{"id":27,"date":"2010-10-02T20:16:51","date_gmt":"2010-10-02T20:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/the-design-secrets-of-choosing-plants-for-container-gardening\/"},"modified":"2010-10-02T20:16:51","modified_gmt":"2010-10-02T20:16:51","slug":"the-design-secrets-of-choosing-plants-for-container-gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/the-design-secrets-of-choosing-plants-for-container-gardening\/","title":{"rendered":"The design secrets of choosing plants for container gardening"},"content":{"rendered":"

The design secrets of choosing plants for container gardening<\/strong><\/p>\n

The secret of choosing the right plants for container gardening depends entirely on the needs of the plant and so the first and most important consideration should be where the container is finally going to be placed.<\/p>\n

The conditions where the container is going to be finally placed, will decide what sort of plants you can use. There is no point in mixing shade loving plants with those that only thrive in strong sunlight. One of the biggest mistakes would be container gardeners make is to mix plants without consideration for those plants individual needs, likes and dislikes. The greatest secret to successful container gardening, is that you cannot just use plants in a container that look good together, they must also be happy where you put them.<\/p>\n

Is the spot sunny or shady? You should do a bit of research first, but a good tip when choosing plants that like strong sunlight, is to look for those ones that have a silver or bluish colour to their leaves. These plants have developed these silvery leaves to deflect the sun’s rays away. In this way, the plant attempts to stop itself loosing to much water from evaporation, in the heat of the day.<\/p>\n

You can also use other plants in strong sunlight like Sedum, which have thick fleshy leaves which are used by the plant to store moisture. Then there are also sun tolerant plants like Rosemary or Lavender that have needle shaped leaves. Most Mediterranean herbs will grow well in strong sunlight and this has the added benefit for the kitchen, in that it also encourages them to produce stronger oils and flavour.<\/p>\n

If the container is to be placed in a shady spot, you must only use plants that will tolerate the lower levels of light. Here you can use plants such as Bergenias, Hostas, Heucheras, Tiarellas and Pulmonaria. These will thrive in shady conditions and brighten up any area.<\/p>\n

Having decided which plants to use based on their preference of light conditions, you must also consider which ones like dry conditions, when it comes to the soil in the container and which ones prefer their feet to be a little wet. The constant watering that the containers need in high summer, unless you use self watering containers, will benefit some plants more than others<\/p>\n

Moist loving plants will not thrive standing in water like bog plants, especially in winter and as a rule all containers need good drainage. However you must make sure that any container with moisture loving plants does not dry out. This will mean watering at least 4 times a day in high summer, again unless you are using a self watering container.<\/p>\n

Moisture loving plants are for the most part herbaceous, a type of plant that contains both some lovely examples of contrasting foliage and some wonderful blooms. They are often used as a focal point in a garden design, with their great architectural shapes. Although many are to big to share a container, like the massive Gunneras, there are smaller varieties suitable for gardening containers. These can include those pretty Polygonatum’s, delicate Primulas and bright marsh marigolds.<\/p>\n

There are small varieties of Irises for instance, that love moist but well drained conditions but do prefer to grow in a lime free soil which brings us on to the next point. You must decide if your plant needs acid soil or not. This will also depend on what soil you have available to fill your containers, although you can make it more acidic by adding in some peat, used coffee grounds or fallen pine needles or by adding lime you will go some way to balancing out an acid soil. Rhododendrons love acid soil but plants like saxifrages will need a more alkaline growing medium.<\/p>\n

The size of the container will also have an effect on the plants you choose. You container must be big enough to accommodate the plants as they grow. You do not want to use plants that will grow so quickly they become root bound or cramp out their neighbours.<\/p>\n

These are the four major decisions to be made in choosing plants for containers, without the added consideration of design. Just like an artist, who must choose what materials they wish to use, watercolours and oils or acrylics, before painting a picture and who will then adapt their techniques and design accordingly. The container gardener must first decide what plants to use based on their needs and preferences to end up with a thriving and successful container. Then and only then, comes the consideration of colour and overall design.<\/p>\n

So, by putting first and sorting out the preferences of the plants, with relation to where the container will finally be placed, you will now have the choice of materials for your design.<\/p>\n

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To find out more about the secrets of container gardening and design secrets visit “Container Garden Secrets” <\/a> and download your free ebook. Davey Greenjack is an Artist and Gardener living in South West England.<\/p>\n

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The design secrets of choosing plants for container gardening The secret of choosing the right plants for container gardening depends entirely on the needs of the plant and so the first and most important consideration should be where the container is finally going to be placed. The conditions where the container is going to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[45,32,55,43,29,46,44],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-container-gardening-shade","tag-choosing","tag-container","tag-container-gardening","tag-design","tag-gardening","tag-plants","tag-secrets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/containergardeningexpert.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}