First of all, think about the style, shape and colour of your pot. For example, wooden containers are very strong and durable and can be painted to match your colour scheme. Clay pots are very popular and good value for money;always make sure that any terracotta pot you buy is frost-proof. Metal containers are suited to modern, formal or contemporary gardens, although a rusty bucket would look great in a cottage style garden. Plastic containers are very light-weight, tough, frost-resistant and inexpensive. If you have a windy site choose a cylinder or a square container where the sides are the same width to the bottom of the pot. This shape is less vunerable to wind and less likely to blow over in stormy conditions.
Now that you have chosen your container, what are you going to put in it? The first thing before choosing plants is to put some drainage material in the bottom of the pot. This can be some broken terracotta, gravel or even some polystyrene. The purpose of this is to stop the drainage holes in the pot blocking up with compost and to allow water to flow freely out of the pot. Now to the compost, the compost you choose will depend on the type of plant you choose. For example if you plant an Azalea in a pot you will need an ericaceous compost, mosts plant however will be happy in a multi-purpose compost. Please bear in mind that the plant will use up most of the nutrition in the compost quite quickly so supplimentary feeding with the appropriate food will be necessary.
So what plants to choose? Do you want to add colour to a certain part of your garden or do you want brighten and smarten your front door? Annuals and bulbs can add huge colour to your garden. For Spring colour plant bulbs like Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissus, Muscari and Irises. Keep containers with bulbs sheltered until they start to grow, then increase the watering and move to the right spot.
For summer colour which you can start now try short varieties of Dahlias. Begonias are stunning in pots as are Lillies. The amount of summer flowering annuals is almost endless but here are a few of our favorites. The old fashioned Geranium is hard to beat as is Allysum, Lobelia, Petunia, Bacopa and Callibrachoa. Try to give height in the middle of the containers and have the lower growing varieties at the edge of the pot. Adding small evergreens help bring your container through the seasons.
Ornamental grasses like Uncinia and trailing Vinca minor Illumination will give year round colour and interest. For Autumn and Winter colour it is had to beat Mini Cyclamen and Violas. There are some lovely evergreen like Skimmia which has lovely pink buds and Nandina with it’s striking foliage and Sarcococca with its tiny but highly scented flowers. Practically any plants can be used in containers once given the appropriate care with water being the most important requirement. Please come and see us and even bring your containers with you and we can help you choose plants and pot them up for you.
See you soon
Monica Schmidt, Horticulturalist at Powerscourt Garden Pavilion
First of all, think about the style, shape and colour of your pot. For example, wooden containers are very strong and durable and can be painted to match your colour scheme. Clay pots are very popular and good value for money;always make sure that any terracotta pot you buy is frost-proof. Metal containers are suited to modern, formal or contemporary gardens, although a rusty bucket would look great in a cottage style garden. Plastic containers are very light-weight, tough, frost-resistant and inexpensive. If you have a windy site choose a cylinder or a square container where the sides are the same width to the bottom of the pot. This shape is less vunerable to wind and less likely to blow over in stormy conditions.
Now that you have chosen your container, what are you going to put in it? The first thing before choosing plants is to put some drainage material in the bottom of the pot. This can be some broken terracotta, gravel or even some polystyrene. The purpose of this is to stop the drainage holes in the pot blocking up with compost and to allow water to flow freely out of the pot. Now to the compost, the compost you choose will depend on the type of plant you choose. For example if you plant an Azalea in a pot you will need an ericaceous compost, mosts plant however will be happy in a multi-purpose compost. Please bear in mind that the plant will use up most of the nutrition in the compost quite quickly so supplimentary feeding with the appropriate food will be necessary.
So what plants to choose? Do you want to add colour to a certain part of your garden or do you want brighten and smarten your front door? Annuals and bulbs can add huge colour to your garden. For Spring colour plant bulbs like Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissus, Muscari and Irises. Keep containers with bulbs sheltered until they start to grow, then increase the watering and move to the right spot.
For summer colour which you can start now try short varieties of Dahlias. Begonias are stunning in pots as are Lillies. The amount of summer flowering annuals is almost endless but here are a few of our favorites. The old fashioned Geranium is hard to beat as is Allysum, Lobelia, Petunia, Bacopa and Callibrachoa. Try to give height in the middle of the containers and have the lower growing varieties at the edge of the pot. Adding small evergreens help bring your container through the seasons.
Ornamental grasses like Uncinia and trailing Vinca minor Illumination will give year round colour and interest. For Autumn and Winter colour it is had to beat Mini Cyclamen and Violas. There are some lovely evergreen like Skimmia which has lovely pink buds and Nandina with it’s striking foliage and Sarcococca with its tiny but highly scented flowers. Practically any plants can be used in containers once given the appropriate care with water being the most important requirement. Please come and see us and even bring your containers with you and we can help you choose plants and pot them up for you.
See you soon
Monica Schmidt, Horticulturalist at Powerscourt Garden Pavilion 
