The Balcony Gardener Blog

Container planting tips

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Thought I’d share a few handy tips this week on planting up containers (whether it’s a pot, a window box or an old enamel bucket) and how to achieve a simple yet stylish look.

• In general, choose plants that vary in height, shape and texture. Use taller plants at the back, shorter bushier plants in the middle and something vine-like/trailing at the edges. Mix your leaf shapes and textures – think glossy, fuzzy, large, narrow, long, rough, or spiky for a dazzling display. Plants with silver leaves look stunning too.
• Start off with evergreen plants as your all-year-round green base. They can be left permanently in your pot or window box and will act as a framework. My favourites are buxus, bay and lavender.
• Then you can change the display with the seasons, adding some contrasting colours. For instance, at the moment plants to consider for autumn/winter colour include skimmia and winter flowering pansies and violas. Winter flowering heathers are also a good choice for later in the year (November to March).
• Later in the year, you can plant bulbs for spring, and daylilies, violets, purple cornflower, phlox and verbena all give a long bloom period in summer.
• Lastly, ivy looks great as a trailer around the edges of window boxes and is generally a good all-round filler for gaps anywhere at any time of the year.

Or you could always just order one of our ready-planted containers. We’ll deliver them to your door and all you need do is position and water!

English Country Garden Window Box shown below.