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 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)