. . . here are a few containers that have survived our heat.
This one usually sits by the front door, but it was too shady there this morning to get a good shot.
Jeannine
Now that Minnesota has cooled a bit . . .
Gotta love the coleus in pots!
This one must enjoy the hot summer. It just went crazy! That's a huge pot, and it is completely hidden.
This pot gives me some color on a hill where the maple tree roots drain the life out of most blooming flowers planted in the soil.
And finally, this Palace Purple loves its pot-on-a-stick that lets it sit above the cleome.
WOW to all of them. GREAT job!
Thanks, Kell.
Gardening in pots is so much easier on the back than trying to dig maple tree roots out of the ground! I'm pretty new to container gardening, but it might just become my new passion!
I find container gardening easier too. My landscape if filled with roots and hard packed dirt.... Your containers are awesome ..... shirley
This message was edited Aug 27, 2006 10:24 AM
Oh, how wonderful are those? You've definitely go the eye. And container gardening is the cat's pajamas, isn't it? Here we have a problem with water shortages plus gophers everywhere. Potting up solves both of those problems quite well.
Thank you all for the nice comments! It is so wonderful to have a web forum like this where we can invite other people to "visit" our gardens.
We have chipmunks that love to burrow under our plants and rabbits that enjoy eating the tender shoots and buds. After several expensive commercial deterrants, I am now using my old cooking spices to see if sprinkling them on the ground might discourage. It looks like black pepper just might keep the chippies from jumping into the cherry tomato pot. They were climbing the plant and eating the tomatoes faster than I could pick them.
This message was edited Aug 28, 2006 7:34 AM
We have gardening in our blood. Where there is a will there is a way. We will always figure out how to get our hands in dirt no matter our limitations!! I now do lots of pots for my ground is all filled. I am down to my driveway for space. LOL
Kell, do you live in a city where the home lots are fenced and the lots are relatively small? I have friends in San Ramon, and although their lot is bigger than the lot they had in their house in San Carlos, most of the back yard is taken up by their pool. There just is not a lot of space for gardening, but they manage to have roses and a few other things around the yard. They have a drop dead gorgeous bouganvillea draping itself over the front of their garage.
Yes, I do! Land is a premium here. The new developments have even less yard, you can reach out your window and touch your neighbor's hand reaching out their window. 1 million gets you a small house with a tiny yard. I always wanted to move to an area where there was land but I never wanted to give up my perfect weather here. Now I am too old to deal with lots of room.
Here is my "container on a stick." For those of you not familiar with the Minnesota State Fair, our food venders try each year to find new ways to serve food "on a stick." They're pretty crazy - cheese curds, hot dish - you name it, someone puts it on a stick.
So it is only reasonable to be posting pictures of planters on a stick during the Minnesota State Fair!
Jeannine
Oops! The picture didn't upload!
This one has been "mobbed" by the sweet potato vine. But it makes for a nice burst of color when that part of the yard is in deep shade.
jachurch, I'm a gardener, not a landscaper. You inspire me!
Jeannine please explain the last picture. what is planted? are they growing up or trailing down? I don't do alot of flowers and have never tried pots except for the coleus on my front porch and wow was this ever a good year for coleus in michigan. But alas I wander a friend of mine is looking for something tall to put in a pot by the pool it definatly needs something 3-4 feet tall fairly slender that can be in a pot so the dog won't pull it out and your last picture looks like something that may work really well.
Thanks in advance for your help
Sandy
Both of the last two pictures are pots on poles. The first pole is white PVC pounded into the ground far enough that it doesn't tip. Then I put a plant holder made for hollow poles into the top of the PVC. That holds the top pot with 4 arms that branch out and then up, and the lower pots hang from the "arms" of the pot holder. The top pot on that arrangement has Palace Purple coral bells, impatiens, and coleus. The lower pots have a mixture of impatiens, browalia, nicotiania, and coleus.
The very last picture is another pot on a pole. This pole is a piece of steel pipe pounded into the ground with the same kind of pot holder stuck into the top. The pot is planted with impatiens, sweet potato vine, and variegated vinca. It had a couple other annuals, too, but they didn't make it through the hot weather we had in July.
If your ground is too hard to pound a pole into it, you can get stands for pots, but they may be hard to keep upright with a big dog running around them and trying to dig in the pots.
The sweet potato vine is an exuberant trailing vine, be it chartreuse as in this last pot or dark purple. I have one pot that has variegated sweet potato vine which is not nearly so energetic.
Sandy, another thought for your friend with the dog. A tall urn with a wide base might work just fine - it would get the plants up off the ground level, and whether she used plants that grow up or trail down, the dog might be inclined to leave it alone. The very first picture in this thread is an urn that is quite stable even in high winds. I saw larger versions of the same kind of urn, but I didn't think I would be able to lift them once they are full of dirt. If I had a place where the urn could stay all summer, I would buy a larger one - it would hold more plants and not need to be watered as frequently.
Jeannine
Hi Jeannine :o)
love your containers, and the color combinations.
What plante is the one with dark leaf and silver stripes (photo # 1)
Monica
Jeannine nice containers!
Monica, That plant is a tropical plant intended to be a houseplant. The plant stakes says "Combo Pilea - Pilea calierei from Vietnam." It goes on to suggest growing in medium light indoors.
However, if you search Plant Files for the following, you will see that the stake in my plant appears to be wrong. If anything, it should be "Pilea cadierei," but the picture of my plant looks more like the involucrata "Norfolk." After your question sent me searching, I have found other photos of Norfolk and have confirmed to my satisfaction that is the correct name for the plant in my container.
Family: Urticaceae
Genus: Pilea (py-LEE-uh) (Info)
Whatever its correct name, as you can see, this plant enjoys being outdoors, at least this summer. It gets direct sun about 4 hours a day from noon to late afternoon.
Jeannine
This message was edited Aug 30, 2006 8:48 PM
This message was edited Aug 30, 2006 9:30 PM
Hi Jeannine.
Thanks for the info, it is a nice plant.
I wonder if I can find it here, I think I saw somthing simelar not shore though.
Thank you Jeannine I have passed your info onto my friend and made a mental note myself there is one bed that could use some height and who knows containers might become a new addiction ..... I can almost hear my DH grown at the thought of another plant addiction. LOL.
Sandy
I dont understand what you use in the top of your pvc pipe. Could you explain a little more.Love the height . Your containers are beautiful.Would like to snitch that idea for next spring. Dixie
Our local nursery - Bachmans - carries a metal plant holder that can be pushed into the ground to hold a plant about 3 feet off the ground, it can be inserted into a hollow pole such as the PVC so the "stop" rests on the top of the pole - see the skinny pole, or if the pole is already quite high, you can knock the "rest" off as I did with the PVC.
The plant holder has 4 arms that extend out and then up to cradle the plant.
If I find a picture of one in a garden catalog, I will send you the site reference.
Dixie, I couldn't find a web site reference for you, so I took some closer pictures to give you a better idea of what to look for next spring. These are not the most artistic pictures, nor do they give you the prettiest view, but they do show how the plant holders work and how they are made.
The first shot is the plant holder inserted into a PVC pipe. This PVC is about 48 inches high. The picture gives you a good idea of how the plant holder fits into the PVC
This message was edited Sep 3, 2006 1:36 PM
The second shot shows the plant holder all by itself. Because this one fits into a PVC pipe, I have knocked the flange or rest plate off, but the picture gives you an idea of what the whole structure looks like.
This message was edited Sep 3, 2006 8:13 PM
This shot shows the plant holder with my potted Palace Purple from the back.
And here is the same pot from the front. This piece of PVC is just tall enough to hold the Palace Purple above the cleome growing in front of it.
This message was edited Sep 3, 2006 1:27 PM
This shot shows another plant holder with the flange still attached. The pole in this case is a length of steel pipe just large enough for the plant holder to fit snuggly inside. The top of the steel pipe is about 40 inches above the ground. The flange on the plant holder keeps the plant holder from sliding farther into the steel pipe.
Finally, this is yet another plant holder inserted into a taller piece of PVC with three pots suspended below the top plant.
This arrangement is quite heavy, so there is a piece of steel pipe pounded into the ground inside the lower portion of the PVC. Even so I have to stake it, to keep it from blowing over when we have heavy rain and wind. The other two "plants on a stick" have managed to weather our wind and rain just fine.
Thank You for all your trouble. I will haft to be on the lookout for them. Looks like they hold quite a large planter? dixie
Yes, Dixie, they will hold a pot that is about 12 to 14 inches wide.
Jeannine
They are beautiful! Hmmmm. Wonder how I can convince my DH that I need holes for PVC pipe dug. Hehehe. Dotti
Well, if you use steel pipe, he may be able to just pound it into the ground - depends on whether he's likely to run into rocks or tree roots, of course.
I watered the ground really good and pounded the PVC in, too. But if you have a DH handy who can be talked into setting it up in a better way, go for it.
;< )
I'll have to catch him when he is either in an especially great mood or when he's feeling guilty about something - so it's going to be a wait. But it'll be worth it, i"m sure. LOL Dotti
very cool.. I will have to watch for them and if they can't be found maybe I will have to call in a favor from my friend that works with cast iron..
Thanks for the details
Sandy
It looks wonderful Jeannine, will have to try it next year :o))
Monica