Cardinal Climber Vine
Carolina Jasmine Vine {Gelsemium sempervirens}
Celosia - Mix (Lowest tier)
Chinese Lantern
Chinese Money plant
Chlorophytum orchidastrum
Cleome, Spider flower,
Cleome, spider flower, White
Cleome, Spider flower, Purple
Clustered Bellflower 'Superba', Campanula glomerata
Cockscomb, Blood Red
Cockscomb, Pink
Cockscomb, Plum
Cosmo's, Purple/Pink
crambe cordifolia
Crepe Myrtle, Dwarf
cynoglossum amabile
Eryngium planum Rysk martorn
Exochorda xmacrantha 'the bride'
Feverfew
Flamebush, Orange
Four O'clocks (plant in pots)
Gaillardia 'Goblin'
Gay Feathers [P]
Helenium Mahogany
Hibiscus, White
Hollyhocks (
Hyacinia Bean Vine, Purple flower
Incarvillea delavayi tradgardsgloxinia. rosa ingela jonsson
Innocence, Pagoda flowers, Chinese Houses
Ipomposis
Iris, African,
Iris, Yellow,
Jewels of Opar
Kale, Curled
Larkspur
Liatris
lily, Blackberry
Love Lies Bleeding
Lunaria (money plant)
Lupine, Arroyo
Malva Zebrina**
Malva, Pink variety
Marigolds Maroon,
Marigolds, Mixed
Marigolds, Crackerjacks
Marigolds, Mexican bush
Marigolds, Orange
Marigolds, Starfire
Marigolds, Yellow
Marigolds, Yellow with red stripe
Mexican Hat
Mexican Mint
Mexican Tea
Morning Glories
Nigella Jewel flower 'turkish carpent'
Petunia
Poppies, bread
Poppies, California
Poppies, Double Bloom
Portulaca
Queen Anne's Lace
Rain lilies
rose, Miniature Red
Royal Poinciana
Rudberkia - Black Eyed Susan
Salvia 'Blue Queen'**
Salvia Purple
Snapdragons, Mixed colors Miniature
Snapdragons, Yellow, Miniature
Snapdragons, Red, Miniature
Spirea, Gold Flame
Stock, 'starlight sparkle'
Straw flowers
Sweet William
Tall Primroses
Yarrow, Ouija white pearl flower
Yucca
Zinnia

Thankyou for all your suggestions. This is where I definitely have no talent.

I think you should plant petunia wave...Just me...I will usually just plant one type of flower in my containers.....I think it looks more uniform and sophisticated that way...Uncomplicated.

But if you want cut flowers you could plant a variety. I consider myself not to be very creative that way...Meaning mixing flowers. For variety I usually just pick colors I like and attempt to plant them verses their predicted height.

WOW you have a lot of seeds.

Could you list the predicted height, general description of the flower, ie color, foliage etc, sun exposure.

bloom time...


Predicted size of the full grown plant....


Some of these plants will not bloom the first year is that okay with you?

I am landscaping an area of my yard 47' by 11' this spring. It has a variety of sun exposures. I am currently investigating various plants to fill the area.

What I am doing to plan it out is listing height, bloom time, bloom color, sun exposure of each plant, full grown size of the plant, to figure out how much space they will need.. Then I am going to use graph paper to plot it out...I do not have a landscaping program..Plus I received excellent help and ideas from members. Which has motivated me to reach beyond my normal gardening skills..

Most of the flowers I have picked are colors I like pinks, purples, white, and some reds...and pretty foliage..I love Iris...But do not have a lot of them..I plan to plant a little iris each year to add spring interest to the area..

A 4ft tall planting bed...wow you could plant a vegetable garden in there...

I know what you mean by a list with everything separated out. I've been trying but it is a pain in the tail lol. I guess what I need to do is map out each areas climate and then dump all the flowers in each area according to size and color. That would work I guess. I'll have to get on it. spring is approaching.

OMG! That's a lot of flower seed!

The best way i find to picture something is to go to the library and go through their container gardening books. There are many books out there that show all different kinds of containers and different flower arrangements.

It's exciting to see how many different kinds of containers can be created from many materials just collecting dust around the house.
I often come across "rough sawed" lumber, such as cedar, knotty pine,and hickory, that can be used to line the exterior of an old crate and made into a beautiful flower box.
Did u know that u can even take an old porcelain square laundry sink and transform it into a planter?! Just coat the exterior with an adhesive and apply a 3/8" thick mixture of cement, sand, and peat over it. Maybe instead of peat, small decorative pebbles can be used instead.

One book that i like is, The Book of Container Gardening, by Malcolm Hiller. It has many photos and shows u how to make containers. Very helpful.

This is how I have my own flower bed planned: I chose the plants I "have to Have(=want)Then I have an idea of where the largest plants will go and then I plan to fill in with everything else around the largest ones...The tallier ones going in the back of the bed which is againist a fence. What will happen in mycase is that I will end up with way more then will fit into my bed, So like Oui suggested...You should proable pick three or four that you most want to grow, and try arranging them into something that is pleasing to you. Is this planter going to be sitting againist anything or in the middle of the yard???? That makes a difference also. If it is out in the yard, then try planting something tall in the center of the container and shorter things or vining things around the edges.

It's infront of the bus station and people are forever putting out cigarettes in the planters. Very upsetting lol. I tried marigolds in it last year and was overrun with spidermites. The plants were entirely white. It was really bad. The portulaca's the year before that worked out really well. This year I have some Hollyhocks in one that need to be transplanted elsewhere but I just can't decide what all should go in there. But I'll get something in there. It's so much fun to plot and plan.

Well here is my plan so far. I hope I'm not making big mistakes lol. But I guess that can be chalked up to experience lol.

First off I'm going to put some pink & purple morning glories in hopefully with a little luck I can talk some of them into hanging down while others climb a make shift trellis that should provide the backdrop for the container. I'll put those on the far north side of the planter. Infront of the morning glories will be a mixture of the pink, purple and white cleome.
Next, I'll put a row of Larkspur for early color. Then will be three clumps of allium cernuum mixed with some rain lilies. And I'll use the petunias as a filler.

In the other container where I already have Hollyhocks and burgandy barberry I thought I would add Lumaria, red cypress vine and blackberry lilies. What do you think?

You might want to get a couple of Big coffee cans filled with some cheap cat litter to place near the planters for cigerette butts, Still not everyone will use them, but it may help alittle with that problem.