You've been busy girl! What fun. Does Jen like containers too? Is that a cristata or frizelle fern in the second last photo?

I hope mine are alive when I return, especially my half moon maple!!!!

Luscious containers. Lemony justicia, shrimp plant, in the first photo, right? And I recognize a 'Haight-Ashbury' hibiscus too, which I just planted in the ground. Love the abutilons, which get bad scale infestations here. Interesting how Back East you guys seem to get away with combining more sun/shade stuff together. Where I really fall down on the job is fertilizing containers. I use organics in the gardens, which don't seem to give that quick infusion that's needed for pots. I've been brewing a foul-smelling elixir, a tea from fish emulsion and powdered organics in a Sparklett's bottle that I dilute for foliar feeding. It smells so bad it's gotta be good!

Moved the E. Tasmanian Tiger into this big pot, in place of the osteospermum that seemed to be croaking. Not sure if the TT can take full sun. The silvery mat is a helichrysum new to me this year that I lost the tag to, with 'Black Pearl' peppers, another aeonium and sweet potatoes.

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Eden! I just LOVE all your containers! Every one a beautiful creation. What is the coleus in the upper left of photo #2? Also what is the little plant to the left of the New Guinea Impatiens? What a great chartreuse combination in the one with the Abutilon pictum and Fiber Optic Grass and what is the tall plant in photo #5? It looks like a bamboo. Marvelous every one of them! Thanks for posting these.

Denise, love, love your combinations, that black E. TT next to the silver is stunning. I just found a silver plectranthus that would be great with this combo too. IÂll be interested to hear how your foliar feeding mixture does. Kathy recommended I use the Maxsea fertilizer which is made from seaweed and that does a great job. Have you tried that?

Deanne

Marie, that's a pilea, commonly called artillery fern. I hope your containers are ok too. Is someone watering for you?

Denise, yep, that's a shrimp plant. I have a peachy, red one too in the container in pic #5 that's not so upright. I think Cynthia has mentioned before about how those of us up in the colder regions are able to mix just about anything up in our container gardens. I used to pay more attention to that, but it does all seems to work, so now I'll try just about anything together in a container. I love that e. tasmanian tiger. Thanks to your pictures I'm now the owner of e. bonfire, lacy, and first blush. I'm easily influenced when it comes to plants, lol.

Deanne, the coleus in #2 is Peter Wonder. The little round leafed plant is a strawberry begonia that I'm hoping will eventually drape over the edge. The plant in #5 is rhamnus fine line. How about showing us some more pics of your containers? I can never get enough of them!

Eden

Eden, I love each of your containers and how nice that Bella has a spot to sit and enjoy them.

Denise, I enjoyed your succelents on the other thread. I use Black pearl in containers also, its a great plant.

Hi Everyone, this is an area I plant up in pots because the trees roots do not allow in-ground planting. this pic does not show the whole area-no Brugs or Plumerias--that's for another day...

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Kathy in Napa

Kathy, I just love groupings of containers and yours is terrific. Is that a Âbaby Abutilon savitzii in the back row? And I just love that tiny fuchsia in the front. Wonderful.

Eden, thanks for the IDÂs on those plants. Your ÂPeter Wonder looks pinker than mine. I really love all the unusual plants you use.

So you asked for more pics of my containers and I went around last evening and grabbed a few.

This is on of my Âmono-pots LOL. I just had to show you this standard ÂBeacon Rosa this year. ItÂs just beginning to have its first flush of flowers. I started this standard four years ago now.
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One of my large urns. Again these fuchsia are just beginning to bloom. The ÂLena in the top of the urn is three years old.
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This one reminds me of a Creamsicle, LOL. ItÂs all orange and white.
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This one has all dark purple plants in it. The hibiscus is the only surviving cutting from the ones I got from Sue last fall.
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An arrangement with all red and white variegated plants
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I canÂt wait until this really fills in and the acalpha gets some size.
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Oh what fun it is to make containers!
Deanne

Kathy, love your grouping. I'm a fan of the small fuchsias too. I like yours in the pot.

Deanne, what a treat first thing in the morning! You've outdone yourself girl! I love them all but especially the creamsicle container, the all purple one, the red and white one, and that last one too with the red and blue. Tuck a little something white in that one and it would be very patriotic, lol. Also what a cool container that one is in. You've amassed quite a nice collection of just the actual pots themselves. I know how great you are with fuchsias but still I'm amazed at these in the pictures. I try and try and I just don't know how you do it. You've got the magic fuchsia touch for sure! Also I have to mention that peachy abutilon in container #7. It's just spectacular! Thanks for sharing these. I'll go back and look at them again and again. Like I've said before, you're my inspiration!

Eden

Here I am at the office having my coffee, and could not resist looking at the container thread ...what a treat !
Deanne, that little fuchsia is called "Dainty Angel Earings" and I purchased it because it is supposedly mite resistant. We'll see. That is indeed an abutilon , but it was given to me untagged by a friend and I don't know the cultivar. I can tell you I've had it three years and it has never bloomed-but I love the foliage ! Are you manipulating settings on your camera to make the lighting so consistant in your pics ? Or are you only taking photos at times of overcast ? I am trying to improve the lighting issue on my pics...

Eden your Musa is spectacular ! I guess I need one.

Kathy in Napa

Kathy, I'd buy that little fuchsia just for the cute name. That banana is ensete maurelii. It is a real eyecatcher, but I've yet be successful overwintering one and it's kind of pricey for an annual.

Hoping to see more of everyone's containers today...

Eden

Kathy, that's a great solution to those root-infested areas. Can't wait to see your brugs. I haven't grown one for a while and am content to admire them from afar.

Deanne, your plants are better grown and further along than those available locally! How is that possible? If you're using Maxsea fertilizer, I'm sold! They're all incredible, but the sixth pot with the creeping jenny is unbelievable, really a stunner.

I'm pretty much out of pots at this point. This is a bunch of pinkish succulents backed by Salvia chiapensis:

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Very nice Denise...I lost all but one of my Brugs last winter. Usually I only have to move them to a protected area and they do ok, but we had a stretch of nites in the low 20's last winter and they went a' croakin.My bad, shoulda moved them.
Long Beach ! I've had many a pleasant time there-my friend Dennis lives on Gladys and my friend Ed lives on 2nd;and how nicely the downtown area has been re-vamped from the old carney-sailor leave town it was when I was a kid and teenager...What is the purply flowered number in the background?

Kathy in Napa

Thanks Eden and back at you! I find inspiration in your combinations too. That Abutilon in #7 is a PW  ÂMelon SorbetÂ. IÂm totally in love with that plant also. ItÂs not completely happy in its full sun location there even though the tag said it takes full sun. IÂve got to be careful with what I put on the driveway because that throws off a LOT of heat when the temps get over 90. I lost some fuchsias last year because I didnÂt move them when it got hot. IÂm soooooÂhappy you like my Âcreamsicle containerÂ. I revamped a design from last year and added the A. ÂSouvenir de BonneÂ. IÂm waiting for the alyssum to grow and cascade over the bacopa and coprosma. Should be nice when that happens. LOL about the collection of containers. They are Âstacked to the rafters in the winter time. We put them in the Âtrailer park on the hill and cover them with a tarp. That last one is a new one from this year I bought at HD of all places.

Kathy, I just love ÂDainty Angel EaringsÂ. What a cutie! IÂll have to look for that. ~~ RE camera settings, I normally take photographs when there isnÂt direct sunlight so it avoids strong contrasts in light. Direct sunlight can wash out colors. I do take the pics when it is either overcast or go out early at dawn or in the evenings if it isnÂt cloudy. ~~ What a bummer you lost your brugs! Sorry to hear that.

Thanks Denise! I just love that pink succulent container, in fact I love ALL your succulent containers. Makes me want to do some. I just donÂt have a bit of room to overwinter one more thing though. How cold tolerant are they?~~ RE fertilizer, I alternate between the Maxsea and Algoflash fertilizers. I use a dilute concentration every third day or so. ~~ All the large fuchsias and coleus are plants I overwinter here. I put the fuchsias under lights in March so they can get going and have some size come June. I also scout HD, LoewÂs, SamÂs, etc. early in the season. They normally have 10" hangers for very little $$$. They can be really good sized plants. I divide them up and use them in my containers so I get more mature plants than if IÂd used flats of annuals.

Thanks again all,
Deanne

Ah, Kathy, so you know the ol' LBC, as Sublime puts it. It still has some grit left to it, LOL. I think the plant you're referring to is the Salvia chiapensis, one of the best garden salvias IMHO.

Deanne, the only discussion I've seen on overwintering succulents comes from Thomas Hobbes in his The Jewel Box Garden (page 143 -- maybe Amazon will allow a gander at the page!) He says you can squish them all together in a flat, barely heated, but they will need bright light or they will elongate. I've picked up a couple fuchsias this year thanks to your photos, a 'Dark Diva' and another unnamed, and we'll see if the mites leave them alone. I used to grow the fuchsia species as garden shrubs -- they have such beautiful leaves, until the mites had their way with them. I hear this is the story up the coast, right, Kathy, that San Francisco used to be THE fuchsia capital until the mites came.

Denise, thanks for the info. I'll have to look into that although I don't know if I can stand to have another group of plants to deal with overwintering. LOL ~~ Great that you've gotten a couple fuchsias. That whole mite thing is pretty scary. I'd be devastated if I lost my fuchsia collection.

Here is a photo of my container garden this morning. The brugs are really getting some size on them after the hot weather the last few days.
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Can't wait to see this when the brugs start blooming.

Deanne

Jeesh, my brugs are about a tenth of the size of yours Deanne, and I'm way closer to Hawaii..whats up with that ??

Denise, 2 years ago I got so disgusted, I threw out evey one one of my Fuchsias except for Voodoo and a species climber that I have that is totally impervious to mite. This year I have started collecting them again- but have tried to incorporate mite-resistant cultivars. I am inland here and am really not in ideal fuchsia climate-gets a bit toasty for them.

Kathy in Napa

Your container garden's beautiful Deanne! I can't believe the size of those brugs already. I only had one make it through the winter this year, due to my own neglect. I did pick up another variegated one a couple of weeks ago. Hey, I think you still have room to fit more containers in there. I can still see mulch, lol.

Denise, that pink succulent is really pretty. Love the combo with the salvia!

Eden

I have to reiterate Eden's comment, Denise, about your photos looking like Seaworld photo ops - incredibly neat. That's amazing that you have low humidity too...

Deanne -- you need that greenhouse for those brugs and possible new addiction, succulents - I was bitten a couple years ago (I think it was the Hobbes book that did me in); but I've not had very good luck overwintering them indoors - they end up looking like HD rejects....

--Cindy

Everyone's containers are so exciting! I am having a tough time because my deck hasn't opened yet this season....the finish we used a couple of years ago didn't hold up, so we stripped the deck. Since we're in the HOT season around here, no one is available for staining, we're busy trying to cool people off :)

So my point is, my containers are spread around willy-nilly....

Here's my attempt to add on to this thread:

It's hard to see what's in it with the garden background - it's dichondra (grey trailing) and tri-color sweet potato vine, elephant ear (colocasia, LOL....I can't do it!) a "spike" and some fushcia that if you make me look it up, I will:
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Coleus, phormeum, gerbera:
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millet, sweet potato in the front, some sort of little terracotta colored trailing thingy, and abutilon and a chartreuse fuschia:
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favorite new geranium, sweet potato, coleus, and ribbon grass:
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'tufa pot with alpines (needs grit to cover soil):
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Carex, geranium, verbena, sweet potato:
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This was too much fun, and I still have more to plant. Can't wait to "stage" my deck :)

(secretly, I'm enjoying placing pots around the house and might just do this every year!)

Saucy

Yes, Saucy's playing container gardens with us too! Love them, love the turquoise/blue pots too. I picked up that same favorite new geranium this year I think. The one I have is called Merlot. And I have a tufa pot that looks almost identical. I'll have to get a picture and post mine. Great combinations! Thanks for sharing these Saucy. I love seeing everyones different styles of putting these together.

Eden

Eden, last year (remember, I get to go to the wholesaler with my neighbor) they only sold 6 of those geraniums "solen....something or other" and I haven't seen them anywhere else....anyway, mine threw off a baby like a spider plant does! I was too busy with other stuff to pot it and save it, but watch to see if yours does the same!

saucy

Really really terrific stuff. You guys are good :)

Wonderful pots, Saucy. I really like the millet several of you are using. The geranium is Pelargonium sidoides. I just Googled it to double check the spelling, and was surprised to find that it can "stand frosts," whatever that actually means. There's some amazing little South African species pelargoniums. A similar one is P. reniforme, not burgundy flowers but purplish.

http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/flowers/south_african_geranium.htm

Bravo Saucy! Great combinations! I really love those geraniums. I've been getting more and more interested in pelargoniums lately. I'm wondering if we can trade cuttings? That new 'favorite' of yours is on my 'must have' list! ~~ I found a millet grass that is very chartreuse this year. I'm assuming that it will eventually turn purple as the foliage matures but it's quite pretty right now. ~~ I think that fuchsia in the first pot is 'Blacky' one of my favorites.
Deanne