I have a terra cotta strawberry jar that I put a green garden stake in the top of. Then I planted Hummingbird vine in it. It grows up rather airily and I wind it around the stake and it grows quite frothy and pretty with delicate red blooms. I hope you like this idea. Jlily

Me again. I had to wait for it to stop raining to get a picture. AND we badly needed the rain.JLily

{{gwi:188789}}

Would that vine be called cardinal climber vine also? It looks great in that pot.

The Cardinal climber and the Cyprus vine are the same, I think. The Hummingbird vine has a finer foliage. Thank you for the compliment. I also have a Moon flower in the pot. But it has not bloomed. Jlily

Wow. It looks like a little fairy Christmas tree with little lights on it. Beautiful.

What you picture here is Cypress vine, sometimes called hummingbird vine. Cardinal Climber has a larger frilly leaf, but almost the same flower. I cant get the cypress vine to grow. I have bought seeds several times with no luck. I see the moonflower vine heartshaped leaf on the left side. I have cyprus vine everywhere, and normally have Moonflower vine , but it was so dry this year those seeds didn't germinate.

Reminded me of a Christmas tree too...very pretty.
I have two Strawberry pots that DH found for me...sitting empty...because I'm one of the few who do not like Hen N' Chicks...a plant must have blooms for me to appreciate it.
Wonder if the pots could somehow be used for Halloween?
Jlily,What is the name of that shrub/tree with the pinkish flowers? Nice.

I had one planted with violas once. It was very pretty.

Ashli that is a Rose of Sharon bush. I'm glad you enjoyed the strawberry planter this way. I have thought about putting a curved handle above the pot to train the vine on, also. I imagine it would be georgous with the Violas, too. I love them also.Jlily

I'm with you, Ashli, about the hens 'n chicks. I love the idea of planing boots and shoes, but I haven't seen anything else planted in them but hens 'n chicks.

That's nice, Jlily - thanks for the pic! So one great idea is putting a structure - like a pole or maybe a tall cone or cylinder of wire fencing material - in the top and growing an annual vine... I do like the ferny leaves of cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) if I want to see the structure it's growing on (haven't done that one in a couple of years and it might make a nice centerpiece for a hummingbird garden I'm planning). Cardinal climber (Ipomoea sloteri) is the more palmy-leaved version that took over my fence last year and the hummingbirds and yellow sulfur moths just loved in September, but the seeds didn't materialize worth beans!

Another great idea is planting with other colorful flowers like violas.

I did a quick google for other ideas and came up with small herb gardens.

Re the hens and chicks, I know there are some fancy sempervivum varieties that are just about as colorful as some flowers that I'd try if I could find them (and afford them). But I wouldn't put them in this, I want to bring it inside in the winter and the sempers I think are winter hardy.

Any other ideas? Any "junky" ideas?

Ok, my mind and fingers don't always agree! I re-read my post today, and
Meant to say that I could not get cardinal climber to grow here. Sorry about that!

I made a fountain out of my strawberry pot awhile back and am planning on doing it again. You can plant herbs or annuals in the sides and have the water coming out the top.
It looks pretty neat because nobody can tell where the water is coming from.

That sounds cool, too, regine! Any information on how, or diagram, or a picture?

We're leaving on a three week trip to Europe tomorrow so I don't have time now. When we get back, I will post pictures step by step as to how to do it when I do it.If you remember any of the earlier Christopher Lowell's shows, he made one of these fountains, that's where I got my directions from. So stay tuned as they say!