Potted plants

F

Firefly

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Hi,

I'd like to buy some of those large, round, wodden pots for the front of the house. I know "nothing" about plants! Can anyone recommend a few different varieties of nice looking ones that need little maintenance. Do any of these last the full year?

Thanks,
F
 
What's the light like at the front firefly? Is it north/south aspect? Do you have preference for particular plants, ie flowers or maybe a box hedging type evergreen?
 
horusd said:
What's the light like at the front firefly? Is it north/south aspect? Do you have preference for particular plants, ie flowers or maybe a box hedging type evergreen?
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The front of our house faces directly North. I was thinking flowers that I could start in the small pots they come in and fill up around with moss peat etc. Sorry...clueless at this!!
 
Well, facing directly north normally means little light. You could combine dwarf evergreens which will give you all year colour & feature, low maintenance (and can be shaped), with a simple combination of Pansies and/or viola and a dwarf evergreen ivy. You could also pop in a few bluebells, dwarf daffs (Narcissus)and small summer bulbs to peak thro at various times. Plant the containers with very good soil and compost. Top soil would be good mixed thro with a high quality compost and some fertilizer. Cover exposed surface with mulch or chipped bark to avoid weeds.
 
horusd said:
Well, facing directly north normally means little light. You could combine dwarf evergreens which will give you all year colour & feature, low maintenance (and can be shaped), with a simple combination of Pansies and/or viola and a dwarf evergreen ivy. You could also pop in a few bluebells, dwarf daffs (Narcissus)and small summer bulbs to peak thro at various times. Plant the containers with very good soil and compost. Top soil would be good mixed thro with a high quality compost and some fertilizer. Cover exposed surface with mulch or chipped bark to avoid weeds.
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Thanks very much for that...I'll give it a go. It's just to brighten the place up to be honest. The back garden is south facing so it gets all the light. Herb garden going down the weekend after next!
 
Our north facing wall is full of beautiful flowering Azaleas at the moment. They love lots of peaty acidic soil. Yellows, pinks, whites, deep red colours.
 
Azaleas are lovely Grizzly, your right. Firefly try to remember to rotate the containers every now and then so the growth is even all round. You will need to control the ivy too as it tends to overgrow, and make sure you get dwarf varieties of Evergreens. Depending on space, you could put in some snowdrops as well! Best of luck with it.
 
Hi,

Also thinking about getting large pots for a patio in our back garden (facing directly South)...any ideas for nice flowers with colour all year round? Thanks!

F.
 
Depending on size firefly, you might like to try a dwarf tree, with various flowers around the base. Homebase are selling some lovely dwarf varieties of eating cherries, peaches and nectarines. But they will lose leaves in winter, so you might prefer evergreens. If it must have all-year colour you will be restricted a bit to these types of plants, and basically bulbs.

Alternatively, if you want something stunning for summer but needs changing annually, you could try single colour flowers like impatens (bizzy lizzies) or lobilieas, or mix in some overhanging plants like surfinia's. All pots done in single colours can be very visually dramatic. You can underplant bulbs in these as well. Like crocus and dwarf daffs etc.
 
horusd said:
Depending on size firefly, you might like to try a dwarf tree, with various flowers around the base. Homebase are selling some lovely dwarf varieties of eating cherries, peaches and nectarines. But they will lose leaves in winter, so you might prefer evergreens. If it must have all-year colour you will be restricted a bit to these types of plants, and basically bulbs.

Alternatively, if you want something stunning for summer but needs changing annually, you could try single colour flowers like impatens (bizzy lizzies) or lobilieas, or mix in some overhanging plants like surfinia's. All pots done in single colours can be very visually dramatic. You can underplant bulbs in these as well. Like crocus and dwarf daffs etc.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all that! If and when I get this organised I'll take a pic & post!
 
Welcome ;). If you decide on the single colour annual spread, you can also use a "centrepiece" like a tall Lupin (which will die back & return) or a Canna, exotic, tall majestic and stunning deep red leaves with incredible flowers. They often use these in Stephen's Green.

For winter, you can repeat a lovely display with Cyclamen, and underplant with Snowdrops and crocus'.
 
I burst open some of the heads of my daffs when they died back and dried out the things inside until they now are like little seeds. Anyone know if these could be cultivated into daff bulbs? Or are they any use at all for growing daffs?
 
emmt said:
I burst open some of the heads of my daffs when they died back and dried out the things inside until they now are like little seeds. Anyone know if these could be cultivated into daff bulbs? Or are they any use at all for growing daffs?
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You could probably, but it would take years if they grow, and you wouldn't know what kind of daff you would end up with! Better off buying bulbs.
 
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