Show off your Pot...

[thistlebloom]

Here's my little entry container that I put on the lawn to give it a drink and a spraydown. It's leftover foliage plants, but they pulled together pretty well I thought.

I also stuck some Persian Shield in there because it just impressed my socks off last year in the EE container, but it didn't do anything. Just sat there and sulked, then put out a few puny blooms.
For some reason the grasshoppers are attracted to the red coleus and have been munching it.

 

[ninnymary]

Looks nice thistle. I notice that you put a lot of plants in your containers. I have a pot with brugsmania that I need to plant underneath but now the soil is compacted.

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Looks nice thistle. I notice that you put a lot of plants in your containers. I have a pot with brugsmania that I need to plant underneath but now the soil is compacted.

Mary

Can you repot it this winter when it's dormant? Pop it out, massage the roots loose and repot in fresh soil. Then plant something with it....like maybe creeping Jenny. That will drape over the edge nicely and stay low to the soil.

 

[ninnymary]

Ugh, thistle, that's a lot of work! I was hoping I could just drill a hole or something and pop some creeping jenny in. Ha

Mary

 

[Lavender2]

Here's my little entry container that I put on the lawn to give it a drink and a spraydown. It's leftover foliage plants, but they pulled together pretty well I thought.
View attachment 4250

I also stuck some Persian Shield in there because it just impressed my socks off last year in the EE container, but it didn't do anything. Just sat there and sulked, then put out a few puny blooms.
For some reason the grasshoppers are attracted to the red coleus and have been munching it.

Very pretty! I love the stand too.. it's hard to find pot stands that hold large pots. What is the green vining plant on the right?

Persian shield, I wonder if you can start it from seed? One dark purple foliage plant I had luck with from seed is Alternanthera... adding it to the seed list for next year, along with coleus, thanks, keep the ideas coming!

 

[Lavender2]

Here's one that I have to have on my deck every year. This year it has really done well!

Double Yellow Datura...



I start them from seed in March and they bloom July through Sept. (if I keep it watered enough ) This is one plant that (for me) does better in a pot than in the ground. This year I stuck a Black-eyed Susan vine in the pot in case the Datura fizzled early, but it's still looking good and blooming. I think I've been better at deadheading this year.

And my other barrel of annuals ...the dusty miller got squeezed out by the marigolds.

 

[thistlebloom]

So the datura grows that much in a summer from seed? It's so pretty. Is it fragrant?

The viney yellow green plant in my pot is licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare). I also put it in a bed at a clients home because the plants that were in it as fillers (perennials that I can't remember now) didn't make it through the winter. It wasn't exactly planned, I had a lot of them left over because the lady changed her mind about doing as many containers as we had discussed after I bought a flat of them. So I just put them in the likeliest spot and lucked out!

But they did really well in the ground and filled in nicely. I'll probably do that again next year.

I only grew the Persian Shield last year for the first time. It looked so good with the EE, it got big and the foliage was a lustrous purple, but it didn't bloom, which was fine. I've heard it can become a nuisance if it's not deadheaded. But in my pot it was a loser. Maybe it didn't get enough sun being stuck in the back behind the coleus.

I like your barrel planting too, marigolds are so hardworking and cheerful!
Anything you put with them kind of needs a running start to stay up with their vigor.

I kind of had the same problem with the million bells I put in the containers I pictured a few weeks ago. I expected them to get big and tumble over the side of the pot, but they must have been a little overwhelmed by the coleus and lambs ears that exploded in there. They are healthy but didn't grow much.

 

[Lavender2]

So the datura grows that much in a summer from seed? It's so pretty. Is it fragrant?

The viney yellow green plant in my pot is licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare). I also put it in a bed at a clients home because the plants that were in it as fillers (perennials that I can't remember now) didn't make it through the winter. It wasn't exactly planned, I had a lot of them left over because the lady changed her mind about doing as many containers as we had discussed after I bought a flat of them. So I just put them in the likeliest spot and lucked out!

But they did really well in the ground and filled in nicely. I'll probably do that again next year.

I only grew the Persian Shield last year for the first time. It looked so good with the EE, it got big and the foliage was a lustrous purple, but it didn't bloom, which was fine. I've heard it can become a nuisance if it's not deadheaded. But in my pot it was a loser. Maybe it didn't get enough sun being stuck in the back behind the coleus.

I like your barrel planting too, marigolds are so hardworking and cheerful!
Anything you put with them kind of needs a running start to stay up with their vigor.

I kind of had the same problem with the million bells I put in the containers I pictured a few weeks ago. I expected them to get big and tumble over the side of the pot, but they must have been a little overwhelmed by the coleus and lambs ears that exploded in there. They are healthy but didn't grow much.

Oh yes, licorice plant, my aunt always put that in her window boxes. That would be cool in my barrels!

I start the Datura the last week in March, up-pot to 3" pots around 4 weeks. Very cold sensitive, so they don't get planted out until about June 1 here. They bud early to mid July, so they are not real impressive until mid season, but the blooms are huge and so pretty! I think they stink , some people say they smell like peanut butter

ETA - Some years I can get a seed pod to mature and save the seeds. This year I used seed from 3 years ago, worked great!

 

[catjac1975]

I have had my great grandmother's wooden wheelbarrow (with a metal wheel) in the garden as a planter for many years. I would say it is time to throw it out. The wood is just too rotten. I will save the wheel and use it for decoration in the garden, but the wood is done. Dh says it is better for me to have wheelbarrows with holes in them. I have a bad habit of filling them and leaving them outside when it rains. Oops! Sometimes I exhaust myself pulling weeds and I just don't have the gumption to wheel the weeds out to the back 40. What can I say?

I give all my weeds to the chickens or the horses. They love them and I do not have to go searching for a good spot to put them.

 

[catjac1975]

Yeah, Mary, I have quite a crazy operation. I have 3 to 4 of these racks in my kitchen around the end of March. Each rack holds 12 flats. When night temps stay warm enough they are moved to my three season porch and from there I can roll them out to the deck for hardening off.

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Usually the only thing I have a special way of starting is Impatiens. I start them on paper towels in covered containers and then plant the itty bitty seedlings... 12 flats of them ... and I'm really happy when that part is done!

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Where do you get your grow light systems?