Southern Gardening |
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Containers offer fall flower accentsBy Norman Winter MSU
Horticulturist
Container gardening is not just for the spring or summer. With flowers like pansies, panolas, violas, flowering kale or cabbage, dianthus and chrysanthemums, the choices for your fall planter are great. To add greenery to the planters, choose from variegated ivy, asparagus fern, edible lettuce, or small shrubs like juniper or ligustrum. Herbs can be perfect in a bowl or planter. Select oregano, lemon, thyme, parsley, cilantro, chives, mints or erect rosemary topped with winter flowers. Harvest the herb leaves for fresh use in holiday dishes like pork or poultry, or dry and store them in airtight containers for later use. Local garden centers are loaded with herbs right now. Select a container that will give plant roots room to grow, but not so much that they will fill the pot. Consider the mature size of the plants you will be growing, and follow spacing recommendations. Pots with a small amount of soil dry out faster and require frequent watering, so the deeper the pot, the less watering it will need. Small pots or hanging baskets also make plants more susceptible to cold damage. Container-grown plants have a benefit other than being moveable when extra cold weather occurs. You can select and modify the soil to grow almost any plant. Containers can provide garden plots in high-rise apartments or homes with no traditional space for a garden. Their mobility gives the option of placing them in the sun or shade as required by the specific plant. The lightweight pots that look like Old World clay are reaching the price level of even the tightest pocket books. The potting mix should be light and airy. This is one place to avoid skimping. Many bargain soils sold by the pound are heavy and don’t drain well enough. Large containers with this type soil would be extremely hard to move around. Today’s best ready-made mixes are weed free and have controlled-release fertilizers added. Planting in containers is much the same as planting in the landscape. Place bedding plants, shrubs or trees with the top of the root ball even with the soil line. Be an artist, and make your own colorful fall displays. Place large plants in first, then place smaller plants around the perimeter and in pockets created by greenery. Keep the plants well watered as they get established, keeping in mind that containers dry out faster than the flowerbeds. To keep plants well fed and blooming, use a time-released granular fertilizer or water with a dilute-liquid fertilizer. The
Pacific Northwest in known for the gorgeous ways they mix
plants in baskets, bowls or containers on the street. These
containers have six or seven different awesome colors. We
can do the same, and there is hardly a better time than the
fall. Released:
October 6, 2005 Editor's Note: Ideal publication dates of Southern Gardening columns are within one month of their release. Editors should examine older columns carefully for any information that could be time sensitive. Publications may download photograph at 200 dpi |
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