what are the different reasons for containers?

16 years ago

I'm curious and thought I would check out this forum because I have a friend who gets so frustrated with me, because I don't plant anything in the ground.

I have a good sized yard but for all the years I've been in this place, I have chosen to maintain plants in pots.

trees, vines, tomatoes, sedums, hostas, roses...

fuchsias go without saying, except for the hardy ones that can be coaxed into hedges..

but I was wanting to know what drives so many, to contain plants...

(really wanting reassurance that I'm not off kilter about my love of container planting)

and that I can relocate anything at a moment's notice, except the maple trees that need dragging and they're very heavy....

I have one lilac bush in the ground but from that I have more than a couple dozen cuttings from it, in pots.

Becky..pacific northwest

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Comments (17)

socks
16 years ago
I grow some plants in pots because I don't have yard space for them in the sunny or shady place they require. Pots can be moved to the proper locations.

Some plants are subject to slugs and snails, and being on pots protects them.

I keep small, new plants in pots until they are larger and can go in the garden, especially cuttings I've taken from other plants.

Sometimes pots are easier to manage than the heavy digging required to plant in the yard. This helps people who have trouble with the physical aspects of gardening.

If people have no yard, just a patio or whatever, pots are the only way.

Pots look nice on the patio, front porch, driveway or wherever you choose to put one.

You have good control of watering and fertilizing.
TACHE
16 years ago
Hi Becky, I'm at the south end of the Willamette Valley.. I've always done my tamatoes in containers because the south side of the house is the 0nly area that gets enough sun and even that is pretty marginal. When we lived in Seattle our children were young and they had many many cousins and friends. They were all over garden like a herd of elephants so anything tender went in pots that could be put out of harms way. Here we planted bamboo which made a good portion of the garden impentrable so that if we wanted to make a flower bed where we would enjoy having flowers we would need dynamite. so we builts platforms and have dozens of pots of every size and shape filled with what ever.

I enjoy my container garden as much as,if not more than, any part of the garden. I like its changability and its lack of permenance and I guess its frivolity. It feels like playing. The great thing about a garden is that the only one who has to be pleased with it is the gardener and in this house that's me.

Onward and upward with terracotta or anything that looks like it.....Tache
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Josh
16 years ago
We downsized house/garden a few years ago but even in my former large garden I had dozens of pots. I could buy relatively inexpensive seedling trees/shrubs of rare species by mailorder and baby them in pots. I found I could admire the peeling bark of Acer griseum or the delicate foliage of a Japanese Maple on a 2 foot specimen just as well if not more than on a full sized p;ant in my garden. Best of all, I easily could move them with me.

Here I garden almost entirely in containers. So much easier to care for. I've collected lots of really large containers so that in each pot there's usually a small tree perhaps dwarf shrub or small perennial, sometimes a groundcover or vine. For instance one pot has Vitex agnus-castenii, with ever-silver Centaurea gymnocarpa 'Colchester White', and Setcreasia pallidus 'Kartuz Giant'. I like to have one plant in each container that stays green over winter or at least a groundcover if it's a deciduus tree or shrub. It's so much fun combining plants with form, foliage, texture which will compliment each other just as we do with our summer annual pots.

As I get older and knees creakier I plan to sit in center of my pots on a swivel chair and water my pots...(not kidding here!) for now I'm still able to stroll around each dawn and thoroughly enjoy it. josh
busyd95
16 years ago
A very interesting question...

Like Tache, I use some pots to get height for annuals that I love that need sun...

I guess, in general, I use pots to solve "problems" in my yard--a tall, colorful pot in one shady area to provide some color where most of my color comes from the different greens of shade perennials and provides some height...a large cement urn that sits on an old, unused drainage cistern that would take too much effort to take out or fill..a large pot on my back deck filled with herbs, so that they are close at hand when I want to add them to the cooking pot...a hanging pot over the side venting a/c where I can't plant anything due to the heat output...
sherinyc
16 years ago
I have a balcony, no yard.
posiegirl
16 years ago
Me too.
cindywho2u
16 years ago
I have a large yard, But right outside my door is a huge deck- actyually 3..The one I plant on is the most used, not out of sight or mind- Would plant on all 3- Did container garden on 2 of them a couple years ago but found it to be too much when it came time to water. (they are all pretty large decks.) Anyway I love the color and watching things grow, so I keep em close to the house and in containers...
dbeck
16 years ago
In 1999 eastern pa. experienced a 100 year drought. That spring I planted some Fraser fir transplants in my fields. They were all of the same seed source with some coming (that spring) from a commercial nursery as bare root stock, some coming from my transplant beds as bare root stock, and some coming from my nursery as containerized stock. Keep in mind that Fraser fir are not very drought resistant and at that time I did not have the ability to irrigate field planted stock. None of the commercial nursery bare root FF transplants survived, and were quick to turn brown. About 10 per cent of my bare root FF transplants survived. 50 per cent of the containerized FF survived. This is pretty significant and is probably attributed to minimal root disturbance. I have dabbled with containers over the years and intend to go more and more in this direction, but have a lot to learn.
lydiakitty
16 years ago
I live in a city and the soil in my yard is awful - pure clay, followed by garbage (literally) about two feet down (and then whatever awful chemicals are in there...I'm in Jersey City, so I'm sure there is something!!) I am a new gardener, so I felt that I didn't have the knowledge to be correcting the soil in the ground, so I went with containers for that reason. I'm so glad that I did. I love being able to move everything around, and I love how easy it is to activate the vertical space (important when you're in a 7 x 11 foot garden as I am!) And I think I can jam in a lot more stuff with containers.
kate0120
16 years ago
I like containers for a few reasons.
We rent the first floor of a house that was built into a hill. Which means going down that hill to get to the backyard. I'm too lazy. I only go back there to pick the blackberries that grow wild.
Also, we have a small, west facing front yard that is dominated by 2 large curling willow trees. Good for shading the house, but I'm not really interested in shade gardening.
Therefore, I plant in containers on my deck. It faces north east and is all sun.
I'm thrilled to find this forum. I've been in a rut and need new ideas.
linda1949
16 years ago
DEER. The only place i can have flowers is in pots in my enclosed patio. It gets lots of sun.
oakleif
16 years ago
I have quite a few raised beds of flowers. I now have conjestive heart failure and several other health problems. I want to garden as long as i can. So while i still can i'm transplanting my flowers into large pots that will be easier to get to and take care of and i can enjoy them as long as i am able. I wonder now why i did'nt use containers long ago. I've got them close to the house and can look out the windows and see them all the time.
vickie
paulallen
16 years ago
The soil around my house was badly contaminated by a previous owner. I mainly use containers for fruits and vegetables plus on the north side of the house where there are steps and a concrete walkway. So many plants do well in containers. While the containers are protection against slugs, the snails will crawl up into the containers. Enjoy.
whimsicalgardener
16 years ago
I use containers for several reasons:

I love tropicals, but can't grow them as perennials in a subtropical climate. The tropicals and other plants come in with for the winter for year round gardening...as long as my husband retains the youth and willingness to carry large containers.

As the tree canopy changes light patterns, it allows me to chase the sun.

I can locate plants away from the path of deer, groundhogs, and other "dinner guests".

I love watering containers. It's a peaceful time and a chance to really get to know every nook and cranny of a plant.

It is a great way to experiement with different plants.

And I love what one poster said...

"As I get older and knees creakier I plan to sit in center of my pots on a swivel chair and water my pots...(not kidding here!) for now I'm still able to stroll around each dawn and thoroughly enjoy it. josh"

What a declicious idea..especially for those of us who already have many creaky parts.
greenelbows1
16 years ago
I grew up in the beautiful PNW and only used pots for plants in the house. Down here lots of those plants can go right outside. We often have very heavy rainfall, and pots drain better (as long as you keep a close enough watch that roots don't plug the drainhole, as happened to a lemon tree here some years ago!) I have a theory, not yet proved to my satisfaction, that plants in containers will allow me to grow things from cooler zones, tho' the drainage problem has been more totally proven. I don't bring a lot of my pots in for winter protection, but for the ones I have to it's invaluable. I grow in the ground too, but soil here needs constant work and I have a friend who just grows in large containers so she doesn't have to worry about the soil.
alisonr
16 years ago
The house I moved into has a giant brick patio and low brick walls in the back yard. Removing the brick isn't feasible, so I'm using container groupings to draw the eye and soften the hard brick look.

I'm sticking with cobalt blue and tan pots which go fine with the brick. My biggest are ~30" high, I have a bunch of ~15" and some shallow bowls. All are rounded or urn shaped, but some have some texturing on the outside for some variety. I also got a few whimsical ones, all blue, a fish and several sizes of snails.

I think I finished (at least mostly) purchasing the pots as of yesterday. Now I'm contemplating plants. Two groupings are in shade and one is mostly sun. I'll do a new post requesting plant ideas. If I can figure it out, I'll post somoe pix when I'm done.
ceedub
16 years ago
I also have a big yard. But I love containers. They are easy to grow plants in. I can move them around if I want to rearrange my front porch.

what are the different reasons for containers?

Comments (17)

socks

TACHE

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