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Pots and Containers
Liz Warner
Posts: 199
Morning all
I'm looking to add some pots with white lavender, heather, hydrangea, herbs, hellebores etc. They'll be around the summer house under a large spruce tree, south east facing. What type of containers would people recommend that would suit the plants, area and last? Cheap plastic ones from Wilkos or do I need to go expensive?
Thanks in advance!!
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Posts
I think terracotta always looks better than plastic imitation, but of course it depends on your budget - plastic ones can look really good if you paint them http://www.rustoleumspraypaint.com/how-to-guide/how-to-spray-paint-plant-pots/
Or collect together some assorted boxes, buckets and tubs of all sorts, make sure they've got some drainage holes in the bottom, then spray them in matching or co-ordinating colours - they'll look great
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I like the better imitation terracotta as they are lighter to move and don't flake if frosted.
However I also like to use ceramic pots which can often be bought cheap at end of season sales before garden centres install their Xmas displays or else at car boots and so on. I like found objects too so old timber boxes lined with black plastic to protect the wood and holes pierced in the bottom, old kitchen pots such as enamel steamers and colanders, old chimney pots................
slightly different tack - I needed large containers for small shrubs and found big, square, black, rubbery plastic tubs in the builders merchants - intended for mixing cement I think. They have a handle at either side so I have them on wheeled trolleys and can move them about as needed.
I've also used big green "muck tubs". The beauty of these is that you can feed into them easily. Don't forget to drill in some drainage holes though. I usually place them round the edge, a little way up the side from the bottom so that I don't lose all the water I put in during a hot dry summer.
These are lighter to move around than pottery ones.
That said - the GC has some very nice ceramic pots in many colours and lavender likes to be dry - it also likes the sun! Hydrangeas need lots of water and hellebores cope with daplled shade.
Hope that helps a bit.
It depends so much upon the style of your garden and your own personal taste ... lots of ideas here https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=garden+shed+coloured+pots+plants&FORM=HDRSC2
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Clay ones are nice but need much more watering.
I don't put hydrangeas in pots, they prefer to romp away in the garden, but it's up to you as long as you keep watering them.
Ive used my hubbies work buckets, they are strong and also the handle is great for moving them .
I like ceramic or stone, I know they are heavy but my local garden centre sell me the black plastic pots they use for shrubs really cheaply and I can plant those up and drop them inside the heavy ones. It means I can plant up bulbs, display them in the ceramic pots and then take them out and hide them when the bulbs have finished. Can then do the same with summer display. I also find the black shrub pots useful for putting in spaces in the garden when something has died down.
In my garden plastic pots blow away unless weighted down. The larger the plant and the taller, the easier life is with heavy pots. I have a few that I can't actually move myself but they rock when the wind blows!