By Trish
February 5, 2012
| | This week the topic is container gardening. Team Containers love to utilize containers, and Team Ground would rather just use the ground. Share your experiences with us! |
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I am most definitely on Team Ground. That is where my plants have the best chance at living a long life.
That said, I do have some containers that have done well. But they consist mostly of succulents and don't care if they miss getting watered. 
I did grow some wonderful Coleus last year. I am still amazed at how beautiful they were. I must admit, my success was do to the help from a great bunch of people here at ATP. I will be growing them again this year, along with the geraniums that made it through the winter on the covered deck. We had a very mild winter this year.
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| I have a few containers approx 5 each year. Must say I find them a bit intimidating. I have a hard time figuring what to plant and how much...but I still keep trying! |
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Trish
Feb 5, 2012 12:33 PM CST
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Lynn, what is that variegated plant in front of the geranium?
Maridell, I have plans for some additional containers out in the garden this year. They'll get watered by the overhead sprinklers, so might even fair better than the ones on the porches  Wife to one, Mom to 6, caretaker of 90 acres and all that dwell there.
Check out my Store for farm soaps and other handmade goodies! |
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Overhead sprinklers...nice! The plants will be spoiled.
I'm interested to know what the varigated plant is also..nice little flowers  |
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| Have a few containers of annuals each year, and quite a few containers of things waiting for planting areas. But ground is best for me, overall. |
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chelle
Feb 5, 2012 1:12 PM CST
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I'm on team ground because I have plenty of space to fill; however, I really enjoy choosing plants for, and putting together container groupings as well, many of which I'll eventually use to fill bare spots in the garden beds.
Cannas, tuberous begonias, caladiums, lisianthus, and pansies all perform much better for me if they're in containers. Others that I like in containers are low growing and tiny flowered trailing plants that might be overlooked if they were planted at ground level. Our clay soil is slow-draining, so additionally, just about anything that I grow here that requires perfect drainage must be in a container.
Two thirds of the plants in this photo are in containers which have then been planted into the bed. It's easier to just go ahead and start the cannas indoors in the pots they'll bloom in and then set them in place once it's warm enough outside.
I use a lot of compost in my containers. It really seems to help to reduce the need for frequent watering. A gravel or chicken grit covering between the plants in a container grouping seems to help with maintaining fairly consistent moisture levels and porosity of the surface soil, especially for containers in sunny spots.
Tuberous begonias won't do anything for me at all unless they're pampered with a covered spot on my deck.
Once the summertime perennials are finished blooming potted mums set on stepping stones are great for adding color to the fall border.
 Here I am, on team ground, extolling the virtues of container plants! Perhaps I should go back to sitting on the fence. 
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chelle said: Here I am, on team ground, extolling the virtues of container plants! Perhaps I should go back to sitting on the fence.
I understand what your saying Chelle. 
The variegated plant is Silene uniflora 'Druett's Variegated'. A really great plant that is hardy to zone 3 and is also drought tolerant once established. I just added it to the database. It is one of my very favorite container plants. I love the way it drapes over the edge of the pot.
It is pollinated by butterflies and bees, if the blooms are pollinated they will produce seed that will easily grow new plants. |
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Sharon
Feb 5, 2012 4:51 PM CST
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I didn't know what it was either, Lynn, but I just 'Pinned' it, container and all!
Love it.
Chelle, as always, I love your gardens, ground or containers! |
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chelle
Feb 5, 2012 6:01 PM CST
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Thanks, Sharon.
That is a very pretty Silene, Lynn. I had no idea they came in variegated form.
For the last couple of years I've been using this Variegated Vinca (Vinca major 'Elegantissima'). It's not reliably hardy here, but I really like the way it'll grow to a trailing 4 feet or so in a season. It also has extra-large, beautiful blooms.
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Team ground here. It gets so hot for so many months that you need to water them twice a day. I just got tired of doing that for 9-12 months. And also they outgrow their pots so fast. Plus it seems everything in containers tends to get ant beds in it &/or pests all over it.
For me the ground treats me much better."If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." ~~~ Will Rogers
May is celiac disease awareness month. http://www.celiac.com/
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| Chelle, that is a gorgeous variegated vinca. Much prettier than the old variety I have. |
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| Chelle, lovelylovely compositions on those photos. |
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Sharon
Feb 5, 2012 7:51 PM CST
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My variegated vinca traveled right out of its pots a few years ago and threatened to take over my front gardens. I still love it, but for pots, not in ground. But yesterday when I was wandering around outside, there it was, right in the garden, blooming. On the 4th of February. It's a very determined plant.
Beautiful photos.
I think I'm both Ground and Container.
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Oh no, with Ivy. : (
Makes a pretty picture though. |
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Sharon
Feb 5, 2012 8:22 PM CST
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| Yup. I keep the ivy trimmed though, it isn't as invasive as is the vinca. |
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The vinca isn't a problem here, but the ivy is. It has taken over large areas in the Portland, OR area.
We have some growing up an old Ash tree that we keep pruned so it won't bloom. Our neighbors have a long fence covered in it and they let it bloom. The birds carry the seed every where. It is now growing up trees along the field on the other side of our road. I also keep find tiny seedlings coming up everywhere on our place. |
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Sharon
Feb 5, 2012 10:53 PM CST
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| Different zones, different issues, I think. I have my ivy in a container growing over a wire form in the shape of a huge turtle. Looks just like a green turtle in my yard. I do keep it trimmed. Somewhere someday I'll find a picture. |
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chelle
Feb 6, 2012 5:00 AM CST
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Sharon said:Different zones, different issues, I think.
 My ivy grows very slowly compared to vinca, and in ten years I've never seen signs of it anywhere that I didn't plant it. It'll grow about 36" worth in a season but most of the new growth dies back every winter.
Sharon, your ivy turtle sounds really neat.
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kqcrna
Feb 6, 2012 5:53 AM CST
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Definitely team ground for me. I can grow most anything in the ground. I grow a few tomatoes in ground each year, sometimes a few carrots or beet and a few herbs. All of my perennials are in ground but a few annuals in containers each year. Containers are a challenge. The Good Lord has yet to create the plant that I can't kill in a pot.  I can be a negligent plant Mom, and things growing in ground in my clay soil tend to do well in spite of mistreatment. My clay soil holds moisture well, so things don't dry fast in the ground. After having been amended with my homemade compost for 20 years or more, my garden soil is much improved over the native soil we had initially. But when summer heat comes, things in containers are always in danger of drying out, lacking adequate nutrients, being overwatered by rain or blown around and broken by midwest storms.... Clay or ceramic pots hold up better to those issues but they're also heavy, and expensive.
I do grow a few containers each year, but fewer each year, and some turn out better than others. My inclination is to over stuff them which can make for a challenge in terms of watering and feeding. But I love stuffed containers. Pretty containers are hit or miss.
My neighbors try to water my plants for me while I'm on vacation. I have too many plants, and no real gardeners for neighbors, so my plants definitely suffer when I'm on summer vacation.
 
 
 
Karen
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| I'm definitely on Team Ground. I don't need to water very often, don't have an irrigation system, and rarely use sprinklers -- so anything in a container usually dies from thirst. That said, I do have a couple of self-watering planters on the back deck and try to remember to keep their reservoirs filled up, with some success. Most recently, I've been using grasses, and I have a Harry Lauder in one, so the watering needs are not as crucial. Seems to work for me. Everything else is in the ground. |
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