Container Gardening Creative Tips

Happy Summer Solstice! I love this time of year for the longer days, The mornings are mild and lovely, but we do have harsh afternoon heat and terrible mosquitoes in the evening.

My gardening has been a little wonky this year with weather and plants-mother nature-being very finicky. With Flowers blooming early, some later than usual. Things dying off and others just popping you from nowhere. Avery large oak tree also had to be removed and that changed the light and structure of the side garden as well as caused some damage as it was being taken down.

We have also had several large landscape/maintenance projects that have taken most of Steve’s and some of the boys time. As well as my somewhat limited mobility has meant that most of my gardening has been with pots the porch and deck. But I love all you can still do with container gardening, as it gives a lot of flexibility to go with the seasons and nature.

A few tips for containers gardening-

Reuse and thrift the containers you use for the plants. I love finding old pots and buckets of various materials for potting up.

Use a variety of foliage and flowers in layers to create an impact. I do like to make color blocks or groups, I use a lot of red on my deck since we have a lot of hummingbirds visiting and they love red.

Use a lightweight soil to help hold moisture and to not create too much heaviness for the pots. I need to move my plants around some times since we have a lot of shade, and I like to move things around to clean out debris and critters and create decorative interest as flowers fade and new ones emerge.

Containers tend to need more watering than the ground soil which can hold much more moisture. So check frequently, similar to your house plants.

Transfer the plant name and growing information to your garden sketchbook/journal and make a fun decorative tag to add to the pots so you know what you have this year and if they are annuals, you can get more next season.

Have fun with trying out smaller new plants with a little less investment. It does take work, but I find it so worth it.

All the natural plants and materials offer great inspiration for paintings and embroidery designs as well.

What kind of gardening are you all doing this year? Where do you find creative ideas?

Please let me know if you have any questions and sign up for my newsletter for more information on living a creative life.

Looking Forward, Angelia