Container Garden Impact

Host: Gary Bachman, Ornamental Horticulture Specialist

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Container gardening is no longer a simple red geranium on either side of the front door today on Southern Gardening.

Container gardening allows you to grow plants where there is no access to soil, such as a driveway, balcony, or front door step. You can place the plants exactly where you want them. Designing a container garden is as easy as following the thriller, filler, and spiller formula. Once you have decided on the container, you start adding plants. The thriller plant adds height and interest. The filler plants add color before, during, and after flowering. The spiller plants add a sense of grace with the cascading foliage from the edge of the container. A nice combination recipe for a container garden in the shade would be the upright blades of Dracaena (thriller plant) poking through a mound of impatiens and Dusty Miller (filler plants) and asparagus fern (spiller plant) draping over the edge of the container. Always use a good quality peat-based potting media that drains well. Never use soil as the drainage will suffer. Use slow release fertilizers. These will keep a steady supply of nutrients available throughout the growing season. Water on a daily basis if needed. The quickest way to tell if the container needs water is to push your index finger into the media. If it feels dry at the first knuckle go ahead and water.

You are only limited by your imagination when container gardening. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman for Southern Gardening.