Container Gardening adds impact to your entry, driveway and patio. Whether an urn, terra cotta or glazed pot, stone trough, window box or hanging basket, planters maximize your garden space without the digging! Decker’s Nursery offers an amazing selection of glazed pottery in every color of the rainbow to accent your home along with all the plants to make a statement. Chelsea Gardens glazed pottery is frost proof and a colorful choice for plantings in all seasons. We've also got a new collection of lightweight containers in all sizes and colors that handle the weather well. You can get Spring impact with Cineraria, Nemesia, Osteospermum and Pansies and use annuals to bloom throughout the summer. It is time to select your thrillers, fillers and spillers and start planting!
Check location: Will your containers receive full sun, morning sun or shade?
- Select your container: Do you want glazed, stone, novelty recycled, wood barrel, window box, hanging basket or wheelbarrow? Make sure there's good drainage.
- Espoma organic potting mix will provide nutrients for happy plants and bountiful blooms. If you already have soil in your pots from last spring, be sure to remove the top half and put it in the bottom of an empty pot. Always add new soil to the top half each spring when planting.
- Hanging Baskets usually need a new coco liner. Put the old coco liner pieces loosely in an empty hanging basket or in the woods. Birds will use them to build nests!
- Grab your gloves and trowel and you are ready to get started!
- For summer feeding we recommend Espoma Bloom, Captain Jack’s Blossom Booster or Osmocote fertilizers. That's what we use here and recommend them to all of our customers.
Maximize impact with varied plant heights, leaf textures and colors.
Thrillers
Are the focal point for center or rear of the pot. There are many options for height from Dracaena spikes, Red fountain grass, Victoria Blue Salvia, Canna, Coleus, Dahlias, Geraniums, Rainbow Swiss chard, Rosemary and Ferns.
Fillers
3 to 5 plants fill space around the “thriller” with colorful blooms or foliage. Sunpatiens, Rosebud Petunias, Calibrachoa or Impatiens, Nemesia, Begonias, Snapdragons, Celosia, Dusty miller, Marguerite or Felicia daisies are all great options.
Spillers
Plant to flow over the edge: Alyssum, Bacopa, Lysimachus/creeping jenny, Scaevola, Sweet potato vine, Wave petunias, Variegated ivy, and more.
Select plants for each pot that need the same amount of light and water for best results. Plant 5 to 7 annuals, depending on sizes, to fill the container. You want to make sure that there's no soil showing when your container is complete!
Planting
Determine if you will see the container from all sides (and place the thriller in the center) or just the front (plant the thriller in the back).
Sun Lover Options
- Mandevilla trellis
A showstopper, plant with wave petunias, scaevola, or sweet potato vine for extra impact. - Thunbergia or black-eyed susan vine
A super-fast grower, nothing else is needed to fill the pot. - Dinner plate Dahlias
With Bacopa cascading over the edge. - Canna
Surrounded by Supertunias and Scaevola vine. - Geraniums
With diamond frost Euphorbia and Lysimachus/Creeping Jenny. - Window boxes
Pick your favorites: Snap dragons, Calibrachoa, Wave petunias, Supertunias, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Sunpatiens, Dahlias and accent with variegated ivy, sweet potato vine, bacopa or any trailing annual. - Herb window boxes
Rosemary, Chamomile and Creeping Thyme or Rainbow Chard, Parsley and Rue provide blooms for the pollinators and butterflies. - Perennial sedums, hens & chicks and stonecrop, planted in a low, stone containers best for dry, sunbaked spots.
Shade-lover Options:
- Caladium colorful leaves complement with Non-stop Begonias or Rosebud Impatiens and Helichrysum/licorice vine.
- Coleus mix the colorful leaves with Torenia and Vinca Vine.
- Amstel Begonias in a range of colors with Dracaena spike and trailing Lobelia
- Perennial pots: Lady’s Mantle, Hellebores/Lenten Rose, Heuchera/Coral Bells with Ajuga or Lysimachus are beautiful combinations. Plant in the ground in your shade garden late Fall.
Remember hanging baskets also make the perfect “drop-in” for your containers, remove the hanger drop-in and your planter is complete! Choose from a beautiful array of Annual Hanging Baskets: Combos, Vibrant Geraniums, Supertunias, Begonias, Sunpatiens and more!
Water well, always check with finger test, if soil is moist at finger-tip depth but dry at your knuckle- Ok to wait another day. In heat of summer water more frequently! Hanging Basket should always be heavy (well-watered) Happy Planting - Enjoy