i woujld like to add a little color to my deck this season so i went and bought some glad bulbs and wildflower seeds. i will be planting them in container mix. i guess i plant the bulbs in may but what about woldflowers. first of all, is it a good idea to do this? there are directions on the box on how to plant and it sees pretty easy. the containers i am putt them into a container that is about 8 1/2 inch deep but 19 wide
thanks
wildflowers in containers
I haven`t used flower pots for my wildflowers. I have two kids wagons and a large wheelborrow.
The wagons are only about 5 in. deep and I used soilless pottong mix with slow release fertilizer,and they turned out beautiful.
The wheelbarrow ,I put a layer of foam pellets about 4 ins. deep a layer of landscaping cloth and the soilless mix,with the slow release ,and that turned out nice too. I just looked at them this last week and I see new plants and daffodils coming up all over. There are 9 daffys in the wheelbarrow. I thought for sure they would not come back because I left them in the open all winter. I put drainage holes in the bottom ,and watered them like a regular flower pot. I planted them like the package said.
You should have no problems with that pot ,it is about the same as the wagons , just a little deeper.Go for it and I bet they will be beautiful. Aleta
You might want to check what's in the mix. Some of those wildflower mixes contain perennials which might take up too much room. I'm guessing you're not going to get the same effect as if sowed along a ditch or on a hill. Think annuals.
breaker - you're right. the box does say annuals and perennials. will this be a problem??. i'm not looking for a super look just want to add a little color oln the deck along with my vegetable containers. need your help please. thanks.
What kind of sun will they have and what kind of glads did you buy? The real tall ones or the shorter ones? Are the glads a mix and how many do you plan to put into the container? I hope the glads are the shorter ones because the taller ones usually require staking unless you plant them deep.
breaker - they will get plenty of sun
the glads are 40 inches tall but i have ways to support them
how deep do i have to plant them?
thanks
Well, glads should be planted 4 to 6 inches deep, but with the taller ones you can go deeper for additional support. You really should have a pot that's at least 12 inches deep. Generally, bulbs can be a bit crowded in pots, but I don't think I'd put more than 3 in an 8 inch pot. You probably need to leave at least 4 inches between corms. I believe in the garden the suggested spacing is 6 inches.
My advice is to plant your glads in the garden. I have a few reasons for this suggestion. First the height of the plant in proportion to the pot. Second, glads don't bloom all summer, so you won't have the color you desire for much of the season. For a summer long show of glads, it is suggested that you plant a few every two weeks until mid or late June depending on where you are.
There's a lot you can do with an 19 inch shallow pot using annuals. For a lot of sun, I suggest red geraniums accented by some kind of trailing plant like vinca. White petunias would also be a nice accent. If you like marigolds, they come in varying heights. You could put a 12 to 15 inch marigold in the center and accent it with verbena. You could raise the pot off your deck and use something like a black-eyed Suzy vine.
When you say you want color, what color do you imagine seeing? Figure that out, then go from there. That big a pot, you could put in several different annuals. The African daisies come in all different colors and would look great. Nicotina would also do well.
Or, you can plant your glads and see what happens. There's always next year.
i want to put them in pots because i planted them once in the ground and the deer took a liking to them. in fact, 90 pct of the bulbs i've ground in the ground get eaten up by the deer. i have white railing on a white deck and i just wanted to get some color on the deck. the glads are a mixed color, they are called a patriotic mix which i figure would be red white and blue.
i also have some seeds for "godetia" which is an azalea flowered mix and also seeds for ornamental grasses. understand, i have never grown flowers of any kind except for bulbs so i thought i could put some seeds of each with some bulbs and hope for the best. i would readly like to put the bulbs in the big container but i do have 5 gallon and 2 gallon containers. would they be okay?
thanks
if i go with the 8 1/2 inch deep one can i put them on the bottom of the container and then just fill it with the container mix.?
thanks again
Herbie, to tell you the truth I don't know. Bulbs, and plants in general, can be very resilient. All you can do is try. If it doesn't work out, you can always try something else. If it were me, I'd look for a pot at least 12 inches deep for the glads. I'm guessing your 2 and 5 gallon containers are deeper, so that's what I'd use (if it were me).
Where did you get the patriotic mix? I'm sure some of my Am. Legion friends would like to have some. It might be even nice to plant at the Legion this year.
There was a program on Animal Planet this afternoon that addressed planting for deer. I only caught a few minutes, but what they suggested was planting your ornamentals close to the house and then planting alot of grazing plants for the deer further out. The idea being, if they have enough food further out, they won't bother close to the house, which would be their preference anyway.
I'm not fond of ornamental grasses because I think they become too invasive, but if you're going to grow them, pots would be best. The only azalea I'm familar with are shrub azaleas. I'll have to look this one up.
Herbie, are you in the address exchange? If not, dmail me with your address and I'll send you some seeds for some annual flowers. I have plenty to share. I don't need anything in exchange.
i bought the bulbs from the christmas store in danbury ct.
thanks for all your help.