Container gardens can create a natural sanctuary in a busy city
street, along rooftops or on balconies. You can easily
accentuate the welcoming look of a deck or patio with colourful
pots of annuals, or fill your window boxes with beautiful shrub
roses or any number of small perennials. Whether you arrange
your pots in a group for a massed effect or highlight a smaller
space with a single specimen, you'll be delighted with this
simple way to create a garden.
Container gardening enables you to easily vary your color
scheme, and as each plant finishes flowering, it can be replaced
with another. Whether you choose to harmonize or contrast your
colors, make sure there is variety in the height of each plant.
Think also of the shape and texture of the leaves. Tall
strap-like leaves will give a good vertical background to
low-growing, wide-leaved plants. Choose plants with a long
flowering season, or have others of a different type ready to
replace them as they finish blooming.
Experiment with creative containers. You might have an old
porcelain bowl or copper urn you can use, or perhaps you'd
rather make something really modern with timber or tiles. If you
decide to buy your containers ready-made, terracotta pots look
wonderful, but tend to absorb water. You don't want your plants
to dry out, so paint the interior of these pots with a special
sealer available from hardware stores. Cheaper plastic pots can
also be painted on the outside with water-based paints for good
effect. When purchasing pots, don't forget to buy matching
saucers to catch the drips. This will save cement floors getting
stained, or timber floors rotting.
Always use a good quality potting mix in your containers. This
will ensure the best performance possible from your plants.
If you have steps leading up to your front door, an attractive
pot plant on each one will delight your visitors. Indoors, pots
of plants or flowers help to create a cosy and welcoming
atmosphere.
Decide ahead of time where you want your pots to be positioned,
then buy plants that suit the situation. There is no point
buying sun lovers for a shady position, for they will not do
well. Some plants also have really large roots, so they are best
kept for the open garden.
If you have plenty of space at your front door, a group of
potted plants off to one side will be more visually appealing
than two similar plants placed each side. Unless they are
spectacular, they will look rather boring. Group the pots in odd
numbers rather than even, and vary the height and type. To tie
the group together, add large rocks that are similar in
appearance and just slightly different in size. Three or five
pots of the same type and color, but in different sizes also
looks affective.
With a creative mind and some determination, you will soon have
a container garden that will be the envy of friends and
strangers alike.
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