Front Entry Pots

We moved the tall containers, that I got as a Mother's Day gift years ago, with us from Illinois.  They were heavy and bulky and I was so worried they would break in the move, but I love them and it was worth the risk to me.  They fit well in the front entryway to the house and the colors even work with the new house.  Not perfectly, but close enough.

My goal for this planting was to combine some lovely Heuchera and Coleus for the foliage and then mix in a few more plants for interest.  Even though the front door faces south this spot is full shade because of the porch roof.  The plant on the east side does get a tiny bit more reflected light in the late afternoon so occasionally we just switch the liner pots inside the taller containers to keep the growth more even. 

I started with 'Obsidian' Heuchera because I am a sucker for the dark foliage.  Then I added in 'Neon Lights" Tiarella because I loved the cut leaf foliage and also the dark veining which played nicely with the Heuchera.  I wanted a Coleus with smaller leaves for contrast.  The Greenhouse didn't have a huge selection available yet since I was there so early in the season but Solenostemon hybrida 'Burgundy Wedding Train' seemed like a good choice.  The leaf shape spoke to the Tiarella and the colors worked well too.  I needed a taller plant for the back so I went with this lovely grass which had a nice airy feel to it.  (I've lost the plant tag, if it shows up, I'll edit accordingly).  Then I added a Bacopa, which is a nice no-fail trailing plant.  I chose Snowstorm because I knew the small white flowers would add a little sparkle in and around the dark leaves.  The last choice was something that flowered well in shade.  Easy choice to go with a Begonia.  I don't use them a lot because they tend to be a bit delicate, especially when it is time to transplant them but they like the shade and the flowers are pretty.  I hemmed and hawed a little bit about which color I wanted but finally decided on a nice soft yellow.  'Solenia' seems to be very happy in this spot and brings a nice soft touch of light to the pot and to the front door.  The nice surprise is that the petals are tinged with just a touch of rosy pink as they age which plays nicely with the other colors in the container. 

Early Spring Container #1

I know that going by the calendar mid-April is considered early spring, but I was used to things warming up, blooming and growing earlier in Illinois than it seems to here in North Logan.  I suppose I will eventually get used to it and be more patient, but this year I decided to totally push the season.  Working in the soil is good medicine for me (even if it is potting soil), and I needed to get my hands into the dirt.

Yesterday I picked up a trunk full of perennials and a couple of cold weather annuals and started planting.  I totally ran out of potting soil so I only got about half of the plants into their new containers.  It was getting too cold to keep working outside so I finished up this afternoon.  I actually got snowed on at one point yesterday.

Mother Nature didn't appreciate me thumbing my nose at her and got the last laugh by bringing a hard freeze to the valley last night.  There is another one expected tonight.  I covered my big pot with a large moving box last night and will cover it again tonight.  The small pots get moved into the garage.  Another day or two and they will be ready to stay out permanently.

I figure this is going to be a learning year for me with keeping my container gardens healthy and alive.  The altitude is different which means the sun is much more intense.  There is also a noticeable lack of humidity and summer rain showers.  We don't have sprinklers or drip irrigation set up yet so I won't be able to put my containers on a neat drip system like Laurie and Brian have done.  Hopefully that will come.  And hopefully, I will be able to figure out what to grow, where and how much water everything needs to stay healthy.

The containers nearest the front door won't get much, if any, direct sun, even though it is a southern exposure, because of the roof over the porch.  But the containers on the sidewalk will get a lot of hot southern sun.  I think they will bake pretty fast, so I may be moving them once things heat up.

The back deck and back patio will get some east or west sun depending on where they end up.  The north east exposure I'm not too worried about, but the hot west sun will be interesting to work around.

Container #1 - near the front corner of the house by the front walk.
Full on Southern and Western Exposure.
I tried to group plants that liked full sun and had lower water needs in this pot.  All of these plants are perennials.  IF they manage to live through the summer I can hopefully transplant them into the yard in the fall.

(the thriller)
Variegated Feather Reed Grass
Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Overdam'
I put this in because I knew, at least, I had a pretty good chance of keeping this grass alive through the summer.  It might outgrow the other plants in the container.  I'll have to keep an eye on it.

(the spiller)
Grace Ward Lithodora
Lithodora diffusa
Bloom Time:  Spring, Summer, Fall
Blooms:  Blue

(the fillers - since it was a large container, I used a combination of four plants, two purple, one red and one yellow)
Fragrant Star Wallflower
Erysimum 'Walfrastar'
Bloom Time:  Spring, Fall
Blooms: Yellow
I liked the variegated foliage on this plant, so even though it won't be in bloom all summer it will still add interest and color to the container.

Fire Star Dianthus
Dianthus 'Devon Xera'
Bloom Time:  Spring
Blooms:  Red
My plan is to pull this out once it has finished blooming and replace it with an annual).  I liked the red popping against the purple pincushion flower in the shopping cart.  We'll see how I like it as they grow and settle in.

Butterfly Blue Pincushion Flower
Scabiosa columbaria 
Bloom Time:  Summer through Fall
Blooms:  Lavender
This is a good, no nonsense plant that I've grown in the past.  It did well in my flower garden in Texas so I'm hoping it will do well here too.

Boysenberry Ruffles Lavender
Lavandula stoechas
Bloom Time:  Summer
Blooms:  Pink and Purple
This was totally a last minute addition.  I was going to use two Pincushion Flower plants and then I saw this and added it in.  I don't know if the colors will work with the other plants in the pot but I was so intrigued by the flower that I grabbed it anyway.

New Season of Life

Spring is here in North Logan.  It's a different type of spring than I have grown accustomed to.  It's a different altitude and a different zone (to say nothing of the difference in humdity levels).  It's crazy to think that I lived and gardened in Chicagoland for 20 years.  I don't feel that old and I don't feel that experienced.  But now it is time to adapt to gardening here. 

First change - we are several zones colder!  Since the winters in Chicago get so cold I thought that the gardening zones would be similar from place to place.  But apparently here in Cache Valley we are zone 3-4.  That means flowers are slower to come out and that my container gardens get started later in the spring.  I'm used to planting my annuals right around Mother's Day and now I have to wait clear until Memorial Day. 

However, it's been such a warm spring and our front porch is so protected that I decided to jump the gun a little bit and planted up some perennials over the weekend.  It feels so good to have a pretty pot to greet me at the door.

I went with my good old standby's, Hosta 'Brim Cup', Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' and Pennisetum 'Rubrum'.  I added in a pretty Dianthus 'Coconut Surprise' for blooms.  I don't know how long she will bloom, or if I will get much rebloom from her, so I may take her out and replace her with a long blooming annual once it really warms up and we get well into May.

Even if we get below 32 degrees at night I think these plants will hold up okay.  Especially considering that the porch is very sheltered.

Sorry about the image quality, the flash washed the colors out.  I obviously need to practice shooting without the flash. 

The colors actually play very nicely together in this combination.  I thought about using Hosta 'Patriot' to play off the white from the Dianthus but the green and yellow in 'Brim Cup' worked so much better with the other foliage colors. 

I still need to add a "spiller" to the pot, and will do that once we are past Mother's Day.

We should be closed on our house early enough next fall that I can go ahead and plant these in the ground once we move in.  I'm not sure if the deer will eat them or not.  Another thing for me to learn about and discover.

In other news.  We put together a quick and easy raised bed garden so Aunt Marianne could grow her tomatoes this summer.  It was much bigger than we expected so I decided to claim half of it for myself and planted lettuce and peas.  First time in years I haven't had to fight rabbits for a salad!

Front Garden Containers

I am trying to simplify my garden a little bit this summer so I am cutting back on the number of containers I'm planting in the front yard. 

Since I have purple Salvia and Clematis growing in the garden I thought I would pull that same color into the containers this year.

I really like the way the purple looks against the soft gray here.

Petunia

Calibrachoa

Alyssum

Nemesia 'Juicy Fruits Papaya'

Osteospermum 'Lemon Symphony'

Verbena

Alyssum

Calibrachoa

White Osteospermum and Nemesia with a pocket of purple Alyssum

Front Door Container

For my Mother's Day gift, R and I spent the morning at The Growing Place choosing flowers for the large containers at the front door. 

I love, Love, LOVE this establishment and could easily visit once a week (or more), just to see how their display gardens change through the seasons, or to find a little something that needs a home in a corner of my garden somewhere, or to find inspiration in one of their display areas, or to get a question answered. 

As we arrived they announced that they were beginning a Garden Tour in five minutes so we joined in.  During our walk through the display gardens we decided that we wanted to try using a Hosta as the focal plant of the container.  R mentioned that he likes the way the Sweet Potato Vine looks trailing down the container so we tried to choose a Hosta that would be tall, but not too wide that also had a touch of yellow in the leaves.  Once we had those two plants we both agreed that we love the way Heuchera looks in the container.  We like the wispy blooms and the substance of the plant itself so I pulled out three or four that I thought would work and put them in the wagon to get a feel for the size of the leaves and the color of the foliage. 

As I was planting the container Saturday afternoon, I realized that three plants just was not going to cut it in creating the full and lush look that I was going for so I grabbed the Begonia that had been purchased for the patio grouping and added that in.  I was getting closer to the look, but wasn't quite there so this morning I went back to the nursery to grab a couple of extra fillers. 

I chose a nice Pennisetum for the wispy height it will bring in.  It will carry the color up and through the entire planting without making it top heavy.  I also picked up a Calibrachoa for the touch of hot pink to draw the eye in.  I knew the Begonia had a pinky flower, but couldn't remember if it was more coral pink or bright pink (it's coral - hope it still looks good together).

I'm thrilled with the look on day one. 
Now I just have to remember to keep it watered and fertilized so it will grow lush and full and lovely.  These plants each have the potential to get good sized so it will be fun to watch them fight for dominance in the pot.   

Hosta 'Sagae'
Begonia 'Gryphon' (??)
Ipomoea 'Marguerite' (Sweet Potato Vine)
Calibrachoa 'Cabaret Hot Pink'
Heuchera 'Burnished Bronze'
Pennisetum 'Rubrum' (Purple Fountain Grass)

Pergola Patio Container

Ostrich Fern  Matteuccia pensulvanica
Light to full shade
36-60" high
moist soil
Begonia 'Gryphon'
Part shade to full shade
12-16" high
moist soil
Impatiens 'Butterfly Salmon w/Eye'
Shade to part shade
8-10" high
Polka-Dot Plant 'Red Splash Select'
Part shade to shade

10-18" high

moist soil

Planted May 9th

R & I bought a different Begonia on Saturday that had the perfect foliage colors to complement the fern.  I thought it was "Gryphon" so that is what I picked up when I went back to The Growing Place this morning.  (I can't find the plant labels in the garage and I suspect they may have been thrown away in an attempt to keep things tidy)  However, I like the touch of red on the underside of the Begonia leaves and think it plays nicely with the Polka-dot plant.  I'm hoping that after a week or two of nice warm temps the plants will settle in and mix and mingle like they are supposed to.  The lightest green of the Begonia plays well with the Impatiens which in turn speaks to the green of the fern.  Then the red from the Polka-dot plant is supposed to create just the right sparkle in the Impatiens.  We shall see.

Coral Nymph Salvia

full sun
height:  24"

Graceful flower spikes of salmon coral and white blooms until frost.

Euphorbia 'Breathless Blush'

Chamaesyce x hybrida
full sun
height:  8" - 12"
spacing:  10"

This elegant and durable new series includes the only red-flushed leaf form on the market plus a White with terrific branching and denser flowering. Heat tolerant Breathless fills in fast, makes stocky and mounded plants, and displays a showy mass of self-cleaning flowers all Summer across a wide range of conditions. The long lasting, free-flowering plants are well-suited to solo and mixed containers.  From BallHort.com

I will definitely use this plant again.  I loved the blooms!  These plants bloomed all summer long - (even through mild neglect) and who doesn't love self-cleaning flowers.  It's nice to know that some plants live up to expectations.   

Chocolate Mint

Mentha x piperita
full sun
height:  24"
spacing"  18"

I planted this in spring 2009 in my herb container for fun.  I had hoped to harvest enough to dry it for peppermint tea, but I think I had too many plants in the container because (amazingly, for a mint) it just didn't take off this summer.  This container got the best care of them all because it was on the deck just outside the kitchen door. 

I have only planted herbs for the past couple of summers.  Since I have no sense of smell I don't really remember to think about using them.  I'm trying to be more proactive in this area.  A. did like the scent once I led her to the whole "mint, mint & ...., choc-o-late...." 

Ansidontea 'Very Cranberry'

Cape Mallow
Proven Winners
full sun
height:  24" - 36"

heat tolerant, drought tolerant, deadheading not necessary

Since this plant (according to the Proven Winners website) prefers cooler temperatures it really did well this summer.  If I'd bothered to fertilize the containers regularly I think it would have been really spectacular.  I will definitely be looking for this plant again next summer. 

Here it is with Cordyline 'Red Sensation' and Coleus 'Tiny Toes'. 

Excuse the focus, I'm still learning how to use my camera and ended up focusing on the Cordyline instead of the flower.

Snapdragon

height 18" - 22"
space 9"
Best in fertile, well-drained soil kept evenly moist. 
Dead-head frequently or plants WILL stop flowering.

2009 was a very good summer for growing snapdragons; cooler temperatures, lots of rain. 

I grew them in two different containers (between the patio bed and the lawn - partial sun, and in front of the garage - full sun) and they kept growing strong throughout the whole summer. 

I was hoping to be able to use them in Emily's wedding bouquet, but it didn't work out.

Ipomoea 'Blackie'

Ipomoea batatas

Sweet Potato Vine

by Proven Winners

sun to partial sun

height: 6" - 12"

spacing: 18"

trailing habit

foliage color:  black / purple

Growing Tips from Proven Winners.  In fall before first frost, dig, dry and store tubers in dry medium (vermiculite or peat) in a cool dry corner of the basement.  When tubers sprout in spring, cut them into sections (at least one eye per section and plant the sections outdoors after last frost date.  Tubers can also be sunk 1/2 way into a large-mouthed glass jar of water in early spring to generate sprouts that can be removed and planted.  Container plants and or rooted cuttings taken in late summer may be overwintered indoors in bright sunny locations.

Look!  I actually got flowers on the sweet potato vine!

Easy Wave White Petunia

Wave Rave
sun
height:  6" - 12"
spacing:  10"
mounded, spreading habit

I put a couple of these in the containers with the roses and also with the black Sweet Potato Vine.  Our summer was just a little too cool and too rainy for the petunias to really take off.  I was also inconsistent with watering and fertilizing, due to our odd travel schedule and the odd weather so the flowers didn't really grow as well as I expected them to.

I did like the flowers and will use them again.

Senecio 'talinoids Blue'

Senecio talinoids mandris
by Proven Winners
full to part sun
height:  8" - 12"
spacing:  6"
habit:  mounded

Noted for its striking blue-green cigar shaped leaves which works well with other succulents.  Intermingles well with other plants as a filler in the middle ground of a combination.

Alternanthera 'Royal Tapestry'

sun to part shade
height:  16" - 24" trailing habit
space:  20"
Multi-hued trailing foliage with deep burgundy stems (foliage color is darkest in sun). 
Can pinch foliage to maintain tidiness.

Cordyline 'Red Sensation'

Cordyline australis

full sun to part sun

bronzy red foliage

With it's long, tropical looking leaves, 'Red Sensation' is an exceptional plant to use for height and texture in container plantings.  The foliage is bronzy-red and grows to about 36 inches tall.  It's leaves are long and narrow.  'Red Sensation' needs good light to maintain it's color.  Don't let it dry out between watering. 

One of my favorite container combinations during the summer of 2009 included this plant.  I had it in combination with Coleus 'Tiny Toes'.  I loved how 'Tiny Toes' and 'Red Sensation' complimented each other.

this picture was taken in late May 2009

I must admit that due to all the wedding travel and other commitments during the summer my containers did not get watered or fertilized as consistently as they normally would. We also had a cool and rainy summer which impacted the growth of the plants. However, the Coleus and the Cordyline handled the odd weather and my mistreatment without showing any udue stress. 

Two BIG thumbs up for both of those plants.  I will be using them again in the future.

I read conflicting reports online as to whether it will live through the winter as a house plant so I think I'm going to try to bring it in. If I manage to keep it alive, it will eventually grow into a small trunked tree; similar to a Dracaena.

Coleus 'Tiny Toes'

sun to shade
height:  8" - 16" 
spacing:  20"

Tiny, very narrow whorls of green, deep pink, yellow and dark purple.
Very small grower. Tight mound like habit.