25 Container Gardening Arrangements For Lazy, Forgetful & Busy Gardeners

TWO CLASS SESSIONS FULL OF YOU visited one recent May to talk about container gardening, but for those who didn’t take the workshop in person, a recap seemed in order since it’s that time: everything into the pots!top container tips THOSE ARE MY WHEELBARROWS of some possible pot subjects, along with some full and empty pots, some tuteurs (metal towers), houseplants just dragged out, and more. It’s what one reader and attendee at the workshop calls the “Dance of a Thousand Plants” right now…wheeling or carrying things you bought or had around, looking for where they go, and scurrying to get them under cover if a cold night interrupts the planning.

Bob was VP of Horticulture at Brooklyn Botanic Garden before opening Loomis Creek Nursery a few minutes’ drive from me about 10 years ago.  He has since relocated to Portland, Oregon, and debuted a new container-garden business in 2013 in South Portland. It’s a 4,500-square-foot indoor-outdoor pop-up shop specializing in great containers, ready-to-go pot designs, and plants for containers, too, in collaboration with the until-now-wholesale-only growers at Xera Plants. (Bob still designs gardens, too–in a pot or not!)‘keep it simple’ doesn’t mean boringLET GO OF THE “IDEAL” that is so often seen in books, magazines, catalogs—the notion that you can have 7 or 9 or 10 kinds of plants in one container “all perfectly blooming in unison and perfectly coiffed,” as Bob describes this semi-fantasy.Let go of the notion, too, that annuals are exclusively what belong in pots.

The casualties on Night 1 were pots I’d prepped by the barn, to eventually be moved into the garden once they’d filled in. Yikes (but maybe they just wanted to make sure you knew my tip on recycling those pots and cellpacks by making a “false bottom” in the pot, like this).After repotting, we decided some botanical body armor was called for, though I have to say, I hate doing things like this (a mix of tomato cages, netting and clothespins):The 30-inch-wide bowl in the photo up top was the Night 2 battlefield.The skunks don’t seem to root around and disturb the cardboard “mulch” I’m using here and there to prep some beds quickly and easily. (Here’s how to make a garden bed with cardboard or newsprint, if you need a refresher.) Every local animal makes an occasional pit stop in my big compost heap, though–which I don’t mind at all. My page of composting questions and answers can help get yours cooking along. Now if I only had the answer on how to get the

I’m feeling daring, so I specifically called Timothy Tilghman, a former colleague at Martha Stewart Living, who is now horticulturist at the much-heralded Untermyer Park and Gardens in Yonkers, New York, just minutes north of New York City. The property has quickly become a destination for gardeners, a getaway where visitors are wowed by bold, contemporary plantings—including ones in containers—in a dramatic, historic setting.A century ago, in 1915, Samuel Untermyer hired William Welles Bosworth, an Ecole des Beaux Arts-trained architect and landscape designer who designed Kykuit for the Rockefellers, to create the “greatest gardens in the world.” Soon after, they began exe

My normal container plan is this: pansies and violas in big low bowls for 6 or so weeks, from early April through Memorial Day or so. (That’s an example from a past year, below; the bigger of two bowls in the foreground, of which I have several, is 36 inches in diameter.) Then I compost the pansies and replace them with warm-season stuff, true annuals or tropical things, for the duration.Sometimes the raccoons (or skunks, or both) have other plants for my pansies and violas, as below in another past year. This year it basically snowed through pansy season here, so I never dared buy any—my first year in decades going viola-less. Just bef

You’re probably reading this article because you have a passion for gardening, but you do not have a regular garden, because you live in an apartment (most probably), or you own a house in a city or your plot is too small? Whatever the reason is– there is a section of gardening that does not require large space: Container gardening.

Nestled among the breathtaking landscapes of California are a wealth of native plants that have adapted to the unique climate and ecology of the region. From the towering redwoods to the delicate wildflowers that dot the hillsides, these plants not only add to the natural beauty of the state but also play important roles in supporting local ecosystems. Here are the most Common California Native Plants and their fascinating characteristics.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could make liquid fertilizer from vegetable and fruit scraps? Well, now you can. This DIY organic fertilizer recipe will teach you how to do it.

Do you love the fresh fruits of summer, but lack the garden space to grow your own? It’s time you considered growing zucchini in a container.These delicious, nutritious hall

Growing carrots, Daucus carota subsp. sativus, in containers is a convenient way to produce your own fresh root vegetables, even if you don’t have the acreage for a full-fledged vegetable garden.One large round planter can yie

Container gardening is ever-popular with city dwellers and those who do not have much space for in-ground growing. It is also popular with those starting out and growing their own food for the first time.

In container gardening, one of the biggest challenges lies in finding the right growing medium for the plants that you wish to grow. Most gardeners will source the potting mix they use from a store.