Container Gardening:

Container gardening has become one of the hottest trends in recent years in gardening. Container gardening is the ideal way to release your inner gardening creativity and experiment with new plants, container shapes, materials and color combinations that you would never dream of doing in an established garden bed. Container gardens are no longer restricted to petunias in a pot; new trends in container gardening pair perennials with herbs, annuals and even container sized vegetables to create stunning, unique mini gardens.

Versatile and transportable, container gardens can:

• soften sharp edges of a patio
• serve as a transition between interior and exterior spaces
• brighten a shady nook
• provide drama to an entryway or patio
  
• simply provide a visual refuge after a busy day

At the farm we are passionate perennial lovers as the name of our nursery, Stargazer Perennials implies. Always looking for new ways to incorporate perennials into the landscape, we began experimenting with perennials in container gardens several years ago. In addition to creating our own designs, we have also found Proven Winners pre-planned designs to also be very attractive and unique. Below are some of our favorite combinations that delight us year after year. For a more detailed list of pre-planned contain gardens with photos, click here...

Container Gardening Tips:

• Add a mid summer splash of unexpected color by adding Asiatic and Oriental lilies to your container. Lilies are extremely hardy and love growing in pots. They come in a wide range of colors from pure white to almost black. Their mid summer bloom and fragrance will transform any container garden into a fragrant bouquet. When the lilies are done blooming trim back the foliage just enough to be hidden by the other plants.
• Planting smaller size plants will yield you better results especially when using several varieties in the same pot. The smaller size plants will actually grow faster than larger plants and they will grow together giving you that cohesive look to your container garden. The majority of the premium plants in the pre-planned container gardens available in our online country store are sized at 3.5" pots. We have found that this size plant regardless if it is an annual, perennial or ornamental grass performs best.
  
• Mix a granular organic fertilizer in with your potting soil at the time that you plant your container garden. Follow up with regular liquid fertilizer applications every two weeks. At the farm we only use Maxicrop liquified seaweed fertilizer for all of our blooming plants.
  
• Go big when choosing your container! When choosing a decorative container look for larger, sturdy containers. Perennial plants have a larger root system than annuals and perform best when they are not root-bound. Depending on the vigor of the perennials, you should take them out of their pots every two years, divide them, trim the roots and re-plant them into a pot with fresh soil.
• If you live in a frost area, choose weather proof containers. Our farm is located in a USDA growing zone 5b so we tend to stick with fiberglass, wood, stone or plastic for plant containers. If you use a ceramic container or a terra cotta pot, after the perennials have gone dormant, place the pot in a dark area that stays above freezing to protect it from the freeze and thaw cycle that tends to crack ceramic pots. Read about preparing for fall here..
  
• Use a lightweight organic potting soil for all container plants. Never use soil from your garden as it will typically be too heavy to drain properly.
• Save money on soil when planting big pots by adding a layer of crushed cans or broken pots. Place a 3” layer of potting soil on top of the layer of cans before planting. Not only will you use less potting soil but you will reduce the weight of large container gardens and increase drainage. It’s a win-win!