What are you growing in whiskey barrels

Hi all,

I have 2 large half whiskey barrels on either side of our front gate and I can't seem to get anything to grow there more than one year. I have tried lantana, bulbs, blueberry bushes, etc. I want something that will be happy as a container plant and grow tall enough to frame the entrance. I don't know if they just dry out too quickly, or I don't give them enough water. I do water my container plants several times per week. Any suggestions?

I am posting a picture of one when I did have some stuff growing it in, but I want something tall enough to show over the wall that will survive for more than a year.

Thanks!!

I've seen Elephant food in containers get pretty big.

Do you mean elephant ears? :)

Nope, Elephant food
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/350/#b

There are different types of bottle brush that might do well there.
Yellow bells or Orange jubilee would also do well and their flowers are wonderful to look at and attract hummers and other birds.
You could plant a chaste tree and it would stay small enough for 3-4 years...

Susie

Fish_Knees - wow, I have never heard of a plant called elephant food, (learn something new every day) and I like it. Also, it looks very similar to a jade plant, do you know if they are related?

Birdlady_Susie - I thought about yellow bells but I didn't know how well it would do in a container. We have a big one in the ground in the back yard that comes back every year and I love it. Maybe I will try that this year.

I don't know if they're related, but I have a fairly large one on my front porch and it is doing well with a 10 minute daily drip from my watering system.

Beaucarna recurvate - native to area and so can take the heat and sun. I have an elephant food plant that is tri-colored and grows in a weeping attitude. I'll have to take a better pic tomorrow

That is a pretty plant, how does it hold up to winds?

The problem in AZ with half barrels is that unless they're kept absolutely full-up with water (or whiskey, I guess) the staves shrink up around the top of the half barrel and water runs out between then. But I was told of a cure. When you get the shrinking staves (sounds like a venereal disease lol) you stuff the space intensively with fine peat moss and its water-resisting-when-dry qualities will keep the water from pouring out the cracks, and if it does absorb some water, it swells and further prevents leakage. I tried it, and it works really well. But it has to be honest-to-gosh fine-milled peat moss. Don't try coco fiber, it doesn't have the moisture-resistant qualities. In fact it's kind of the opposite of peat moss as far as that goes. You want to create a dam in the barrel cracks.
This is my favorite water feature hint. Thank you, Doug.

EileenAZ - That is a good tip. I have had my barrels for several years, and I have some peat moss and I will try that when I figure out what I want to plant in them. I need to add some soil to them anyway, they are not very full.

This plant is out in the afternoon sun, and doesn't appear to be bothered by the wind. I didn't bring it in during the winter, and left it right where it usually sits. It has been in the same pot for 10-11 years though and you can see the erosion on the pot. Little chips keep falling off. I think I'm going to have to repot it soon...

If you want a plant that can get much taller to frame the gate / entrance you can try the pencil cactus. It may be called the pencil stick cactus. NO THORNS. Also the Totem Pole cactus. also no thorns would look nice in your yard. Both pencil stick and the Totem need very little water and I have both in big pots as well as the ground. Careful with the pencil stick though. You can cut it back and "sort of" shape it as it grows, but its white substance after cutting a branch is sticky and I think poisionous. I have gotten it on me without any problems, but prefer to put on some old gloves to keep it off me.

Gorgeous yard, btw, Dionosaur! I remember when you first moved in and all was bare!

You do have a gorgeous yard - you should post more pics

Thanks for the compliments on the yard. That was probably the year it looked the best, the color is from a bunch of Snapdragons, but they died and I didn't replant them. I did plant a lot of different new plants this year, so hopefully when they mature it will look good again.

Nice pic Dino. I have 2 half whiskey barrels in backyard, in part shade. Mostly grow seasonal stuff like snap dragons, tomatoes, canna (has stayed small), hollyhock in it. Quails used to nest in them. I have to try EileenAZ's tip.

I would use oleander. You can put several colors in the container and just trim them to keep them small. Never trim more than 1/3 or you won't have flowers. You can plant small annuals at the base. You could also put a plastic insert in the barrel an drill a few holes in the insert.
Mickey

I'd put a dwarf citrus in that barrel. If you let it bush naturally you'll get lots of fruit and it will show over the wall.

2ndChance - I would love to have a citrus in it, but we get too cold here unless you can move it indoors for the winter and those barrels are a bit too big to move. My DH would just laugh at me if I asked him to do that. :)

i have roses in mine,tomatos,and rubarb

"{Thanks for the compliments on the yard. That was probably the year it looked the best"-
I have a story about that. I had been talking with Kate in Tucson, used to be a member here, don't know if she still is. We'd made plans during the summer to have her come over and get some cuttings. In the interim we had one HECK of a monsoon storm right over my neighborhood that dumped three inches of rain. There were cars flooded out at almost every intersection in the neighborhood- and it's pretty flat! So I went home. Anyway, she came over a few days after that, and gasped and said how beautiful my yard looked- I felt compelled to say that it was indeed amazing what three inches of rain did for a southern AZ back yard full of fairly needy plants. :-) My current yard never looked better, before or since. That was the time when my yard looked the best, period. Don't we all remember that particular time?

LOL EileenAZ! I know exactly what you mean. In the pictures, I had got a couple of six packs of snapdragons as filler until I found more permanent plants and they all grew huge and gorgeous. When they eventually they died off, I tried planting more, but never had the same results. I must have just planted them at the right time or something.

I thought Sierra Vista was colder than zone 8, at your elevation. You are just a tad lower than our 4800' in Chino Valley and we show as zone 7. I even wonder about that it seemed so cold our first winter here this year. Succulents 'melted' in the cold. I, fortunately, had brought some jade, pregnant onion and mother of thousands in as well as geraniums and some other cold sensitive plants. Now that I have bought some perennials that are supposed to be OK with our temperatures I am hoping there will be something to start with come spring.

According to all the sources I have seen, we are zone 8 (b, I think) and our house is just at 4800 feet. We get below freezing fairly often, but we only get into the teens or lower a few nights per year.

When I am checking plant labels, I don't get anything that doesn't rate -10 or lower unless I just plan on it being an annual. And even that isn't a guarantee because it might not like the heat and not even make it through the summer. That is what makes this group so valuable, it really helps to know if someone else in this region has had any success with a particular plant. :)

I wonder if Beaucarna recurvata would work for you there?

allgr8dogs - I looked that up, what an interesting plant! I don't think I have ever seen one.

However, I made a decision a week ago and (insanely) decided to put 2 wisteria vines in them, that I am going to train as trees. I already had them growing in smaller containers on the back patio since last year and, since they did survive the winter in those containers, I thought they might work in the barrels. I have them growing straight up a 7 foot stake and when they get high enough (they are already almost there), I will start trimming them and hopefully they will eventually be self-supporting. I know it is a loooooong project, but if they do well, I think it will be worth the effort.

They survived the transplant process, which was difficult, as they were pretty compacted in the old containers, which had curved sides, making getting them out a real pain. Interestingly, the top 25% of the vine went limp for about 24 hours after the transfer (and it was super hot too), but I tied them up anyway, crossed my fingers and gave them a good watering. By the next day, the tops were perked back up and they still seem to be doing really well, despite the horrible heat.

If anyone else has grown wisteria in containers, I would appreciate any tips. :)

Post some pics! I'd like follow this visually

I'll take some pics in the morning, but they don't look like much yet. :)

At our old house, I grew a huge wisteria in a small brick planter outside the front door. I know that they do perfer to have alot of compost over their root system, so that the sun does not directly hit and heat up the soil around the top soil over the stem/trunk/roots. Straw or compost thickly laid over that area helps alot.

Susie

Here are the wisteria, as I said they don't look like much yet, and probably won't for a few years.

Birdlady_Susie - I put a fairly thick layer of wood chips on top of the dirt in the barrels, to help reduce the moisture loss and keep the roots a little cooler. After seeing your comment though, I might add a bit more. :)

It's going to be beautiful!

I agree-- that arch is going to be lovely!

Great idea! The wisteria will be beautiful!