Year-Round Container Gardens: Designing Tips -With the ever-increasing array of containers from all over the world to choose from and a dazzling range of plants to fill them, it is hardly surprising that maintaining a mobile container gardens have become perhaps the most popular gardening activity. Millions of pots, window boxes and hanging baskets are planted up twice or even three times a year and as many again feature permanent planting. The benefits are plain to see. A trip to the local garden center and ten minutes work can result in an instant eye catcher. There is no digging or weeding involved, although you do need to make a commitment to regular watering. It’s no good expecting natural rainfall to provide for their needs, as even drought resistant succulents will benefit from a good soaking from a can or hose pipe.
Year-round container gardens
Almost anything can be grown in a container, from vegetables to sizeable trees, so it is an opportunity missed to plan and plant for just ephemeral, seasonal color and leave your pots lying empty through fall and winter. Even hanging baskets can be a success in the winter if sited in a warm alcove, away from icy winds.
Planting in layers can work wonders in the winter and spring. Imagine bulbs growing up through a carpet of heather, backed by choice evergreens such as dwarf conifers and red-budded skimmia, giving a three-tier line up. By topping up with seasonal color as it becomes available (primroses in March for example), the container never flags.
Summer container gardens. For summer, there are plenty of hyperactive performers that will bloom unceasingly until the first frosts. Busy lizzies, fibrous-rooted begonias and petunias are all great value for money and tor permanent features, hostas, Japanese maples and dwarf ornamental grasses will give years of pleasure.
