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It is spring and time for a change. Its that time of year when I want to create Easy, Fast and Cheap summer containers for my front yard.
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Twice a year, I change the containers that sit at the front of my house. I love having these containers filled for the holiday season in the winter and take in the sunshine in the summer. I have discussed how to make lovely seasonal containers for the winter now I wanted to give you a few tips on putting them together for the spring and summer.
First you have to take all the debris away from the holiday containers. You need to make sure to clean the soil also. It needs air and nutrients to make the base for the summer planters better. Its best to build it with a mixture that is light, drought resistant and helps the plants take root and grow. I’ve notice a considerable difference from last year’s containers. Choosing Miracle Grow Potting Mix has helped the plants take faster and they look healthier.
I have had these black containers for years now. I am on a constant look out to replace them but I cannot seem to find something that is in my budget and in the shape and colour that I want. Since I changed the door hardware a few years ago, I would like the planters to be black to match all the hardware and the mailbox (that I bought in a very cool shop on Queen Street West in Toronto).
Making sure you have a mixture of textures and layering seems to be the trick to a beautiful, welcomeing entryway. I have two contemporary woven chairs and a matching side table that sit on the patio. There is also an indoor/outdoor rug that lies underneath a welcome mat. Why the TWO mats? Because otherwise, it would just but one very large concrete slab and one very small mat. When you layer them, it makes it look better. you always need to pay attention to those small details. (I hope you heard that in my HGTV voiceover-VOICE).
I am not a gardener. If you know anything about me you know that I kill plants by just looking at them. There are very few indoor plants in my home and in the garden. There are, however, plenty of sturdy perennials that have little to no maintenance. I am not proud of the fact that my sister inherited all of my mother’s ‘gardening genes’ and I was left with next to none but that is the way the dice were rolled in my family.
I was blessed with the ability to look at puzzles every which way and figure out what is the most efficient and cost effective way to do things. Like I said, I am not a gardener so figuring out how to pair up plants so that they will compliment each other and grow well together would not be one of my fortes. I leave that to others to figure out and I just expand on it. So my big, big tip is to buy a pre-designed planter and then add to them.
I buy hanging baskets that have a multitude of flowers and plants in them. I usually get them at the beginning of the season and keep them in my garage until they are ready to be planted (late May or early June). I find that Costco tends to get them here too soon and you never know what our weather is going to be like so just make sure you get a few days of consecutive warm weather.
I have been buying planting boxes or baskets at Costco for years. I love the price points (anywhere from $12 –29 for one basket). You can also find similar arrangements at Canadian Tire, Loblaw or even Metro. Any reputable gardening center will also have ready made hanging plants or container plants for you to just purchase and set up.
This year, my mother picked up the hanging baskets while I was away in Spain. They were smaller than last year but that gives us the opportunity to add more filler plants and make them ‘my own’. I know the picture above may look like the arrangement is rather large, the actual planters are pretty wide so you do need a lot of plants to make a good impression. I was never a fan of geraniums but after last year’s bumper crop (which were consistently flowering), I was sold on that particular plant. I also learned about the fine art of ‘dead-heading’ which means you pick off the dead blooms so that new blooms take their place. If you do this often enough (and as soon as the blooms have lost their lustre) you will encourage more flowers to bloom. These particular variety of plants are good for filler.
You should also make sure that you get plants that are ‘spillers’. These type of plants are ones that cascade over the pot and add layers to the arrangement. As most plants grow up, it is nice to see some plants fall down the side and balance things out. I have to admit, I bought a gorgeous cascade of hot pink petunias from Canadian Tire just because I loved their ‘wave’ effect. This variety of petunias became very popular about 8 years ago as growers developed a variety that literally grew in waves. You can often see people hanging baskets with these bountiful plants. I have to say this added another layer of flowers to the vignette that I was trying to create. They definitely are ‘thrillers’.
I absolutely love the chartreuse of a potato vine so you will always find those in my containers. I took a trip with my mother to one of London’s best nursery Van Luyk’s on Gore Road. They always have a wide variety of plants at very reasonable prices. I bought a few extra plants to fill in the container. I bought two types of coleus (the variegated burgundy and chartreuse and a deep purple), a potato vine and a geranium.
We decided to go with some plants that had a more colour to the planter. The chartreuse, burgundy and deep purple compliment the soft pink geranium. This planter did not have a spike in the middle as the one I had last year did. I was happy that we could add an element of height in the composition. It just gives the planter a distinct visual element.
A few tips on planting: when you first buy your plant, it probably has been sitting in that container for months. It has become well established. It has likely grown too large for its container and it is time to transplant it into a larger container. For your plant to get more ‘breathing’ space, you need to make sure to rough up the root ball of the plant so that the roots begin to take in the planter container. Trust me, by pulling away the roots, you will not be hurting the plant, you will be helping it grow stronger. So encourage root growth by (1) letting it expand beyond the confines of its small container and (2) feeding the plants a nutrient ‘booster’ like Miracle Grow potting soil. Once again, not being a great gardener, I tend to go with things that will make me a successful gardener and not a failed gardener.
As we put together the container, we wanted to mix up the composition by adding the spike at the back of the planter and not the middle. We did this for two reasons, we did not want to break up the integrity of the original planter and we wanted it to look asymmetrical. Adding height in the back makes the plants stand out more that sit in the front. Since you approach the containers from the ground and look up to see them, then you take the steps and are over them, you will see the composition differently (listen to me, you’d think I knew something about art – which I do not).
Remember to seal off any air pockets in between the plants. Add lots of fresh container potting soil to make sure the plants are well supported. You need to water the containers as soon as you have planted them and keep them moist throughout the summer. You have to make sure that they are watered everyday (when it is hot) or every other day when it is not. You may also want to add other elements to compliment your plants. This year, I also bought a small herb garden with (cilantro, chives, dill, basis, oregano and thyme). Instead of having in my back yard (where it gets too much sun, I have decided to put in in the front with my other plants. The locations seems to be perfect with some late afternoon sun but not scorching morning sun.
It is however, important to stand back (way back) from your summer containers to see how they will be seen from the sidewalk, the road and as you walk up the driveway. YES, I DO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY… You want it to look beautiful and inviting and as if you spent a lot of time thinking about it (which we did).
Ultimately, you have to be please with your creation. I don’t enjoy gardening because I think I fail at it most of the time. The truth is, I think I did a pretty good job this year not due to some newly acquired talents but due to some good bones and some basic building blocks: good soil, a great variety of plants and a mom that absolutely lives for gardening season.
Love how my container planter has turned out.
Tell me do you enjoy gardening?
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