A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 What seeds to plant in small pot?

Hi Everyone,

I'm not much of a gardener so please forgive my ignorance on this forum! I am getting married this summer and am trying to decide what to do for favours to give to guests. I would really like to get small pots and plant some sort of seed and have a flower grow for each guest. So I found the pots I want last night - they're small terra-cotta with a small hole in the bottom center. They're probably about 1inch bottom diameter and 1 1/2 inch top diameter (this is very estimated guesses). Does anyone have any suggestions for a type of seed I could plant in a pot this size and actually have a chance at having a flower bloom without having to be transplanted to a bigger pot?

Thanks in advance! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hmmm...I can't think of anything that could actually stay in a pot that small without needing to be transplanted into the garden or a larger pot. Perhaps Portulaca would do...it is easy to grow from seed, will flower in a small pot if given enough light, but it is a spreading groundcover annual, so it would still need to be planted outside for optimum performance. You might try sunflowers...they are once again easy to grow, but they would definitely need to be planted outside later. One last suggestion would be some type of herb, like sage.

Hi there,
Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials!
My friend just got married herself, and had the same idea as you. She gave out the pots, which were stenciled with their names and date, with just the seeds in a little packet, wrapped with a bow. She chose pansies, which are fast and easy to grow. They did need to be transplanted after a while, but by then the honeymoon was over, hee hee. Anyway, it was a lovely gift and I still have the pot on my windowsill.
That's the only thing I can think of, sorry. Good luck with your decision!

What a lovely idea! I'm going to be a copy cat because my son's getting married this July.
Those would make lovely placecard holders/favors for a bridal shower too! I'm thinking if you want to actually have something flowering in them, alyssum might work well and is available in several colors like White, deep rose pink, lavender, purple and even (if you can find it) yellow. Congratulations on the forthcoming nuptuals!

Hi k89mmk,

Miniature African violets would be wonderful in that size pot, using leaves to start new plants.

Miniature African Violets

Shows tiny size

Since you are new to gardening, it might be difficult, though I've seem several newbies with green thumbs succeed. If you could find a local "expert" with some you like in your area and started soon, you might be able to get blooms by summer--but most mail-order firms don't send plants out until May. In MO I often bought plants from a local lady who sold 1' plants for $8 to $10 and small ones were very, very cheap--especially in quantity--if she had them.

Just an idea.
Ann

It isn't a flower, but what my hubby and I did for our wedding favours was to pot spider plant babies taken from our mother plant in six inch clay pots that we painted.

If I think of any flowers that would bloom in such small pots, I'll post them.

I wonder if alyssum, lobelia or a small summer-flowering bulb would bloom in a 1.5inch pot?

Since you already have the pots, why not put the dirt in them in advance and a few days before the wedding go buy whatever small flowers are in bloom and plant them in the pot. If you just put in 1 flower, hopefully they can put it in a window and not have to transfer it.

Violas?


http://www.thegardenhelper.com/Viola.htm

The chance of getting something to bloom for the exact day is quite slim.. The seed packet idea might be your best bet. Use a template to design your own seed packets.

Violas! Great idea, Bill!

Thanks everyone for your wonderful ideas. I've got a few different types of seeds planted now as a test ... I'll see how these go and then decide what to do for the real favours!