Planning a Container Planting

 This is the time of year when we plan for the season ahead.  I have often said that the month the garden gets totally out of control isn't August.  It's January.  That's when we are tempted to wreck perfectly sensible plans that we made last summer when we were thinking clearer.  As we get more experienced, we are less likely to do that.  We realize that months of cold isolation, lack of growing things and the bad influence of mail order catalogs (and now internet examples) can make us susceptible to flights of fancy and grandiose ideas.

Here is something I've been thinking about for awhile.  My whiskey barrel planters along the river bed.  They turned out really beautiful last year.  I didn't even mind deadheading the Petunias.  Traditional Petunias is something I succumb to every now and then but they take a lot of maintenance.

There are several things to consider when planning a container:

• Growing conditions (Sun Shade Heat)
• Color Palette
• Growth Habit (Shape)
• Cost
• Availability

I have addressed container combinations before.  It is something I put a lot of thought into but I am beginning to run out of ideas that excite me.  Proven Winners has a great site tool called Recipe Search where they put out all of their recommended combinations and give you the list of everything that goes into them.  Growers use these when putting together hanging baskets and combination planters.  You can also assemble them yourself.  The problem is that you can't always find all of the exact ingredients.  This has only added to my frustration.

There is a slight problem with these two planters. of mine  One is in full sun and the other is in part sun.  Can you see in the photo below how the petunias seem to be full and lush on the left (east) but there are no blooms on the lower right (west)?  This is because this planter only gets sun until 1:00 pm. About 5 hours.  Then it is in full shade for the rest of the afternoon.  Obviously not deep shade.  It is picking up a lot of surrounding light.  But the maple tree shadow hits it at 1:00 and the maple tree is only getting larger and thicker.

Having Petunias in these planters in the first place happened by accident.  We had them both in full sun locations elsewhere in the landscape, but they were in out of the way places and we needed something to fill in the wide strip of gravel along the river bed.  We wanted something colorful we could enjoy from the fire pit patio where we sit most afternoons.  One of these planters had been full of Daddy Mix Petunias a few years ago.  There is something they don't tell you about traditional Petunias.  They reseed.  At least half of my volunteer weeds are Petunias.  Violas are also a bit pesky this way.  Portulaca is a suprisingly reliable reseeder (because they are so closely related to that PITA Purslane).  Sadly and curiously I have never had a volunteer Marigold.  But I do deadhead my Marigolds pretty regularly.

Original Daddy® Mix Petunia 

Petunias are determined critters.  The next year after the Petunias I planted red Durango Outback Marigolds in that planter.  The Petunias came up anyway and pretty much took over.

Volunteer Daddy Mix coming through Durango Red Marigolds

When we moved the Whiskey Barrels in 2020 I hadn't planned for any annuals in them.  That was the first year of Covid so spending a lot of money on annuals seemed like it might be a little foolish.  Instead I had put my leftover sweet potato slips in them.  I also used fountain grass as a centerpiece. The Petunias came up anyway.

They actually looked kind of nice.  The other planter had only sweet potato and fountain grass, but the one with the Petunias looked like I had had a plan all along.

So in last year I planted Daddy Mix Petunias in both of them.

Over the years the whole annual flower thing has become a little tiring.  We've lost a few older nurseries in our area and the Big Box Stores are not dependable.  Finding what I want year after year has become more difficult.  It is frustrating to make a plan and then not be able to source the particular varieties I want.  For instance, last year I wanted to put Euphorbia in all of my planters.  That's usually easy to find.  Scaevola would have been nice too.  I had first tried that in 2021 and loved it.  Do you think I could find either one in May?  Nope.  I waited well into June.  I asked at my main nursery and the owner said his supplier kept telling him those plants would be on the next truck and they never were.  I gave up and planted lime green sweet potato vines instead and the darn things took over everything.

Instead of buying annuals I am leaning towards starting my own from seeds as I sometimes do, or just skipping them all together.  My budget for annuals is about $200 a year.  The Geraniums I plant along our driveway are taking up more and more of that. This year I am going to add Marigolds to my list of seed annuals (snapdragons, zinnias etc) just to save money, and I am also leaning towards tubers.  I already save my Dahlia tubers, why not add Begonias and Caladiums?  Tuberous Begonias might be great in that shady whiskey barrel.  

Begonia Hanging Golden Balcony

My color palette in and around the garden in hot colors (red orange yellow).  In the river bed I have some accents of blue but pinks are strictly around the house and purple I only put in the whiskey barrel one year because it was far removed from any other color planting and I could put whatever I wanted in it one year to the next.  So I have chosen the Golden Balcony hanging Begonias to try.  

Of course there is just one thing.  The shade container should coordinate with the sun container.  Good luck with that right?  I can't put Begonias in the full sun but I want a similar color.  What I would really love is some Peachy Keen Superbena.  Of course I cannot rely on finding that variety and I am not going to drive all over the county once a week searching for it.  I'll just have to splurge and mail order it.  If I am starting all of my Marigolds and other annuals from seed I'm saving money there and I can justify a splurge.  If I change my mind I can fill the planter with Marigolds or Dahlias or something else I have lots of.  But I think it would look really nice.

Superbena® Peachy Keen

Another sun/shade problem I have is the planter in front of the chicken coop.  This faces due east and gets full morning sun but come noon/1:00 it is shaded.  I've put a lot of different things in this spot over the years from sun lovers like Calibrachoa or hanging Geraniums, to shade lovers like Coleus.  All have done fine.  Out of pure lack of imagination last year I just put the sweet potato vine in.  There was also a geranium in there but it was totally overwhelmed.

A sun loving Geranium just couldn't battle a sweet potato vine with no help from the sun.

For this year I have ordered Caladium tubers.  I've never grown Caladium before but I thing the bright white will stand out in this location and I can save the tubers for future.  There are a couple of other shady locations I could put these too.  I want something bold because I walk past it several times a day and it is visible from the driveway.  I need something eye catching there.

Caladium Fancy White Queen

That takes care of three of my planters.  The other four are close to our side door.  They will also have to be coordinated.  Last year I used Geraniums and they looked nice.  This year I plan to replace the salmon Geraniums with border height Dahlias.  I am replacing $100 worth of Geraniums with $60 of Dahlia tubers that I can save year after year.

That's what I've been thinking about lately.  I have all of my plans drown up, the seeds and tubers are ordered.  I've estimated how many gallons of potting mix I need and how much I have already.  I have my planting calendar filled out.  I know how many trays of how many pots of what kind of everything I have room for in the cold frame.  And now... we wait.