Brighten Up Your Garden
August 12, 2008
No one can feel enthusiastic about gardening when the weather is all grey and miserable. However, just visualise how a few splashes can add a bit of colour to your garden, while brightening your spirits, at the same time. You can perk up the smallest garden with a few well chosen, well placed tubs and troughs of flowers and plants. First select the kind of containers you would like. With a vast range to choose from, each will look unique, depending on the flowers and arrangements you opt for.
Though not particularly pretty, plastic is cheap and durable and you can do much to conceal it with trailing foliage. For those with cash to splurge, one can pick up some unusual looking pots from any garden centre. Plain orange clay or terracotta flowerpots look very Mediterranean placed against whitewashed garden walls. Glazed pots in earthy tones or brighter hues not only look wonderful, but are gaining in popularity of late. And while, you can go for wooden barrels, elegant urns, sandstone troughs, even chimney pots, they are not only pricey but also don’t allow much space for planting.
While, potting plants, pay attention to drainage to prevent your plants from getting waterlogged. Crock adequately and use only top quality compost adding some peat and grit to it. Forget using garden soil as it tends to compact. After the pots have been selected, bought, crocked and composted, it’s time to concentrate on the colour scheme and the plant types you wish for your garden.
For tall vase shape or regency urns, give your planting some focal height for other plants to cluster around. A central New Zealand flax or climbing Black Eyed Susan would look good. As trailing greenery looks good draped over the rims of tall tubs or tubs positioned high up, go for ivy and other trailing plants.
A tub is petunias makes for a marvellous standby. Not only do they come in a profusion of colours, they will also last all through the summer. Deadhead them frequently to make them flower more generously. Add some bright and cheerful Pansies and there is a lovely range of trailing geraniums that will add interest.
Fast growing Lobelia and allyssum will cover soil while the rest of the plants get established.
You can go for a single colour theme, as it can look most attractive. For example, white will look cool even on the hottest of days. White pelargonium, begonias, tobacco plants and trailing verbena look marvellous together.
Make certain to secure your tubs or troughs, wherever you place them. Keeping in mind how heavy stone boxes full of plants and earth can be, position them on window sills and ledges that can withstand their weight. Fix brackets underneath the window to hold them, if the window ledge is not wide enough.
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