Backyard Gardening Blog » Landscape Design

The Best Type of Pot for Container Gardening

Administrator — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:04:58 +0000

Garden planters can be made of a wide variety of materials, do you know which is best, do you know the pros and cons of each?

Ceramic

Ceramic or clay pots from plain terra cotta to fancy glazed colorful examples, are some of the most widely recognized and used garden containers, probably because they’re old technology. They do have numerous downsides however. They are expensive, and fragile if broken. What is more such pots cannot be left out all year round in places where it gets below freezing, full anyways. Supposedly you can get double fired ones that can take the cold, but I’ve never seen one for sale and they’re supposedly twice as expensive as the already expensive normal ones. Such pots are also porous (the non-glazed ones) and so need to be watered more frequently. The good thing about ceramic, where they really excel, are in style and color. Colorful glazed pots maintain their color better than the other types I will mention, and many colors are available.

Plastic

Plastic pots are the cheapest, and very durable. Some cheap plastic pots do become fragile in cold weather, but good ones don’t. They are nonporous and can easily retain water. Where plastic suffers is in colors and styles. Plastic containers typically are not painted (though they can be), they get colors from the plastic itself being infused. This is both good and bad, but mostly bad. It means that the entire pot is usually going to be one solid color, with no detail of variance. It also means that the colors can and will fade, really quickly, really significantly, when exposed to sun. The only good thing is that there is nothing to flake off (unless it is painted). Plastic can otherwise be left out year round, and can retain water well for those water loving plants.

Metal

Metal containers are not that popular, but they do excel in a variety of applications. If you want the simple galvanized metal look you have a basic no-maintenance container. Painted metal containers are typically done with a powder coating or other durable finish, these types of paints typically do not need maintenance and last a long time. Metal can also be easily embossed with designs so you can find some really cool looking containers. The downsides of metal is that it can rust eventually, how quickly will depend on the quality of the manufacturer. For instance some “copper” containers aren’t really copper, but a thinly plated steel and they can rust. Also, sometimes the coating or painting process is incomplete and the little uncovered crevasses can then rust. Then of course, if you scratch the pot with a trowel or something, that scratched bit can rust. Metal is also more expensive than other types other than ceramic. But you can leave them out all year round.

Foam

Foam pots are made by having polyurethane foam expand into a mold. They can create very intricate designs, and technically, are insulated. This would make them a good choice for a plant that needs a warmer root ball during winter than you’d get in another container (though, honestly, an container is a bad choice in such a situation). Once the form is made it is then painted. Unfortunately the paint flakes of quicker than any other type of pot I’ve found, the foam underneath yellows in an ugly fashion, and they can crack from impacts. All told, foam is my least favorite type of planter, they seem to only look good for 1 season. They can be relatively inexpensive though.

Fiberglass

Fiberglass pots are some of my favorites, they are extremely durable, available in a wide range of colors, and water tight. They do have some of the issues of plastic, colors can fade, but not that much, paint can flake, but not as badly, and while most fiberglass pots are largely one color, there are usually accent colors added. They can also be nicely textured to resemble old ceramic urns and whatnot. Price was they’re fairly inexpensive, though not as inexpensive as plastic. If you’re looking for a pot that can closely resemble ceramic without the price or durability issue, fiberglass is the one.

Concrete

For durability nothing beats concrete. It lasts and lasts and lasts. Concrete is my favorite kind of pot. It is somewhat porous, not very though, and holds water well. It is heavy, which can be hard to move, but it also means the wind won’t be blowing it over. Concrete, like plastic, when colored has color all the way through, unlike plastic though, it tends not to fade. Concrete, like foam, is made with molds, so it can have intricate designs on it, but unlike foam, paint adheres better (through it is rarely painted, you could paint it at home though). Concrete can be a little pricey, more than fiberglass, less than ceramic. And because of the weight you’ll never find really big concrete pots (fiberglass is best for big pots) but for small and medium size containers they’re great. The only downside is limited color options, you can get uncolored, charcoal, a greenish color, and a brownish color typically. If you made one yourself (doable) you could get a wider variety of colors, and you can buy concrete paints and stains.

Wood

Wooden containers, usually boxes or barrels, are fairly uncommon nowadays, and while they do have a rustic charm, they are the least durable of the lot, with rot and warping and pests all being a problem. It is not something I would recommend using, and wood is also fairly expensive, especially rot resistant woods.

So there you go, those are all the common materials used for garden containers, now hopefully when you’re at the garden center picking one out you’ll be better equipped to make a decision on which to buy.

Three Simple Tips for a Beautiful Ornamental Garden Bed

Administrator — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:26:33 +0000

My garden beds are looking wonderful right about now, and, not to toot my own horn, but nothing else in the neighborhood comes close. I was pondering my success today, and decided that there was probably just a few key principles I follow in the design process to achieve the looks I’ve gotten. I know there are a lot of homeowners out there who probably do not want to think about garden design as much as I do, so I thought I’d share these three simple tips that anyone can follow to create a bed that looks like it was professionally designed and is visually appealing.

1. Avoid Straight Lines and Even Numbers

Your garden bed should avoid any and all straight lines. If your bed is a foundation planting the back of the bed may be straight because it borders the house, but the front better have a curve to it. Pickpockets and magicians move their hands in arcs to distract us because our eyes cannot follow curved lines as well as straight lines. So when you use a curved line in your garden design you’re forcing the eye to slow down and follow along it rather than skip to the end, you’re telling eyes to stop and smell the roses so to speak. It makes the garden more interesting. Long sweeping curves look far better than straight lines, one of the most boring garden beds you’ll ever see is a flat straight 3 foot wide section along the foundation of a house. In a formal geometic garden straight lines can work, but such gardens also tend to require fulltime staffs of landscapers to maintain their precision pruning, they aren’t the style most of us want or can afford.

Even numbers, or planting things in matching pairs, should also be avoided, as they are easier for our brain to add up and categorize. Instead plant things in odd groups such as 3 or 7, it feels more natural and is more visually interesting.

2. Plant in Many Colors

Flowers are transient, foliage is forever. Every garden bed should have atleast one plant that has foliage that is red or purple, one that has golden or yellow foliage, and one that has silver or blue foliage. The more shades you can add the better, bonus points for black foliage.

In the red/purple foliage category there is barberry (in the pictures), purple smoke bush, ‘forest pansy’ redbud (a wonderful purple leaved tree seen in a picture here), various heuchera or heucherella (in one of the pictures), red maples (in one of the pictures), some ornamental cherries, some sedums, and some types of hardy hibiscus.

In the yellow/gold category there is golden privet (which smells wonderful and honey bees love, in a picture), eunonymous, lots of hostas, some heucheras or heucherellas, golden barberry, some arborvitae, some other evergreen hybrids, some sedums, and lysimachia.

In the blue/silver category is the well known blue spruce, but there are many varieties that are bluer than what the average person is familiar with, really striking. All types of juniper (my favorite are upright narrow varieties, in pictures, or groundcover varieties), some irises, artemisia, various other conifer cultivars, some hostas, and blue fescue.

In the black category there is “Black Lace” Sambucus, and black mondo grass, as well as a type of bamboo.

3. Plant atleast one of each of the follow…

A tall ornamental grass. For northern climates this generally means miscanthus, but in the south you have other species to choose from. Many people overlook grasses because they can be expensive and seem plain at the nursery, plus they think they have a lawn full of grass so why need one in a bed? But tall clumping ornamental grasses provide a feathery texture that creates interest with the wind like no other plant can. Only in a full shade bed, where most would not grow well, would I recommend not planting atleast one.
An evergreen. You’ll want interest in winter, and evergreens provide structure to a garden bed. Garden beds can’t be all flowers, then need structure and anchors, foundation, you get that with trees and shrubs, and let one of them be evergreen. I really like dwarf pines, but there are lots of options.
A tree or standard-form shrub with an exposed trunk. Foliage and flowers are not the only part of a plant worth showing, bark trunks provide interest all their own with interesting colors and textures. A standard-form shrub is a shrub that has been grafted on top of a trunk to resemble a tree, so you can plant one of those, or an actual tree (one that has an exposed trunk, ie not a spruce). It doesn’t have to be a large tree, but you need something that’ll have interesting bark one day.

Follow those simple guidelines and you will create more visually interesting garden beds. One final fourth rule, if you can afford it, is something inorganic. A large boulder can be invaluable to a garden bed, or use stone or brick as your edging material. A scultural item can work as well, be it made of wood such as driftwood (technically organic I guess), stone, ceramic, bronze, glass, concrete, whatever. A large container works here as well, a container a 5 year old could hide in, that big.

Video: How to Build a Raised Island Bed with Retaining Wall Bricks

Administrator — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:12:08 +0000

I’m doing videos now, this is the first one I’ve posted (though the fourth I’ve filmed). Some notes.

1. Expect to spend around $5 a linear foot for a 2 brick above ground (3 rows total) retaining wall as in the video. This assumes $1.50 per brick.

2. Use high quality soil for back filling. I used composted cow manure, it is like $1-$2 a bag, not much more expensive than standard topsoil, but oh, so much better. You rarely get the opportunity to fertilize beneath plants, do it when you can. It all starts with soil. This isn’t poop, it isn’t smelly. It is cow manure that has been composted for a year or more. Its just some of the richest darkest earth you’ll find.

3. Raised beds rule! Sod busting sucks, critters eating plants suck, tilling sucks. With a raised bed you only need to cut up a little sod and can instead dump dirt in instead of tilling or tearing dirt out. Much much easier, much better for the plants. Raised beds also increase drainage, lift your plants off the ground and away from munching rodents (though, obviously, they can climb, so it isn’t foolproof protection. But… rodents also don’t like to sit on top of things exposed to owls and cats and the like). The buried course of bricks can also confound moles and gophers (yes!). If you want to really confound them lay a layer of hardware cloth (fence-like metal sheeting) at the bottom to prevent tunneling up into it. A raised bed also makes it easier to weed (less bending) and can even provide a little freeze protection since cold air sinks.

4. Stone raised beds are the most awesome, but the hardest to make and really really expensive. Wood raised beds are the cheapest and the easiest, but aren’t at all good looking. Retaining wall bricks I think are a good compromise of ease and affordability with attractiveness. By the way, one the size I made in the video is perfect for a dwarf fruit tree.

Full text construction directions to follow soon.

Train Clematis up a Post

Administrator — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:24:58 +0000

File this under “other things you can do with fencing other than actual fencing.” Like my trick for saving shrubs from the ravages of rabbits I like to use fencing to form little cages, trellises really, around posts.

Posts, poles, supports, columns, whatever you want to call them, we all have them, we all need them. They hold things up. In my case, a large bird house. Why not pretty them up a little bit and grow things on them?

Rather than buying an expensive (comparatively) trellis from the “trellis section” at the Home Depot, or going the more permanent option of pounding dozens of nails into the post to act as supports, you can simply get a trusty pair of tin snips and snip off a (for a 4×4 post) 18 inch or so section of fencing. You may need two 18 inch sections depending on the height of the fence and the post area you want to cover (stacking them on top of each other) then simply wrap it around the post and secure it with the loose wire ends created when you made your cuts. Voila, a cheapo trellis that will soon be invisible behind a mountain of flowers and foliage. Then, if you ever tire of it, you simply remove it, and the post is no worse for wear.

I do this with clematis, as you can see in the picture. The vine is simply planted at the base of the pole and climbs it mostly by itself, I only have to do a little guiding, and that is usually limited to just tucking wayward stems into a section of the wire frame. The vine you see in the picture is just 1 year old, so not yet at full coverage, plus, it is still May here in zone 5, we had frost last night (grrrrr), so the growth it has is really impressive considering. I expect it to achieve full coverage by the end of the season.

You can also do this with morning glory readily, as well as any other flowing vine that doesn’t get too woody or large. For instance, I wouldn’t do this with trumpet vine or wisteria, think smaller, those both get too big.

No related posts.

Use Black Mulch to Brighten Up Shady Areas

Administrator — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:40:07 +0000

Mulch comes in many colors, people have long been using the ever present red mulch, and in fact I would venture it probably rivals plain mulch in volume. There are also golden mulches, that look like very fresh wood. Then there are more subdued brown mulches that look like slightly older wood.

The main advertised benefit of colored mulches is that they keep their color and so you don’t need to replace them as often. Personally, that doesn’t fly with me. I don’t lay down new mulch for coloring reasons, I do it to maintain a good thickness of 2-3 inches.

I do, however, use colored mulches sometimes in some places. I use them for their colors, as just another design element. You might plant a purple smokebush around some golden variegated hostas and it would look good with the foliage colors contrasting. You can achieve the same thing, and do more, by adding colored much into the area. So now you can contrast the plants against each other, and the mulch.

You can also contrast mulch with itself. My raised asparagus beds are covered in red mulch, and the ground level beds surrounding them are covered in gold mulch. It works.

This post though, this post is about black mulch, the post title I’m sure seems impossible. How could someone as dark as black brighten up a shady area? But what have I been discussing so far? Contrast. So, lets discuss contrast and shade.

Most flowering plants that do well in shady environments produce lackluster flowers, or atleast those that cannot compete with their sun loving cousins. In contrast (ahem), the foliage of plants that do well in shady areas tends to be spectacularly colorful with shades of golds and reds and blues, and of course greens.

However, foliage rarely rivals flowers for color, so make it pop, you need contrast. The most popular way to get contrast is to put clashing plants next to each other. A red-green plant looks crimson when planted next to a yellow-green plant (which itself ends up looking bright). Contrast helps to highlight the differences between the plants, making both look brighter and more vibrant.

So, since black is the ultimate contrast creator, adding black mulch to your shady areas might just brighten them up when paired with lighter colored plants.

Give it a try. I did, and as you can see in the picture (which by the way is Hosta ‘Great Expectations’ underneath my red laceleaf Japanese maple), I think it works.

My New Water Feature

Administrator — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:38:55 +0000

The largest garden bed on my property, my back side garden, has long be devoid of a focal point. When I was doing most of these gardens in the fall of 2004 I needed (wanted?) to create a very large bed to balance out the rest of the yard, but whereas I had plants and design schemes in my mind for my other beds, this one was to be experimental, where I put all the plants I wanted to grow but didn’t have room for elsewhere.

As such, I’ve changed this bed a lot, I’ve constantly moved things or dug up things, never quite being fully happy with it, but slowly, it is coming around.

The most recent change as the addition of my brand new water feature, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. I had previously had a little wishing well-like water “feature” in the back of the garden, and it was alright, the brick work was really well done on it, but it was way too small for the space, and it didn’t really add any character, it was too plain, it just didn’t work.

I decided to get rid of it, and in its place do something with stone that was larger. I decided to do a larger raised stone water feature. Raised, so I could show off the stone, and so it would be more of a focal point.

I tell you what, the second I put those beautiful Three Rivers Stone boulders down in the garden, it all changed. Just the mere addition of stone changed the looked of the garden, it was unbelievable. I’ve never experienced so drastic a visual change in a garden from a single addition. I was obviously missing stone before. The fact is, we garden, usually, to mimic nature, and there are stones in nature, and there are changes of elevation in nature, and this was a big flat garden area. I am now going to experiment with adding boulders to my other garden beds.

I was very much flying by the seat of my pants with this design, I had no plans to base it off of, just an idea in my head, and it turned out better than my wildest imaginations. I’ve had some luck in the past with my ideas coming off really well, but normally the first iteration needs work, not in this case, it looks amazing, way better than I had hoped, it cost less than I thought it would, and it helps the garden more than I thought it would.

I planted it with sedum ground covers in purple, blue, and red, and with dwarf evergreen accent plants. There are a couple waterlilies in the water, as well as a plant for the fish to nibble on, and yes, there are fish. 6 comet goldfish, which apparently can indeed live in there year round so long as it doesn’t freeze solid.

I’ve posted instructions on how to make such a water feature as well as more pictures of mine.

Three Rivers Stone and Stepables Sedum

Administrator — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:17:47 +0000

I want to share a couple recent purchases I made for my garden, specifically, for a water feature I am building that I should be able to share in a week or 10 days.

The first is this gorgeous rock called Three Rivers Stone. I was at the stone place and wanted some boulders 12-18 inches square and wanted something interesting. I was just going to get generic glacial boulders which are cheap, but then I saw these, and I fell in love. They’re just so cool. Apparently they’re from a place in Idaho and it is the only place in the world you get these stones (a type of very very very dense & heavy sandstone). I’m guessing it is near three rivers or what used to be three rivers. There are shades of true purple, gold, yellow, rust brown, and even streaks of black (oil? Dunno, I’m no geologist) in some. They have so much visual strength and character. I bought about 2500 pounds worth and paid $500, including delivery, which is cheaper than I thought it’d be. That volume gains me around 20 (or just under) linear feet of wall for my raised water garden.

The second thing I bought were some “Stepables” ground covers. These were expensive, $45 a tray, but what can you do? “Stepables” is just a brand name for a company that sells ground covers that take foot traffic. I bought a tray that is 1/3rd blue sedum, 1/3rd golden moneywort (lysimachia aurea), and 1/3rd purple sedum. I know for a fact that all three plants are stupidly easily to propagate and had I had the option to buy them anywhere else, I would have, but I’d never even seen those types of sedum before, and I check out a lot of catalogs, ebay, and nursery websites. So, I bought them for the high price, but if you were to do the same I would recommend you do as I did and buy the minimum and then propagate them by yourself, they’re so easy.

I actually had a golden moneywort already (and had propagated it all over my yard), but I had bought it on ebay and I didn’t know what cultivar, if any, it was, and this stuff in the tray is more golden than mine, which is why I bought it originally (nice golden ground cover is good for contrasting foliage colors). So I figured I’d give this stuff a try and see how it compares to what I already had.

The sedum though, that stuff is for my water garden. Won’t that “Purple Form” sedum look great cascading down those three rivers stone boulders? I can’t wait.

To propagate either sedum or lysimachia get a tray like what you buy annuals in, recycle the ones you get from the nursery, fill it with soil. Then make a bunch of random small 3 inch or so cuttings from the plant you want to propagate, dip each in rooting hormone, stick it in the soil, keep it moist, and give it a few weeks. So easy. I’m propagating sedums constantly in the summer.

I’ll also be putting baby dwarf evergreens around the water garden, it is going to look great, stay tuned for pictures when it is done.

Edible Ornamentals

Administrator — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:30:16 +0000

When planning your garden design do not forget that you can use vegetables in your ornamental beds.

Yes, I said it, vegetables in your ornamental beds. For some reason people see an ornamental bed as featuring eye-pleasing designs with organic layouts and nice flowers. Whereas a vegetable garden needs to have straight orderly rows like a farm.

Break out of that mold, some of the prettiest plants you’ll find are vegetables.

For instance, can anyone name an annual (or perrenial) for that matter that will grow to around 30 inches x 30 inches with wonderful blue-green foliage most closely matching a Colorado Blue Spruce that will also flower with nice light yellow blossoms? There are almost 0 perennials or annuals that produce blue foliage which can be a problem if you’re trying to use contrasting foliage colors. But you know what? Broccoli fits the bill nicely, and if you do not harvest the heads you can watch them mature into pretty yellow flower clusters.

So, plant some broccoli, it doesn’t have to be a whole row. 1 plant in the middle of your flowers can make a statement with it’s striking foliage. You might even get some food out of it.

Then what about swiss chard? Have you ever seen a plant that produces foliage as red as the stems and leaf veins from swiss chard? It is as vibrant a crimson as I have ever seen in the plant world. It makes a great foliage plant when placed among other plants, particularly those with yellow foliage.

Corn can provide a nice vertical statement, asparagus delicate fern-like foliage, pepper plants look gorgeous with their brightly colored fruits. There is a whole world of possibilities for attractive edibles out there, try planting one or two within your flower beds. They don’t need to be in orderly rows.

Other uses for garden planters

Administrator — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 00:02:34 +0000

Containers are fun, I particularly like large ones, they add crucial structural elements to your garden, and allow you to microtarget a specific plant’s needs.

You don’t need to stop with plants though to find use for them. A container without a draining hole can make a small fountain with the addition of an inexpensive pump. Or, an upside down container can make a good pedestal for something else. Often what you’ll see people do is buy two identical containers and place one upside down and the other on top right side up so it makes a sort of hourglass shaped column.

So what prompts this post? Well I was at Lowes and saw this greenish hued pot, which very closely (compared to any other pot I’ve ever seen) matched this greenish asian head I had. The head was just sitting on the ground, which was alright but raising it would be better. So I bought the pot, and now it is a pedestal.

When I got home I realized they weren’t exactly the same color… but perhaps after the pot gets weathered some it will match better.

Attract Yellow Goldfinches to your Garden

Barberry, a great shrub for the landscape

Administrator — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:29:16 +0000

There is something to be said about barberries. They do not have beautiful flowers. Their scent can be bad. Their foliage, though nice, is beat by other plants. And yet I find myself thinking of them as one of the best bushes for the landscape.

The reasons? Sheer growability. Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) are hardy to zone 4, can take sun or shade, wet or dry, and will come back strong after a beating. We had one growing up along our foundation when we had new siding put on. Because of the thorns I needed to remove it so the workers could do their thing. I cut it down, and since I was too lazy to dig it up (it was quite mature) I just attacked it’s root ball with an axe and left it covered with debris. It was stepped on and worked on for months… and the plant came back and grew to 4 feet the next year. Any plant that can take that kind of abuse cannot be all bad.

Critters also will not eat barberry. It has been used as a herbal medicine and apparently it has a very bitter taste. I know it’s yellowish wood certainly does not look appetizing. So it is either from the taste, or the aforementioned spikes, but deer & rabbits leave it alone, and I mean that. I know in many gardening catalogues I’ll read “Deer tend to avoid.” and think its BS because I’ve seen deer eat that shrub before, but if anything is truly critter resistant, barberry is.

Most barberry you will find in nurseries and garden centers will be of the burgundy variety, and thats great. It is important to use contrasting colors in garden design and Barberries are a great reddish plant to use. However, there exists a newer variety that has yellow tinged foliage (pictured, along with a red variety). This variety is harder to find but with both a red and a yellow barberry you have all sorts of planting options available to you.

If there is one bad thing about barberries it is that they are deciduous, no winter interest except for a few small berries that the birds quickly eat. Though maybe further south some variety stay everygreen I hear.

So, they aren’t really standouts in any particular category, but they can be grown more or less by everyone, in almost any location, and can provide 2 nice non-green foliage colors to liven up your landscape. All that together makes them a great choice for your yard. My only word of advice would be to not plant them too close to paths of windows. Paths because of the thorns, and windows because their flowers are a little pungent (though you have to get really close to smell them).