White County
 Gardening
Podcast
April 15, 2009
Container Gardening
(2:14 minutes)
Audio/Video Script:
Sherri Sanders
County Extension Agent - Agriculture
Outdoor pots can be "landscaped" just like the rest of your outdoors. Hello
this is Sherri Sanders, County Extension Agent in White county.
These planted
containers can be worked into your larger landscape to dress up existing
plantings. One way to heighten the drama of these two features is to place the
containers by the front door. Plantings such as pink mandevilla skirted in
English ivy can be made to compliment a border of hardy garden mums and a basket
of blooming ivy geranium.
Container gardens can be planted in three distinct ways:
1. "Bouquet" containers, which combine three or four plants in one pot to
create contrast, color, and grace.
2."Accent" containers, which feature a prominent, eye-catching plant not
usually seen in pots, such as a shrub rose or even an evergreen tree.
3."Moveable gardens," a collection of different sized pots and plants that
look good on their own, but also complement each other, creating added visual
impact.
Maybe the most endearing attribute of container planting is its mobility.
This feature can be exploited to make you seem to be a better gardener than you
actually are.
Pots can be rotated, with showy blooming containers coming to the front while
those which have finished blooming are moved to another site. Groupings can be
shuffled around, like rearranging furniture, for altogether new looks. And if
company's coming tomorrow and your containers are not just so, it's easy to zip
out underperforming plant and plop in a replacement flower that just happens to
be in full glory. Container color cheers the places you spend the most time,
such as chaise side in the backyard.
You can tuck vegetables such as strawberries, tomatoes, parsley, and pepper
into your bouquets, but they are heavy feeders and need extra fertilizer. To
dress up these edibles use lobelia, viola, petunia, and dahlia. This pot
requires full sun.
By grouping plants according to their cultural needs, you will accomplish two
things: You will assure that they grow and thrive. And you will make your life a
whole lot easier.
For more information about container gardening, contact your local County
Extension service. This has been Sherri Sanders in Searcy.
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