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Planters, information overload.

jgreen570jgreen570 Posts: 2
in Plants
Hello all,

I have made some wooden planters and was gearing up to get the flowers/plants, then got complete information overload.
What I would like to achieve is something that has flowers all year round (if possible) always looks full and green, and is minimal maintenance.
My knowledge base so far:

You should have 'thrillers, fillers, and spillers'.
Fill the area with soil to remove air (and 1 knuckle from the rim).
Use compost not soil to prevent weeds.
Situate in shade/sun according to plant type.
Use water retaining pellets.

Any advice would be most appreciated, especially to learn which plants and varieties work best together.
Many thanks.
J


Posts

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    The compost not soil point won't work. Weeds love compost just as much as soil. Use what your plants will need e.g. if there are going to be perennials in there use John Innes No.3 rather than mpc. Annuals will be fine in mpc.
  • Tanty2Tanty2 Posts: 231
    Have a look at Campanula Portenschlagiana - easy to keep to size if it spills over too much (it doesn't sulk if you chop it right back but you probably won't need to) - it's evergreen and has the cutest purple flowers for ages in summer.  It is pretty much no maintenance :)

    You could plant bulbs to grow up through it, some for spring flowering, some for autumn flowering (nerine, maybe?).

    Use good compost like John Innes, and water properly during dry weather - this means one good soaking, not frequent little bits of water.

    Once a year, early Spring, gently scrape away the top inch of compost and replace with fresh compost (s'called top dressing).

    Cordylines are good for height and structure all year round in a pot.

    The 'removing air' advice, I think, is advice that when you put plants in, make sure you firm the soil around the roots to make sure the roots and soil are in good contact, with no air pockets!

    If you want to put a planter in shade, have a look at Brunnera (Jack Frost is pretty, or Golden Jack Frost) and maybe Asarum Europaeum for ground cover (evergreen, gorgeous, unusual, requires absolutely no maintenance).

    If Brunnera gets a wee bit leggy, you can just grab it by the neck and cut it away - you'll find a whole fresh new crop of leaves underneath!  It grows back super fast.  This isn't very orthodox advice, but it works :)
  • jgreen570jgreen570 Posts: 2
    Wow thank you, that points me in the right direction.
    I guess once you find a plant and a good arrangement that works anything extra is a bonus.

    The John Innes compost, is that the best brand or is it a generic name used for that type?

    The plastic planters to go inside are 100cm x 22 x 18.

    Tanty2, I have seen some arrange their plants/bulbs in layers (I think the term is lasagne), I guess this means that each layer of plants come up in different seasons.

    Thankyou for your input guys, really appreciate the knowledge. I've got a lot of reading to do..
    J
  • Tanty2Tanty2 Posts: 231
    Have fun with your bulb lasagne :)  There's a great video from Monty on here somewhere about the best layering strategies!  Remember with bulbs that once you dead-head them, you must leave the leaves until they go brown so they put as much energy back into the bulbs for next year as possible.  Have fun!
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