Container Garden Update

Most of you know that my favorite type of gardening is in containers--large containers.  I like space so I can play with the design of the container.  There is little fun in putting one plant in a container....Boring, with a capital B! :)

The two new whiskey barrels I planted in May are slightly different.  This one has a perennial, guara, in the front for the spiller:

 While this one has purple fountain grass:

They both have cannas and callas buried behind.  Since taking these pics, I also added some 'Sedona' coleus and some nasturtium seeds in the front (among other things that I have probably forgotten!).

Here is the one you saw directly above:

Whoa! What a difference a month makes!


 and the one with the perennial guara, which I might add is looking very robust. The Guara will soon have long shoots with tiny pink flowers falling over the edge.

I did end up adding some purple fountain grass to this one. You can barely see it --it is right next to the guara.

Do any of you remember the Cordayline 'Red Star' that I over wintered and had only a few top sections that survived?  Well, if not, here it is in May:

and here it is on June 22, 2012:

Definitely worth saving, in my humble opinion. My only disappointment is that the creeping Jenny is still so tiny. 

I also over wintered the big urns flanking my garage. They looked pretty sparse when I pulled them out in May. In this pic I had just added the 'fireworks' grass,the purple shield and the spiller, creeping Jenny:

Here it is now:

It is just beginning to fill out with one yellow calla lily in bloom.  It should be HUGE in another few weeks with blooming cannas and dahlias and large plumes of grass with swaying seed heads. The beautiful 'fireworks' fountain grass is getting buried in the center.  I expected that grass to grow faster.  I think tomorrow I am going to dig it out and put it up front to the side.

My old whiskey barrels (way in the back) are full of perennials.  I don't have to do a thing with them, other than provide water.  Here they are in May:

Here they are today:

 This one has the coneflower 'Hot Papaya' that  I bought last year. I am happy with the growth since last year. There should be many  lovely orange blooms in a few weeks.


This one has purple coneflower and a lot of liatris.  I did plant nasturtium seeds that I saved from last year,  in the front of each barrel for spillers. I had a lot of nasturtium seeds, so I stuck them in just about every container I have. They are  about the only seeds that came up out of a dozen packages of various flowers.

The wonderful thing about planting whiskey barrels with perennials is that there is nothing to do except water them each spring and they burst forth with an abundance of blooms.  Gotta love that!

These are just a few of my containers.  I did not count how may I have this year, but I know it is considerably less than the 75 or so I normally plant.  I made a vow this year to cut back to save time and energy.  I combined four or five smaller containers into the new whiskey barrels and took a few containers to plant at work. One of my huge wooden planters rotted, so I tossed it to the garbage truck.  Still it took me 45 minutes tonight in miserable 90+ degree weather (after getting home from a full day of work) to water and tend to those I still have.

I can't wait until they all get large enough for me to arrange a little hideway in the lattice-walled deck corner.  I think that is my favorite part of the garden season.  I love the secluded feeling I get when I surrounded by tall plants.