I have been asked to design and plant the outdoor flower containers where I work. This is very exciting yet challenging since I don't want to disappoint the (possibly) high expectations of the owners. The company is investing quite a bit of money to landscape the property with native wildflowers. I am going to be planting about ten planters and plan to use annuals for quick color while the native perennial plants grow and mature. I would like to plant the containers with something that is attractive but will provide a more natural look instead of the familiar types of container plantings usually seen at places of business.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I have some things in mind but since I haven't done much container planting, I am wondering if the mature height of the plants will differ in a container as opposed to being planted in a flower border or bed. Some examples would be cosmos, nicotiana only the lonely, borage, ornamental millet, zinnias etc. The idea is to try and attract butterflies, birds and hummers.
Any insight, ideas or tried and true advice is appreciated!
Thanks~
Sandy
Corporate Container Gardening
How big are the containers? Are they all the same size?
We haven't yet bought the containers but I am thinking they will most likely be the same size...probably about 18-24" diameter.
Thanks :0)
Sandy
Will the containers be near an entrance? (I'm wondering about insect activity - some people are frightened if they see a bee.) Can you show us a picture of the area? Yuska
Well....we hope to plant a couple containers by the entrances, the remainder will be on the patio area where we have cookouts a couple times during the summer.
I'm not worried about the bee activity...one of the owners is actually bringing in beehouses to put on the property (from what I am told).
I am mainly interested in finding out if the plants I choose will grow differently in large containers. For example....if I put a normally tall growing Only The Lonely Nicotiana in a large container, will it reach its normal height of at least three feet? Just trying to plan some designs.......
Thanks!
Sandy
Hmmm.....I really don't know, but my guess would be that if the plants have ample soil depth, nutrients and water they will perform as they are genetically conditioned to do - that is, just about the same way they would in open ground.
I saw long concrete containers (at least 30 inches tall, but I doubt the soil depth was all the way to the bottom) in use at Dulles airport last summer. They had a lovely hedge of lavender in full bloom! (probably 'Fat Spike' L. grosso).
As long as you're not using smaller containers, I think you can expect plants to attain their normal heights. I had 'Sweet Pickles' pepper in an 8" deep window box last summer, but that was pushing its limits, and the ones in the garden were much larger & fuller (although the window box ones still looked nice & produced fruit). You can crowd plants much closer together in containers.... some may out-compete the others, but you want your container to look lush & full. Many herbs have a nice "wild" look to them; I'm especially fond of trailing thymes to cascade over the lip of a container...
sandy - i'm not into flowers but if you want to see some stunning flower containers you have to see some of tom toms stuff. there is also someone else here who has a container garden on the top of his roof in new york city, if you can believe it. i'm sure someone on this forum knows what i'm talking about.
frank
Sandy are these containers going to be all the same size and shape? Are they going to be tall or low? If they're going into native flowers maybe even making some containers like TomTom would be neat. If you had lower round ones you could put different kinds of sedums or hens & chicks. You can find some neat taller flowing grasses that would look awesome in planters with trailing plants like thunbergia or the smaller trailing petunias. I love containers and I'm always looking for neat plants and things to make them up. Here is a picture of one I did last year. It has red salvia, yellow thunbergian, pink trailing petunias and I even cut up some bamboo sticks and placed them at different heights.
:) Donna
ooh, PG, that's just lovely! I like the way it's displayed up off the ground on that overturned barrel, too.
Thanks! Below the rain barrel is a old wagon wheel. It was neat watching the thunbergia wrap it self around the spokes.
:) Donna
Seedsower, how deep will they be? You don't have to put dirt all the way to the bottom if they're deep -- you can use packing peanuts (not the degradable ones) to save having to buy so much dirt, but before we can give you any advice about arrangements in a container we have to know the dimensions.
Check out www.HighCountryGardens.com for kinds of plants to use in a sunny location.
Hi Revclaus....I don't have dimensions yet since we still have to buy the majority of the pots. Watching for sales! I'm guessing 18" diameter, 18-24" high. I'll probably put crushed cans in the bottom 2/3's of the containers. I know I can come up with something...just looking for suggestions if someone has seen something that really makes the crowd go "WoW"!
Thanks,
Sandy
Try this site. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/floriculture/container-garden/web_gallery/ They have the most gorgeous containers you ever saw, and they're all about the size you're talking about. See what you think.
I did some container plantings for several businesses a few years ago, and they were all about the size you are talking about. I used some ornamental grass in the center for height, as well as Lavender and rosemary. Then purple and green potato vines around the sides, and trailing thyme, and trailing petunia's. If you do not mind the height of 2-3 ft., I think purple conneflower (Echinacea) Would look great in the center or off to one side, and 1 other thing I used was red cardinal flower in some of them, which is a vine, and Black eyed Susan Vine. I think that would be gorgeous, colorful, and give you the herbs, or native feel you are looking for. I wish I still had the pic's, but they didn't get saved from my old computer. Let us know what you decide, and take some pic's of them. One other thing that I put in a few pf my containers as filler was, Oh, I can't remember the botanical name-But they were the miniature elephant ears that come on Dark Red, and several other colors. And if anyone thinks of the name-please post it, b'cause I know it, I'm just having one of those moments.
Thanks & Good Luck,
And not only did I make a good profit off of the containers I did, but I really enjoyed it! And you may be suprised at the people who may want 1-2 for their patio's, decks, or pool area's!!!!!!
Traci S