Category Archives: Container Gardening

Container Gardening Design Tips

Spring is for planting in the garden and in pots. Flowers, herbs, perennials, shrubs, and vegetables are all players in the annual game of “What will grow in this spot?” or “What can I plant in this pot?”.

Now that summer is here though, the pace is slower with fewer questions as more people slowly stroll the nursery for pleasure, picking up the odd plant here and there or gathering more varied selections for filling in garden spaces that need extra color.

Many of them come to see the planters we’ve put together, getting ideas for extra pots or to make note of a different combination of plants they might not have thought of.

We enjoy this time too (Since we’re all pretty much plantaholics!) and look on it as our play time with plantings, a reward for making it through another hectic spring season.

So, while our neatly lined tables are still filled with a good assortment of varied plants, you’ll also find our container plantings in various spots throughout the nursery too.

Some find their way onto our Facebook and Instagram pages, others make their way to new homes. Wherever they end up we hope they give you as much pleasure as they’ve given us creating them.

Container Gardening Tips:

Know your light. Plants that want sun won’t perform well in shade and vice versa.

If you want a pot filled only with flowers, choose blooms with different shapes for added interest. An example: A spiky salvia, rounded blooms of zinnias, flatter blooms of lantana.

Make it even more interesting and add a foliage for additional texture or color. Begin by choosing it, then add some flowers to compliment the color or shape of the leaves. An example: A spiky grass, a round pentas, an airy euphorbia, a trailing vinca.

Bigger planters call for bigger plants. Use at least one eye catcher or “thriller”. Add intermediate or “filler” plants, then complete the picture with a trailing or “spiller” selection. This is the tried and true Thriller, Filler, Spiller recipe. It never fails. An example: A black elephant ear (thriller), sunpatiens (filler), scaevola (spiller).

Think about the setting the planter is in. What color is your house? What trees and shrubs will be in bloom at various times? Do you entertain at night? What are your favorite colors? Are you there to maintain and water regularly?

No matter how small your planting starts out, with proper care it may grow to enormous proportions. Be prepared to deadhead faded blooms at least weekly and clip back your planting as needed.

If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook you’ve probably seen a new series of shop videos – if not, follow us and check them out! They’re also on our YouTube channel under Oak Street Garden Shop – if you’d like to see more, subscribe!

By Kris Blevons

Design Tips For Container Plantings Focused on Foliage

I’ve talked before about creating beautiful combinations using primarily foliage as a starting point and adding flowers to complement leaves.

While this post is about choosing interesting plants for containers, the design concepts are used by the best garden designers for beautiful landscapes too. Plantings in pots are much less intimidating, though, and are a way to try new things just for fun.

Use your container as a starting point to give you hints about what will look best. Does it contribute color or texture, or is it fairly plain? The point here is that leaves in plantings add color too and sometimes last longer in a design than flowers; so think about this as you study the look and shape of your pot.

when the ligularia on the left and the iris aren’t in bloom, it’s the foliage contrasts that will capture your attention…

Are you looking for a container planting to be a focal point in a particular area? Some of the most dramatic plantings I’ve seen have made use of extremely large foliage plants, elephant ears being a notable example.

The photo here showing black elephant ears, fern, and ligularia in my garden is an example of a landscape design that would work in a contained planting too. The addition of the chartreuse color of a creeping jenny to trail would add additional impact.

Conversely, smaller pots work well to showcase one striking specimen plant, and groupings of pots with one variety in each can be very beautiful.

Take a walk through a favorite greenhouse or nursery, looking for leaves that catch your eye (If the plants bloom too, consider it a bonus.) or start with some foliage plants you like and add blooming plants to accent them. Be sure to match the choices with the amount of available light, whether it’s full or part sun or shade.

The first collage shown here is a small sampling of heuchera leaves, a perennial that shows off its leaf color in the late winter and early spring. Houseplants are also very useful in plantings for shade and love the humidity our summer days and nights provide.

This planting of ferns, acorus and a rex begonia will appreciate a spot in filtered sun through the summer…

The second collage shows a few common but very beautiful houseplants. Showcasing a grouping of a few favorite and well grown rex begonias could also be a stunning tableau on any shady patio or porch.

The bottom line: Try to choose plants that play off your container’s size, color, and shape. When choosing your plants, consider your light and find those plants that have contrasting foliage shape, texture, varied sized leaves and that need the same water requirements.

All of these plants for a sunny spot will work well in a container…

Don’t be afraid to experiment with a new plant you’ve never tried before, and ask for help if you have questions. Enjoy your new plantings, and show them off to your friends!

All foliage…

Now that you’ve taken the time to choose just the right plants, take care of them. Start by purchasing a quality, light-weight soilless potting soil (We carry Fafard, and use it for all of our plantings.). Add a slow release fertilizer such as Osmocote.

Position the plants in the container, then remove the plants from their pots and set them on the soil. Do any have roots completely encircling the rootball? Loosen them gently before planting. Firm each plant into the pot, and water them well.

As your plantings grow, they will need occasional trimming and grooming. This is part of gardening, and should be looked on as a normal part of plant ownership. Don’t be afraid to clip a plant back that is overgrown and remove any yellow or discolored leaves. If you’ve added blooming plants to your combinations, be sure to deadhead, or remove old blooms, regularly.

By Kris Blevons

Container Gardening – Pointers & Possibilities…

Early spring in Birmingham….the temperatures fluctuate up and down, and it’s still early to be planting the real heat lovers like caladiums and vinca in the ground – oh, but your fingers are itching to dig in the garden again…

Trailing pink vinca works well with sun loving herbs of lavender, sage and chives in this trough planting….

Here perennial lamb's ear mixes with lavender and a pepperomia - a common houseplant that also adds great texture...

Here perennial lamb’s ear mixes with lavender, sedum and a pepperomia – (a common houseplant that also adds great texture…)

This sun lover includes pentas, scented geraniums, vinca and a 'Red Rubin' purple basil as well as a variegated Swedish ivy to meander through the entire composition...

This combination for sun includes pentas, scented geraniums, vinca, purple basil, and variegated Swedish ivy meandering through the entire composition…

Happily, you can begin planning your summer container plantings, which can also be great springboards for future garden groupings – testing them in a pot first is a safe and fun way to experiment.

This hanging basket for sun includes a sun loving caladium, angelonia, pink fan flower, trailing silver dichondra, and an airy white euphorbia…

These pictures are container combos from seasons past – all lasted through the brutal heat of summer given water, deadheading and cutting back as necessary.

The old cliché of using a “thriller, filler and spiller” has been much used, (Maybe a little too much?) but don’t feel tied to it please! Designing creative plantings shouldn’t be absolute or bound by rigid rules.

‘Indian Dune’s’ fancy leaf geranium, cordyline and thyme work in half day or full sun…

However, do try to combine plants that appreciate the same amount of light and water and have growing habits that compliment one another.

If you can do that, any plant combo you like within those parameters is fair game. There are many plants that will handle a lot of sun but still appreciate a little shade, especially in the afternoon, when the heat is the most brutal. Others will need partial to full shade in our climate. The important thing is to choose the right plants for whatever conditions you have.

Elephant ears add drama, with a heat tolerant fuschia, ‘Gartenmeister’ and a trailing maidenhair fern – this one was planted with a shady area in mind…

The larger the container your space can accommodate the better! Not only will you be able to add more plants, but watering will be easier as well. Having said that, when maintaining large planters, if temperatures are in the 90’s every day and lows don’t get below the 70’s at night (July and August in Birmingham!), be prepared to water every day, even if your planters are in only half day sun. Of course, there are always exceptions…succulents, purslane, portulaca – these are a few plants that can take dry soil and heat, but even they will need water eventually!

Cordyline, fancy leaf geranium, baby tears…morning sun and afternoon shade or filtered sun suit this planting…

Plant choices change weekly during the height of spring and it can be overwhelming…we’re happy to help you come up with the right combinations of plants for your containers if you’re unsure. Just be sure you know how much sun (or not!) they receive and the sizes of your planters, and we can take it from there.

Another tip: Flowers aren’t always what adds the most pizazz. There are great foliage choices out there, many that add color with no blooms at all. Some of the most striking planters are those done with just foliage – try it sometime!

Foliage is as interesting as flowers!

A shade planter – all foliage!

By Kris Blevons

The Gardening Tool That Is Always With You

May 10th

Do you forget each year exactly what you planted the year before or have trouble keeping track of how many plants you used in a planter or bed?

There’s an easy answer, and it’s probably in your pocket or purse right now. Our phone cameras are a great gardening tool.

I use mine to take pictures of new container plantings and garden beds and continue taking pictures through the season to track the progress of their growth.

May 24th

The pictures here are one example. These planters are on a busy street and are seen from some distance, so they need to grow large. I took pictures the day they were planted and a couple of times after to show the progression of their growth.

July 5th

Taking pictures as a reference is helpful if you’re asking for help choosing plants for your garden too. Simply take your pictures into the garden shop the next year and let them see what you did the year previous. Then you can recreate all or part of it – or none of it if it didn’t do well for you. It’s really a very helpful tool!

July 30th

These containers are tall and narrow, and they’re planted intensively, so consistent watering is a must. The first pictures were taken at the beginning of May and the final shots are at the very end of July.

After 3 full months they’re still looking great, and with some clipping to cut back the coleus they should continue well into September.

July 30th

This is also an example of choosing the right plants for the person. She’s a busy mom who doesn’t want to fuss over the pots and is lucky enough to have her mom help water when she’s out of town.

I chose the lime green coleus and big leaf begonias because I knew they’d grow large and accented them with the variegated leaves of cuban oregano and caladiums, then tucked in the airy white blooming euphorbia. The potato vine is another toughie that contributed more of the chartreuse green color to show up from a distance.

July 30th

If you have a difficult time keeping track of names of plants, using the Notes feature of your I-Phone can help. As a matter of fact, I have an entire list of most of the plants in my garden in my phone. Believe me, I’ve always depended on pen and paper jotting down info here and there, but more times than not I misplaced them. Now I keep notes on my phone and they don’t get lost!

By Kris Blevons

Ideas For Container Gardens In The Sun

Even in June we have folks come in to get planting advice for their garden beds and pots. It’s never too late to plant something! Here are a few ideas for your summer planters.

Keep in mind you don’t have to make fancy plant combinations if you feel unsure of yourself. You can also choose to use just one kind of plant in a planter.

The bottom line? Do whatever you feel works for you and your landscape. The staff at Oak Street Garden Shop and I enjoy putting together combinations of plants though, so here are a few examples of that type of planting.

The wire plant stand shown in the first two pictures lives at a local restaurant, receives lot of sun, and is well tended. It was first lined with a thick layer of green sheet moss, then soil and Osmocote were added (We mix in this slow release fertilizer to all of our plantings.), and finally plants were positioned.

Because this needs to show up in the evening as well as during the day, the color scheme is white and silver with a touch of blue. It’s sited in front of a window and needs to look good all around as patrons also view it from inside the restaurant.

Blue salvia and silver germander will give height to this planting and spiky blooms, silver artemesia, sun tolerant caladiums, and an airy white euphorbia will add fullness, while a trailing artemesia, spreading angelonia, helichrysum, and silver dichondra will spill out the front.

The next example is simpler since the container, a bowl made out of hypertuffa, is smaller. Again, the plants chosen will work in the sun if care is taken to keep the contents watered. Our advice, unless it rains, is to water each morning, thoroughly in the heat of summer, and check the planting again each afternoon.

Three types of plants fill this bowl: spreading angelonia, ornamental oregano, and trailing pentas. Each of these will either spread out or trail, so the overall look will be of a mounding planting. Each of these has a different shape bloom, so there will be contrast in form as well as color of foliage or flower.

The final example is an intensively planted, heavy glazed container that a customer brought in to be planted for a wedding party. Her color scheme was white, pink, and purple, and some variegated and silver foliage was used as well.

Because this needed to be intensively planted to look “grown out” immediately, maintenance will be important, and plants will need to be cut back periodically and groomed often. The planter sits against a wall in hot sun, so the view is 3/4 around.

Here Iris pallida was the starting point, then silver artemesia, silver germander, upright and spreading angelonia, and trailing plants of both purple and white scaevola were added to complete the planting. Again, there’s contrast in foliage color, bloom form, and growth habit.

The mixed planting combinations shown here could just as easily work in a sunny garden bed too.

Experiment with new plants you might not be familiar with, try different combinations, whether they’re all in the same pot, one plant type in a container. or in the ground. You just might find a new favorite!

Plants used in these containers include:

Sun tolerant caladiums: There are many out there. The sun caladiums generally have lance shaped leaves. Blue salvia: Again, look for salvias that grow between 12″ and 18″ the size best for most mid-size container gardens. Euphorbia: There are many, and they all offer an airy growth habit with small white blooms. You can’t go wrong with any of them! Helichrysum ‘Silver Star‘: This is an excellent choice for southern gardeners, usually available only early in the season. Doesn’t “melt out” like most other helichrysums do for us.

Silver dichondra: Don’t let it’s skimpy appearance in the pot fool you. This is one of the best choices to create a silvery waterfall of coin shaped leaves to trail out of containers in the sun, and it loves the heat too! Angelonia: Sometimes referred to as summer snapdragon because of it’s bloom shape. Angelonia comes in an upright form perfect for the center of containers or in garden beds and as a spreading plant, more lax and outward growing.

Artemesia: Good for a silver foliage element. ‘Powis Castle’ is big and billowy, ‘Silver Brocade’ spreads out and down. Silver germander: A lovely upright growing plant used for foliage texture and color. An excellent plant to add structure to plantings, though it can be difficult to find.

Pentas: A workhorse for us. They’re available in an upright form, useful for adding height in containers, and now there’s also a trailing variety. They do require deadheading to perform their best. Ornamental oregano: Another that can be difficult to find, but if you can, the trailing habit and pink bloom bracts make it a winner.

Scaevola: This spiller comes in a range of colors: white, pink, blue, or purple, so it can be used with any color scheme. Clip it back periodically to keep it from getting ragged. Its other name is fan flower because of the charming fan shaped blooms.

Iris pallida: A striking iris, with either yellow (‘Aurea’) or white (‘Variegata’) variegated leaves, it prefers sun and dryish soil. Lovely light purple blooms appear in early spring.

A few more good choices not used here include:

Coleus: With their colorful leaves they brighten shady areas, but there are also many sun tolerant varieties as well. Sunpatiens: Provide plenty of water if you place them in full sun. Begonias: There are many excellent varieties out there including ‘Dragonwing’, ‘Big Leaf’, and others. It’s not your Grandma’s begonia world any more! Calibrachoa: Also known as million bells, these diminutive petunia look-alikes spill from containers with every color imagineable. Purslane: Colorful blooms close in the late afternoon on succulent, drought tolerant plants. Lantana: An old workhorse, new varieties are more compact and extremely floriferous.

March…The In-Between Month

These containers can easily be covered or moved if temps drop…

There’s really no in-between month for hard core gardeners, as there’s always something to do or a new revelation in the landscape.

But for the more casual plant person, a few warm days signal it’s time to call or visit the garden shop to buy all the spring bedding plants they can get their hands on.

Unfortunately there are more than a few businesses willing to sell them, even knowing our last average frost in the Birmingham area isn’t until mid-April. But please understand, March soil is too cold for basil, tomatoes, begonias, caladiums, and more that are offered to tempt even the smartest of us.

Planters with perennials and a few annuals that prefer cooler temps.

This is why I call March the in-between month. It’s getting late to plant pansies and winter annuals, but it’s still early for the heat lovers, though we know their time is getting closer. Remember the blizzard of 93? That was 28 years ago – in March.

Perennials -Heucheras

A better choice to spend money on now are perennials, those plants that return year after year. If you have planters small enough to cover easily or bring inside when temperatures drop, many herbs, cool season vegetables like lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage and some annuals (See list below.) that appreciate more moderate temps can be planted as well.

Container garden with herbs and violas

Some perennials available for early season purchase include Veronica ‘Georgia Blue’, creeping phlox, daisies, daylilys, many ferns, hellebores, stokesia, and lobelia to name just a few. If you don’t see something you’re looking for always ask!

Annuals and some herbs that do well in very early spring before our last average frost include thyme, chives, oregano, tarragon, lavender, sweet alyssum, bacopa, calibrachoa, geraniums, dianthus, marigolds, and diascia. Remember, you must protect newly planted greenhouse grown annuals from freezing temperatures.

By Kris Blevons

It’s A New Season… Planters For 2018

New planters arrive in January, filling one end of the nursery, and 2018 was no different. Right on cue, mid-month the delivery truck arrived and pallet after pallet of planters were unloaded and priced.

We’ve purchased from this supplier for almost 30 years now and have always been certain of their quality of workmanship.

So if you’re looking for one planter or a grouping, we might just have what you need, including a selection of animal planters for your whimsical side.

You’ll find Saint Francis, the patron saint of all animals and nature, and Saint Fiacre, the patron saint of the garden.

Not to be left out are the yoga cat and frog and buddha statuary for that calm space in your landscape.

There are traditional and very beautiful cast stone planters with simple, clean lines.

The selection of lightweight planters will expand as the season goes on.

Lightweight Planters…

2018 Lightweight Planters

Lightweight Planters

This is a sampling of what is available now. Please keep in mind that this will change as the year progresses, so if you’re looking at this post in July some of what is pictured may no longer be available. Remember, the early bird gets the worm!

Mums…And More!!!!

Every year around August and September, when the heat of summer has wiped out once fresh spring plantings, almost daily we hear one of two questions from multiple people – “Do you have any mums?” and (insert desperate tone here) “When can I plant pansies??!??”

Well, as of this writing we do have plenty of mums, and, no, it’s not time to plant pansies – yet (October and November are the months, when temperatures begin to cool a bit.). But why settle for a simple mum now when growers are offering so much more this time of year? Here are a few interesting plants to use with the usual mums until its time for the winter fare of pansies, snapdragons, ornamental veggies, and more.

A difficult plant to find but one that offers gorgeous fall color is hamelia. Enjoy it’s orange blossoms and beautiful foliage in a special container. Add some sweet alyssum and petunias to add even more interest. The planter shown here also has a small pot of asters that once finished blooming can be removed and planted in the garden.

Marigolds are my unsung heroes of the autumn season. They bloom like crazy given some sunshine, prefer the cooler temperatures of fall, and offer loads of color. Who wouldn’t love that? I use them in the garden and tuck red or green lettuce and sweet alyssum in between for even more color. Try to use marigolds in planters or places you won’t be planting pansies though, because it can be difficult to make the decision to pull them out as they last even through a light frost.

Another that has become a popular addition to the fall plant palette is the ornamental pepper. These small plants loaded with colorful fruit are an unexpected and fun way to usher in a new season. Add some cosmos too for added interest.

Don’t forget that foliage plants can add color as well. Heuchera offers colorful leaves for just about any combination, and the lowly ajuga can be beautiful too. Whatever you decide on, remember that there’s much more than mums for long lasting fall beauty; so venture out of the mum comfort zone and give them some companions this year!

By Kris Blevons

Contained…Plantings To Inspire

It’s difficult to keep up with blog posts through the busiest stretch of spring, but now the pace has slowed and there’s time to show a sampling of the plantings we’ve done. This is by no means all of them, so there will be another post documenting more soon!

Cork bark containers continue to inspire us and can be used in sun or shade. This one, planted with a beautiful begonia, coleus and a tiny leaved maidenhair fern, is for shade.

White and green is always a hit.

Others were all color!

Succulents are still very popular, and herbs are too.

We made basil topiaries (and are working on some coleus topiaries too)!

And a vertical planting using foliage plants.

Some served double duty – arranged beautifully for a party, then taken out and planted elsewhere, or used exclusively as an indoor design element.

A few container gardens in a sunny section of the nursery…and next door at Dyron’s restaurant.

Driftwood pieces…planted. We had a lot of fun with these!

We hope this has inspired you!

By Kris Blevons

Cork Bark Planters for Shady Summer Spots

A number of years ago a customer, seeing some of our cork bark plantings, decided she’d like to have one. The space she envisioned it living was on a hearth of a covered terrace, a beautiful outdoor seating and dining area.

That year, and each summer since, a large cork piece has become home to various houseplants that like the shade and summer humidity this spot offers. An experienced gardener, she appreciates and takes exceptional care of this design and others. It’s such a pleasure creating something that only gets better as the summer goes on!

With this season’s planting, the original cork piece finally had to be replaced, and it’s now one large piece with a second smaller one added to create planting pockets. Wired netting and sheet moss contains the potting soil and plants.

It’s gratifying to see the ‘Bantel’s Sensation’ Sanseveria and fantail willow in context, creating the “flame” look I was hoping for on the hearth. I hope you can see it too.

Rounding out the planting are a philodendron, trailing pothos and pilea, and a few air plants on the outer portion of the cork, all easily grown and not needing extra care if the family is away for an extended period of time.

The second piece was a project on a slow, hot, summer’s day. Designed for a shady nook, it’s three pieces of cork filled with a rex begonia, fittonia, and peacock selaginella.

This pretty planting will also get larger and fuller as the season goes on and the inevitable heat of summer builds. Rex begonias are under-utilized, very beautiful, colorful additions to shade planters and well worth growing.

By Kris Blevons

We just received a new shipment of cork bark pieces. Stop in and take a look if you’d like us to create a planting for you, or if you’d like to make your own!

Planting for Shade – Don’t Forget About Begonias!!

The white iron hanging basket was one of the last in stock, and I’d planted it last year with ferns and begonias. It had looked beautiful through the growing season – until it dried out a couple of times too many. It happens to the best of us!

So I decided to replant it with the remaining ‘Escargot’ begonia, a beautiful blue-green patterned begonia that, yes, has the perfect name. I lined the entire basket with green sheet moss, replaced all of the potting soil, and added some Osmocote slow-release fertilizer.

Next I added a couple of purple shamrock, a bit of fern, and the beautiful and foolproof pilea glauca ‘Aquamarine’ to trail…and, voila, it was finished. It’s happily growing in the greenhouse and hopefully will find a home this spring.

While some might turn up their nose at the plain old bedding plant begonias, those and other members of this family of plants are undemanding and useful flowering beauties perfect for containers in our hot and humid climate.

The patterned leaved begonias are best used in shade plantings or in some filtered sun. All on their own they are stunning in a container or mixed with some ferns and the addition of trailing torenia, angelvine, and/or creeping jenny. Many more beautiful combinations can be made playing off the foliage color.

Those with the prettiest leaves are the rex and rhizomatous begonias. They can grow to substantial proportions and will need even moisture through the season, though they do not like soggy soil.

There are now plants sporting much larger blooms and leaves too. These have names like Whopper begonias, Dragonwing Begonias, and a smaller variety (and a favorite of mine), Baby Wing begonias.

Easy to grow and a winner for our climate, don’t pass them up on your next plant shopping trip!

Begonias are heat lovers. Wait until at least mid-April before planting bedding plants in garden beds, and take care not to over- water young transplants.

By Kris Blevons

What Is That?!?? It’s ‘Red Giant’ Mustard!

I’ve talked before of my love of foliage plants and how much I believe they add to planters and garden beds. Here is another that proves my point. I planted a few small pots of ‘Red Giant’ mustard in our sign planter out front, at the side of the shop in large troughs, and in urns at the front of the restaurant next door last November.

Now 4″ pots are not big at all, and the plants in them were quite small as well. But, if you know what that small plant will turn into, you can make some stunning combinations of your own. Just look at this!

In fact, almost everyone who walks by any of these plantings asks what the big red leaves are and do we have any for sale?

At its most impressive in the winter, that’s not always when it’s available. Though, if it is, you can be sure we’ll have it!

It will get knocked back by a freeze, but simply remove the most damaged leaves and usually it will grow back out from the center fairly quickly.

Make a note to ask about it in the fall when you’re planning your fall/spring garden plantings, because that’s when you’re likely to find this large and in charge plant. It’s truly stunning!

Some plants to combine with ‘Red Giant’ mustard in planters or garden beds:

Pansies, violas, herbs, including curly parsley, thyme (‘Archer’s Gold, variegated lemon); grassy foliage plants such as golden acorus or a variegated carex for contrast against the large mustard leaves; other greens such as ornamental kale (I’ve used lacinato to great affect.), spring blooming snapdragons to compliment the yellow blooms of the mustard as it bolts in the heat are a few suggestions.

A Trio of Pots – Color and Texture In A Late Summer Planting

Summer can be hard on container gardens in the south. It’s so easy to finally just give up on them, especially when a last end of the season getaway beckons, or you’ve forgotten to water once too many times and the poor plants just look too sad for words. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s ok.

You can forgive yourself for your forgetful plant parenting, because September is the beginning of a new season – we can call it the pre-pansy season, because even though it’s still too early to plant pansies and violas, there are some other options to tide you over until cooler weather finally comes.

I had the opportunity to give a trio of pots just such a makeover the other day. There were actually two – a half planter, a terra cotta pot, and a cast stone pedestal the owners wanted a new planter set on.

Arranging them…

Because their pots and pedestal are all of different materials and colors, I chose a simple lightweight black bowl to sit on the pedestal. The size works well with the others and adds a different shape too. I’ve suggested in past posts that wandering the garden shop picking up plants and grouping them together to see how they’ll work together is a great way to design plantings, and that’s just what I did here.

I changed and rearranged them until I was satisfied. It’s important, however, to understand how each plant will grow out in a composition like this since there are “many parts to the whole.”

Here’s what I came up with for this trio of pots. I started with the deep red fountain grass for its beautiful fall color, and I liked how it blended with the dark leaves of the heuchera in each pot. They also show up well against the cream color of the brick.

A blue-green fescue adds another, shorter, grass element, contrasting with the smaller, rounder leaves of the trailing angelvine and creeping jenny. White petunias add brightness and will also trail.

The red fountain grass is an annual, so it will be pulled out with the onset of cold weather and the bay planted with it will stay. In the terra cotta planter there’s a small arborvitae, and In each pot some elements are repeated so it’s not too chaotic looking…

Maintenance will mean consistent watering since the planting will become root bound – in the smaller pots especially, and the petunias will need to be deadheaded to keep them blooming. A few pumpkins and gourds would also look great at the base through the fall…

With the onset of cooler weather and pansy season, the petunias can be replaced by white (Or a color if they prefer.) pansies or violas. The remainder of the plants are perennial, so can be left through the winter. They’re situated against a wall which should help keep them warm, but it would be smart to protect them with a covering if temps fall below freezing for any length of time.

By Kris Blevons

Head Planters – Planted!

Pinkie’s planting in a cast stone head planter…

I’ve seen some interesting head planters on Pinterest and other social media sites over the past few years, and decided this spring it was time to get in on the fun. Since these pieces are heavy cast stone, they’re not going to tip over in winds and consequently won’t break easily either. The planting space isn’t terribly roomy though, so extra care needs to be taken to ensure they don’t dry out.

Pinkie planted the one shown in the first pictures here using mostly succulents. They’re the perfect choice for planting in small spaces like this since they tolerate dry soil. Though the aeonium at the front is a short-term cool season plant, you can see in the second picture that the peach purslane and yellow bulbine were happy to take over the show once the aeonium pooped out in the heat.

A sedum ‘Blue Spruce’ is the single plant in the second, smaller head planter. It was planted at the end of June, and this picture was taken the beginning of September. Not bad for a tiny planting space!

For part shade…

We had one head planter left at the end of August, and it looked too empty. Since Pinkie had planted the other two for sun, I decided to try one with something in it for shade or filtered sun. While Pinkie’s head planters really look like hats, I decide mine would be a bit more bohemian.

One of my favorite plants is Hemigraphis ‘Red Flame’ or waffle plant. In container plantings it will steal the show, spilling out in a silvery purple wave. To it I added a tiny piece of a blue carex, a sedge that works very well in dry shade. The final addition was a dried pod for a “hat pin”. Now to find just the right spot…

By Kris Blevons

Summer Horse Trough Planting…Caladium Encore 2015

Horse Troughs Planted For Summer The troughs in front of Dyron’s Restaurant took a real hit this winter, so I was more than happy to pull out all that had died and replant for the summer.

Last year’s planting included a pretty yellow thryallis, but this year I opted to leave it out. I did repeat the ‘Red Flash’ caladiums that had done so well last year and left the Carex ‘Evergold’ and Golden Acorus in each trough as well since they had sailed through the winter cold. Keeping some perennials in planters as large as these makes sense.

This year, instead of zinnias, I opted for vinca and lantana for some white and yellow blooms respectively. They should definitely take the hot blazing afternoon sun. A dark leaf potato vine will trail over the edge, and its color should contrast nicely with these containers.

Last summer the Red Flash caladium almost overwhelmed the thryallis, so this year I decided to give them a run for their money and added a chartreuse coleus called ‘Wasabi’ that will get just as enormous. Here’s to another growing season!

Maintenance of this planting will involve consistent watering and the occasional clip back of the lantana and coleus. Seed pods that form on the caladiums will also be cut and any yellow leaves removed.

Container Gardens…Using Foliage For Color And Contrast

Mondays are the best days to put a few container combinations together before the weekly orders begin to come in for custom plantings, arrangements for parties, and the general hectic pace of spring continues.

A big hanging basket…

The goal is to give inspiration to all of you who might be overwhelmed with the choices available or want something to take home and plop by your front door, on your porch, or in the garden.

Contrasting leaves of coleus, grassy Carex and ajuga make a vibrant combination…

'Miss Muffet' caladium and 'Bounce' impatiens under planted with scotch moss...

‘Miss Muffet’ caladium and sunpatiens under planted with scotch moss…

This past weekend it was fun to talk with some ladies, two sisters and their mother, visiting from Columbus, Georgia. While the sisters browsed through the greenhouse, their mother was busily amassing quite a collection of plants to carry back with them, an alarming amount in the sisters eyes.

A black elephant ear, 'Bounce' impatiens, spiky juncus and variegated creeping fig will all appreciate steady moisture through the summer...

A black elephant ear, Sunpatiens, spiky juncus and variegated creeping fig will all appreciate steady moisture through the summer…

Contrasting leaves of Heuchera, maidenhair Fern, Babywing begonia and Fuschia ‘Gartenmeister’…

“How are you planning to fit all this in the car.”, one of the daughters asked. “Oh, it will be fine.”, Mom said airily. “We’ll just shift some of the luggage around.” It was such fun talking with her, answering questions about the plants she saw on her own or in various container combinations throughout the nursery and greenhouse.

This large hanging basket uses caladiums, angelvine, a Carex and a mother Fern in the very center…

I’m not sure exactly how they eventually managed to get all the plants in their car for the trip home, but I do know Mom would have packed the plants and shipped the luggage if it came down to it!

All foliage…

Some of the plantings our Georgia visitors saw are shown in this post and include foliage plants for filtered sun to shade, including coleus, the largest of which are the Kong series, big bold beauties for shade.

Don’t forget caladiums, always a stalwart…and many now also tolerate full sun. Hypoestes, or polka dot plant, comes in pink, white, or red, and many heucheras have beautiful patterns and colors too.

The Rex begonia’s leaves stand out in this planting…

The trailing plant here is an episcia…

A trailing golden creeping Jenny or variegated creeping fig adds either gold or green and white coloring. Episcias are another beautiful choice when they’re available.

Use bloomers like the new Beacon series of impatiens, SunPatiens, Torenia (both trailing and upright), Babywing or Dragonwing begonias, and airy white euphorbia for even more color.

A large leaf coleus and a small leaf coleus share space with a SunPatiens and angel vine in a cast stone ‘barn board’ planter…

Using interesting foliage with flowers in plantings that don’t get the hot summer sun (and those that do) is always the goal for an interesting and vibrant composition. And, as plant choices change through the season, you’ll see different planting combinations on any given week as new plants become available and others are sold out. This changing inventory may call for creative substitutions for some plants, but that also makes it fun!

Posted by Kris Blevons

Succulent Arrangements…A Sampling

Succulents can be quite colorful…

Have you found a spot this year to try a few succulents? These tough plants will make any sunny spot more interesting, come in all shapes and sizes, and can be combined with air plants and others that don’t mind dry feet.

These oval containers offer interesting planting possibilities…

A succulent planting in a customer’s stone trough…

Think about using them with purslane, portulaca, creeping thyme, Mexican heather, bulbine, yuccas, or anything else that likes it hot and dry.

Molly’s cork pieces will hang on porch columns…

Going into the warmer months many succulents can be used. Some are winter hardy, and those we’ll always have outside in the nursery. Tender succulents that you’ll need to bring inside when fall arrives can be found in the greenhouse.

If you have a dry, sunny spot in your landscape, try a few of the hardy sedums. If the drainage is good, they’ll be happy and will spread, though the test of their hardiness will be in the winter.

Hen and chicks (Sempervivum species) is extremely cold hardy and will breeze through the winter if they’re not waterlogged. Soggy, cold soil is definitely not to their liking!

Keep in mind that a single pot filled with one type of succulent can be as beautiful as many in combination and, with the right container, can be quite dramatic. So there’s no need to feel intimidated; just dive in, pick a plant you like, and have fun!

Posted by Kris Blevons

Here’s A Look At Our Plantings in the Southern Living Magazine’s Container Gardening Collector’s Edition!

One of our favorite things to do at the shop when there’s a little extra time is to create imaginative and creative plantings to give people ideas for their own planters. The trick is using the right plants for our southern climate, and maintaining them well. So there just happened to be quite a few growing out last summer when the producers of the Southern Living Container Gardening Special Collector’s Edition stopped in to see if there were any they could use. The special publication would be available on newstands beginning February, 2015. All of the plantings in this issue make sense for southern gardeners since they utilize the plants that will withstand the heat and humidity we all contend with.

I wanted to do something a little different in this cone shaped basket, so I started with a pot of chives and added rhoes (oyster plant) Echeverias and trailing string of pearls for a textural feast…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

One of my favorite shade planting designs because of how wonderfully it grew out after this picture was taken. The ‘Babywing’ pink begonia was a showstopper, growing through the large ‘Garden White’ caladiums and the carex ‘Evergold’ mingled with the silver waffle plant, (hemigraphis) trailing over the edge beautifully…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

Between myself, Jamie, Molly, Pinkie, and Lauren, we are well represented in this informative issue, and I am so proud! Here’s a look at our designs (You can pick up a copy of the magazine while it’s on newsstands until May, 2015). Look HERE to see a post on a few more of our plantings from last summer including a couple of these right after they were planted. Posted by Kris Blevons

I wanted to capture a Mediterranean feel with this summer planting in a large terra cotta bowl. I started with a variegated yucca and added drought tolerant silver thyme and sedums, a trailing jade plant (portulacaria) and a wispy Mexican feather grass (Nasella tenuissima)…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

Large rounded leaves of a flap jack kalanchoe, thin, strappy leaves of an agave and trailing peperomia all combine beautifully in Molly’s composition…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

Three succulent plantings by Molly certainly showcase all the variety available…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

An Alocasia is the star of this “large and in charge” planting by Jamie. She added Alternanthera ‘Ruby Star’ to fill out the base…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

We love using houseplants in shade containers through the summer. Molly used various shapes and textures here, beginning with an anthurium and adding the parlor palm, agloenema and ivy…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

Jamie used Oncidium orchids and Pilea ‘Aquamarine’ in this vertical planter…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

A glazed, blue footed urn was the inspiration for Pinkie’s pink, blue, and white combination…the caladiums are a sun tolerant variety called ‘Aaron’.
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

Succulents! Look at all the different leaf shapes and sizes here…Lauren’s vertical planter is wood from a pallet with pots wired on.
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

Begin your planting combinations with one plant you love, and add to it. I wanted to use this coleus, then added the trailing torenia and SunPatiens to compliment it…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

This brown bowl I designed was actually featured in another post on our website titled ‘A Brown Bowl, 2 Ways‘. This is the chartreuse, blue and white version for sun…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

A pretty blue glazed pot was the starting point for my planting using a dramatic elephant ear called Maui Gold. Look at that color! This was featured on the cover too…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

Hypertufa containers work well for herbs and flowers. In this bowl I used a lavender, ornamental golden oregano and added a splash of color with pink vinca…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

In this large shade planter I decided to use a trailing ‘Neon’ Pothos instead of the ubiquitous chartreuse potato vine. Don’t be afraid to use houseplants in outdoor shade planters! Here coleus, caladiums and an airy white euphorbia complete the design…
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

I filled this old wheelbarrow up with lots of zinnias, fan flower and vinca, then added some purple basil, ornamental Kent’s Beauty oregano, and scented geranium for additional foliage and texture. It bloomed all summer!
Photo Courtesy Southern Living Magazine

Fall Container Planting…(There’s More Than Just Pansies Out There!)

The temperatures are hopefully trending downward, and you’re thinking about redoing your summer plantings. There seem to be so many choices; it’s normal to feel overwhelmed at the garden shop, even though you probably thought you had it all figured out before you left home!

I’ve seen the slightly dazed look on folks’ faces as they peruse the tables upon tables of pansies, violas, snapdragons, various herbs and ornamental greens. Invariably they turn to us with a bewildered look and say, “I have (insert number of pots here) and need to fill them. Can you help me?!”

Assuming you have at least a half days worth of sun for flowers, the usual pansies and violas will work just fine all on their own if you really don’t want to do a whole lot of thinking; but there’s so much more out there to play with! From the simplest addition of beautiful green curly parsley (It adds such great color and texture to a planting.) to a more complex mix of greens, grasses and herbs, there’s no limit to fun combinations.

The large planter here is one of a pair, used at the top of stairs leading onto a wide open porch. I took my color cues from the red brick and cream color of the house in choosing my plants, using predominantly yellow with the evergreen Chamaecyparis ‘Crippsii’, yellow variegated Acorus ‘Ogon’, golden creeping Jenny to trail, and Matrix ‘Lemon’ pansies. To this I added ornamental red mustard, and a chard with red stems called ‘Charlotte’. These will add big, bold leaves, beautiful foliage color, and added height.

Next, more flowers with a trailing white pansy called Cool Wave White, a few orange violas and a trailing rosemary – the brown grass trailing off to one side and tucked in the back as well is Carex ‘Toffee’. When the sun shines on this grass it glows!

These planters are quite large and can support this variety of plants. In smaller planters, a smaller shrub, some curly parsley, pansies and a trailing plant might be sufficient. Remember, more is always better in planters and windowboxes to give them a lush overflowing feel.These planters will make a definite statement as they grow out.

Tips For Maintaining Your Fall/Winter Planters:
– As always, keep faded blooms deadheaded.

– Don’t overwater. As the weather cools in the fall and winter, it’s best to let planters go a bit drier.

– If plants like ornamental cabbage and parsley do get dry between watering, you’ll have some yellow leaves. Groom these and other plants regularly, removing any yellowing leaves that you see. Remember, they’re not going to turn green again!

– Watch the weather and be prepared to cover your planters if freezing temperatures are forecast. Prior to covering, water them thoroughly. Uncover them as soon as the temperatures are above freezing.

Some Interesting Choices To Use With Pansies And Violas In Winter Planters:

Chamaecyparis obtusa – various selections; they make excellent evergreen accents.
Cupressus ‘Carolina Sapphire’ – beautiful blue evergreen, good in the landscape also.
Rosemary – large evergreen herb, upright or trailing varieties.
Juniper – ‘Blue Point’
Thuja – ‘Golden Globe’ arborvitae, nice, rounded form.
Heuchera & Heucherella selections – evergreen perennials, interesting as a foliage element – airy blooms in spring.
Acorus – adds another texture to plantings; grasslike variegated leaves add color as well.
Ornamental Kale – ‘Redbor’ and ‘Winterbor’ are two very upright growing forms of kale, but there are many others. ‘Red Russian’ and ‘Lacinato’ are also edible. In a normal to mild winter they’ll last til spring. As heat returns, they’ll “bolt”, or bloom, adding yellow flowers.
Ornamental Mustard – These add a bold leaf and a darker color to compositions.
Chard – another beautiful and edible addition to containers or garden beds.
Curly Parsley – Adds texture in winter plantings; also a beautiful shade of deep, clean green.
Golden Creeping Jenny – A useful trailing element, it may get knocked back in a freeze but adds color until then and will come back as temperatures moderate.
Muehlenbeckia, Angel Vine – tough as nails trailer. Will lose it’s leaves in a freeze but normally reappears in the spring. Protect it and it will be green through the winter in Birmingham.
Sweet Alyssum – not available for long in fall, but a nice addition to planters until it succumbs to freezing temperatures.
Poppies – available through the fall; worth trying if you haven’t. They hunker down through the winter but will fill out in the spring, adding their bright, papery blooms to liven any planting. Take care to not overwater under cool winter conditions.

Container Gardening With Herbs – The Basics

for summer – lots of herbs and some flowers too…

Herbs are beautiful additions to any container garden, either on their own or combined with seasonal flowers. They add colorful leaves, texture, scent, and culinary usefulness to plantings and attract bees and other beneficial insects as well.

Planting Basics:

Use as large a pot as possible.

Use good quality potting soil.

Fertilize lightly.

Maintenance of Herbs in Containers:

Herbs often suffer from overfertilizing, overwatering, and overcrowding. Water when dry so that water runs out the bottom of the container. Remember pots will dry out quickly in the heat of summer and during windy conditions. Empty water that may be standing in saucers. Clip your herbs regularly. This will keep them from becoming leggy and overcrowded, especially if they’ve been used in combination plantings. Harvest herbs in the morning and just prior to bloom. Near the end of the season, allow your basil to bloom; the bees love it! Finally, never prune woody herbs like rosemary to bare wood.

Using Herbs in Combination Plantings:

Trailing pink vinca works well with sun loving herbs of lavender, sage and chives in this trough planting….

Start with the herbs you’d like to most use, either for an ornamental or culinary addition. Knowing their growth habits is helpful in deciding their placement in your container.

For example, use chives for a grasslike effect; thyme, trailing rosemary, and oregano to spill over the edges; lavender or upright rosemary for height; and parsley and sage as fillers in containers.

Another idea is to use one herb in a pot and group many such pots together. A rosemary plant, once mature, will easily fill a large 14″ or bigger planter, as will lavender. Mid-size (10″- 14″) pots can be filled with parsley, chives, sage, French tarragon, or, more easily grown in the south, Texas tarragon. The larger the pot the better!

Annual Herbs Basil, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Grass (warm season); Cilantro, Dill (cool season); parsley (biennial).

Herbs and Succulents…

Perennial Herbs Rosemary, Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Sage, Chives, Mint, Lavender, French Tarragon, Texas Tarragon, Savory, Hyssop, Lemon Balm, Catnip, Rue, Santolina, Fennel, Germander, Summer and Winter Savory.

Cool Season Herbs Cilantro, Dill, Salad Burnet, Chervil.

Plant Sizes

Small – under 1 foot in diameter: Parsley, Dill, Chives (garlic & onion), Cilantro, Salad Burnet, Chervil.

Medium – 1-2 feet in diameter: Thyme, Tarragon, Basils, Mint.

Large 3 feet or more in diameter or over 4 feet high: Rosemary, Oregano, Lemon Verbena, Sage.

Sun/Moisture

Dry, sunny, Mediterranean conditions: Rosemary, Oregano, Marjoram, Sage, Lavender, Thyme, Tarragon, Germander, Santolina.

Cooler, afternoon-shaded locations: Mint, Cilantro, Dill, Chives, Parsley, Lemon Balm, Salad Burnet, Lemon Grass.

Common methods of propagation of perennial herbs: Divisions: Chives, Mint, Thyme, Oregano. Cuttings: Rosemary, Lavender, Sage, Winter Savory, Lemon Verbena, Rue.

Rosemary looking a little rough after this past winter…

Pests & Diseases Of Herbs Careful cultivation of your herbs will help keep them healthy and less susceptible to pests and diseases. Provide adequate water when needed, plant with the proper spacing for the best air circulation, and place them in the right amount of sun. Chemicals, obviously should not be used on any herbs you plan to harvest. Insecticidal soap or a strong spray of water is generally enough to deter most pests.

Aphids – Soft-bodied insects found on new growth and easily controlled by a strong spray of water or insecticidal soap.

Whiteflies Can be problematic, spraying the undersides of the leaves consistently with insecticidal soap is necessary to eliminate them. In large infestations they’ll fly out of the center of the plant in a white cloud when disturbed. An important point to keep in mind is that spraying with the wrong insecticide can make whitefly problems worse, since spraying with the wrong insecticide will kill important predatory insects and tiny parasitic wasps that help control whiteflies. These naturally occurring beneficial insects are the best way to control whiteflies, and whitefly outbreaks generally occur when this natural control is disrupted. The best course of action is to preserve beneficials by avoiding unnecessary insecticidal treatments.
Look HERE for more information from Mississippi State University.

Leaf Hoppers – These insects hop from plant to plant so are known to spread diseases. Control with insecticidal soap spray. Remove any garden debris each fall to reduce over-wintering sites. Thorough coverage of both upper and lower infested leaves is necessary for effective control.

Leaf Miner – Burrowing insects that live inside leaves and are identified by the white “trails” on the leaves. The best control is to cut the plant back and throw away (Do not compost.) those leaves. Common on parsley in particular.

Caterpillars – Always try to identify caterpillars before you get rid of them! Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars are commonly found on parsley, fennel, and dill. Bt and Sevin dust will control those you do want to eliminate, as will hand picking.

Powdery Mildew – Mildew is caused by too little air circulation. Thinning the plant and clipping back surrounding plants to improve air movement will help.

The following organic fungicide of baking soda and water can also be applied on your herbs:

1 Tbsp baking soda. ½ Tsp liquid soap 1 Tbsp light horticultural oil in 1 gallon of water.

Always spray in the coolest portion of the day, avoid spraying when bees are active, and test this on a small portion of the plant first. The oil coats and smothers the fungi, and the soap helps the mix cling to the upper and lower portions of the leaf.

Latin names for herbs listed in this post:

Anise Hyssop: Agastache foeniculum; Basil: Ocimum basilicum; Chives: Allium schoenoprasum; Garlic chives: Allium tuberosum; Cilantro: Coriandrum sativum; Dill: Anethum graveolens; Fennel: Foeniculum vulgare; Germander: Teucrium chamaedrys; Lavender: Lavandula sp.; Santolina: Santolina chamaecyparissus, Santolina virens; Lemon Balm: Melissa officianalis; Lemon Grass: Cymbopogon citratus; Lemon Verbena: Aloysia triphylla ; Marjoram: Origanum majorana; Mint: Mentha sp.; Oregano (Greek) Origanum heracleoticum; Parsley: Petroselinum crispum; Rosemary: Rosmarinus officianalis; Rue: Ruta graveolens; Sage: Salvia officianalis; Salad Burnet: Sanguisorba minor; French tarragon: Artemesia dracunculus; Texas tarragon: Tagetes lucida; Thyme: Thymus sp. Winter Savory: Satureja Montana; Summer Savory: Satureja hortensis

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Category Archives: Container Gardening

Container Gardening Design Tips

Design Tips For Container Plantings Focused on Foliage

Container Gardening – Pointers & Possibilities…

The Gardening Tool That Is Always With You

Ideas For Container Gardens In The Sun

March…The In-Between Month

It’s A New Season… Planters For 2018

Mums…And More!!!!

Contained…Plantings To Inspire

Cork Bark Planters for Shady Summer Spots

Planting for Shade – Don’t Forget About Begonias!!

What Is That?!?? It’s ‘Red Giant’ Mustard!

A Trio of Pots – Color and Texture In A Late Summer Planting

Head Planters – Planted!

Summer Horse Trough Planting…Caladium Encore 2015

Container Gardens…Using Foliage For Color And Contrast

Succulent Arrangements…A Sampling

Here’s A Look At Our Plantings in the Southern Living Magazine’s Container Gardening Collector’s Edition!

Fall Container Planting…(There’s More Than Just Pansies Out There!)

Container Gardening With Herbs – The Basics