What are you growing in your outdoor containers?

Actually, my containers will be mostly herbs. There will also be some annual verbena for the front planters.

I voted for mixed containers since we always have our two Sweet 100 tomatoes in big white containers my husband, Jack, made, on either side of the driveway. Right now the seedlings of spinach have sprung up (different varieties in each box) and the tomatoes will be planted around Memorial Day.

We have Mandevilla vines that spend each winter indoors and then go out to the "hose hider" (on wheels) that Jack made. This year I'll add some morning glory seeds and moonflower seeds to each pot of Mandevilla and add the Passion Flower that also spent the winter in the sun room.

In addition, I have many pots of annuals (caladiums, coleus, other annuals) for the courtyard, by the driftwood, and for the terrace.

This year I will have shrubs, namely Mock Orange 'Snowbelle" and "Josee lilac". I have brugs to go out, elephant ears, canna, jasmines, , rudbeckia "Cherry Brandy" will be in a container. Also will put Flame grass, heliotrope,Stocks, lobelia, petunias, French marigold,nicotiana, Coleus, Cleome, dalias and various other annuals started from seed. I also have Hibiscus x chinesis and mandevilla.

Last fall I put cardboard down and leaves and bordered it with large containers and whiskey barrels to place all container plants either in pots or directly in the ground. Last year they were spread all throughout the back and front yards and inevitably I forgot one or two till the snow hit and I figured they were toast. Hoping to not make the same mistake this fall.

I have a grand total of 60 containers that are filled and displayed throughout our 1/2 acre lot.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 7:16 AM

I have cucumbers in a large 20-ish gallon size pot, with a 3-tier tower set inside that - herbs are in the 3 tiers. Then I have different tomatoes and beans started in 5-gallon grow bags. I also have a few different Ipomoea growing in two other grow bags. I still have clover, marigolds, and malva sylvestris waiting to be put into smaller pots.

I have two new large containers that I recently purchased and have ordered Salvia chamaedryoides (Mexican blue sage) to plant in these, along with something else yet to be determined.

I have 14 containers that vary with the whims of my mind.
This year they will be mostly coleus and annuals mixed.
Here are a few combos
Pirl sent me here!

This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 8:17 AM

most of the containers are 18"

I have just started to include a swatch of the container with the plant combos

The last one for now.

There will be pretties on the deck, so mom can enjoy them. I also put some broccoli and lettuce in a couple. I just got a little Japanese maple 'Green Cascade' that is small, so it is in a pot. I put a weeping redbud 'Covey' in a large pot that I buried a little so the branches could really weep, other wise I'd have had to cut them off.

Last year I did annual vines in my 2 new large containers (20") - mandevilla ('Alice DuPont') and cup & saucer vine. Since pirl already posted a gorgeous pic of her mandevilla, here's my cup & saucer.

I also grow my whole veggie garden in containers. For those of you haven't read my articles, here's a link to one if you're interested.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1651/

Anything and everything. From sweet 100 tomatoes and herbs to annuals and perennials. Front yard, back yard, side yard. Window boxes, hanging planters, decorative planters, clay pots. I love container gardens.

WOW absolutly lovely.

I have herbs, hostas, daylilies and lilies...

I have a really mixed bag of container plants.

My citrus - lemon, lime & orange - are all in pots.My backyard garden really doesn't get full sun, so these are all on my large front porch to take advantage of full sun. Plus I can move them under a temporary shelter when we get one of our rare freezes. Ditto the miniature peach tree.

Tomatoes - full size & cherry - are also in pots. They can sit on the patio where there is full sun. Plus this year, DH wanted to try upside down tomatoes, so we made out own version. A huge plastic tote bag filled with dirt with 2 holes for tomatoes on either side, hanging on a large heavy, plant pole.

2 large desert roses so I can bring them in in the winter. Morning glories - my first experiment with them & I don't want wild MGs taking over the entire garden. Mint in a pot since that will they over the garden. A large pony tail palm, because I never could decide where to plant it in the ground. Several orchid cactus - I don't think they can take even our mild winter cold.

Gee, I really do have more in containers than I realized!!

Oh, I forgot about the cactus pot. I just started this past week. I remembered because I seem to have a small cactus spine stuck in one of my fingers & can;t get it out.
Jo-Ann


This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 8:59 AM

My containers ARE my garden. I have 2 EBs (which have their own DG forum: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/boxgardens/all/) One has gradually filled with VERY hardy perennials. It's outside year-round, often frozen solid for weeks Jan-March. The other gets rotated with assd 2-3 gallon pots & hanging baskets to avoid illness & bugs. I don't get much sun, so I usually have one nightshade vegetable (eggplant this yr), and and assortment of wildflowers, herbs, and old favorites from heirlooms to the 1950s. I also have a grapefruit tree and a few tropical foliage plants that get to come outside to play for the summer. It's almost time to dump my soil, mix in a healty amt of lime, 15% new soil, some shredded dry leaves to prevent compaction, & about 40% new compost (free from city - price is right), replant, & start the season over again!

Herbs, lettuce, have a few planters that have perennials in them that I sink in the ground every winter so they'll survive.

I'm using mine as a temporary home for plants going in my landscaping. A couple are backup plants (they were free) in case any in new beds don't make it. Others are plants I want to keep but have pulled from my front yard as I'm landscaping it this year.

I only have 4 containers at the moment. Two have chives and I have 2, 1/2 wooden barrels. One with strawberry plants and the other with 2nd year rhubard. I'm looking forward to harvesting some from it this year. I plan to add more containers of herbs. I am toying with the idea of a couple containers for hydroponic veggies since I saw Alohahoya's thread on the subject. I also want to get some daylillies in pots. I don't have much room to grow in and I dedicate all of it to veggies but I love daylillies so I am putting some in pots for my front porch. It's actually nothing more than a strip of concrete but it's where a porch would be so I call it my porch. LOL I can sit on it and watch the traffic pass while I rest from my gardening so mayhap that qualifies it as a porch of sorts. It collects stuff like a real porch.

Not too many containers, but they are a mix. In the back, I have 3 containers: a rose ('Maggie'), annuals (million bells) & a other (black bamboo).

In the front yard bench area, I have a tree (meyer lemon), an annual (euryops daisy), and a strawberry pot with agave and sedums.

I also have two pots which flank my front porch with spike dracaena (cordiline ?), which has lived through the last two winters, and dragon wing begonia added in each last week.

On each side of the house, I have two pots with trellis's which had mandevilla in them last year but will have Cup & Saucer vines this year if the seedlings make it.

I have a strawberry jar but have not been successfyl growing strawberries in it. I may try succulents and have bettr luck. Can't have worse.

Tomatoes, strawberries, Morning Glories, lobelia, and other trailing flowers that will be in my window boxes.

I also put some houseplants out, when the weather is nice, in my small greenhouse :-)

Cajun, It's the only thing I can grow in them. Even in our Texas heat, I never hand water the pot. It gets rain and minimal water from the sprinkler. It's still has not bounced back from winter, but here's a link to a picture of it in 2007 (first year): http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4004896

Lilies, cannas, nasturtiums, begonias, succulents, gingers, geraniums and penstemon. I overwintered the containers by moving them under the eves up against the house and covering with floating row cover. I see sprouts so it looks like they made it.

sweezel
That's really nice. I love portulaca. Maybe I'll go with that. It's easy to grow. I had some in my beds before I went to veggies.

Mine are a real mix. Plants are added and pulled out and moved around. I know two half barrel containers will be dahlias, for sure. I also have vegetables, herbs, etc. Camellia in a pot.

And luvly dahlias they are too roybird ^_^ In containers I do tomatos, basils and artichokes (in the greenhouse), outside - cannas, callas, dahlias, and mixes of annuals and perennials that change every year depending on my mood and what I have on hand.

My containers are primarily annuals, but I do have some tropicals in containers, too.

Vines, roses, annuals, perennials, shrubs & bushes - living in a townhouse with limited garden space I use containers fro nearly everything!

My most decorative containers are grouped Agave attenuata in two large Mexican style terra cotta containers with handles, and Adenium obesum in nice verdigris terra cotta containers (actually too small for them now - they've just grown too large!

I have herbs, flowers (annual and perennial), onions, leafy and succulent perennials, no vegetables as such, though I'm starting tomatoes.

I voted vegies & fruits in lieu of an all of the "above" or "other" choice. Lemon, loquat and satsuma fruit trees. Herbs from bay to basil including licorice. Too many tomatoes if that is possible and blooms on the squash and peas. Plus bloomers for the pollinators. The hummers and wrens love it already.

Can't wait... but now, I need to go cover it for the frost night.

Behold the poor mans potager! LOL

With over 160 pots...
Vines, perennials, annuals, a couple of trees, lilac, and a blueberry bush.

C'mon Nancy - show everyone your beautiful container garden!

LOL!
OK... you asked for it!
Here it is beginning of Aug 2008.

Podster, that looks great! Hemophobic, I am droooooling over that container, gorgeous color.

I am growing everything in containers and far fewer things in the ground. I currently have planted out (in containers) kale, spinach, leaf lettuce, some radish and bunching onions sprouting among those.

I just discovered my tomatoes have all germinated inside -- there will be 8 or 9 grow bags for them on the deck. As well as the Mexican Midget out in the ground.

I have chamomile, thyme, sage, dill (just starting) and parsley (just starting out there), basil still inside. Most of this will be container grown. I also have too many lavender seedlings to put out downstairs so will container some of that too.

I have three varieties of Digitalis seeded, the third of which has been problematic to start but I think I saw a bit of green today. Snowpeas are planted out in their container and doing beautifully, well, so far, LOL!

I have glads to plant, they will mostly be in container but I may risk a few outside. Iris will go outside as the deer will not bother them I am told. But also up here in containers will be morning glories (two kinds germinated so far) marigolds, and probably some of the other annual flowers I am seeding.

So far, so good. I plan to have vining flowers along the deck rail as well as lemon cucumber, who knows what all else I'll get into. ;-)

I have about 30 large containers with mostly daylillies but manage to get in tomatoes,peppers,cukes,strawberrys,sedum,mums,annuals lillys and herbs.

Wow! gabagoo that is really something! And a blueberry bush to boot! Beautiful!

Gabagoo, that is one great looking container garden! And a good picture, too.