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Re: Re: Where is everyone/ Containers

Duane,
You're right, that makes good sense for all of us experienced gardeners. Or for those who are estate managers and have access to the pots weekly. But in my business I sell an instant produce...it must look good when I pull out of their driveway and they write that big check.  I choose carefully, so it still looks good in July, or I wouldn't have repeat business. I advise them about fertilizing, dead heading, and not to be afraid to use the pruners when certain things get out of bounds.  But somehow I don't think I can convince them to maintain and change out inner pots. 
It's not a perfect world for gardeners when we can't be there throughout the season to check on things.  Hopefully our clients are pretty understanding!
I was helping a fellow co-worker at the Nursery where I also work doing their custom pots. We were mossing a rack that was to sit on a blue stone patio.  She was very concerned that nothing "leak" or "drop."  Her clients were very "neat" and didn't want any mess ..."what flowers would work best?" she asked me.  "Silk flowers" I said. 
Some people just shouldn't have a garden!

Lynn

Gardens to Go!
Custom Designed Containers
One pot or a porchful!
Lynn Jenkins
317-769-3456
ljenks@tds.net



At 10:33 PM 5/21/2005, you wrote:

 
----- Original Message -----
Good point, Gene.  I use a few perennials in containers, however, most clients are not very garden-smart and complain when they have a short bloom time.  What natives might you suggest for foliage?  I've used heurchera for contrast and edgeing. Any other suggestions?
Lynn

Gardens to Go!

 

 

I've just come home after a day away and come across this message. If I had any sense, I would wait until tomorrow to reply, but anyone who knows me knows I have no sense at all.

Lynn, this does not specifically apply to you, since I don't know what you do. But I am probably an ... god, I hate this word .. but I am probably an expert on container gardening. I've written a number of columns on the subject over the last couple of years (not to mention the last couple of decades), and I absolutely hate what is being done.

I think we, as garden writers (and I use that term with intention) are being cowed by groupthink. Because so much emphasis is placed on what is going on in television, the emphasis is on creating containers in 22 minutes that look great at the end. The same thing is largely true in magazines where photos of completed container gardens rule the pages. Because of this, we as writers tend to produce copy that tells how to make a container garden that looks great at the moment the planting is finished. There is no thought of what it might look like at the end of July. I would like to see just one show  -- I would DARE one show -- to come back two months later and show what that whiskey barrel with the pansies and ageratum and spike ... whatever the hell that is ... looks like with little or no care. Or even with decent care.

Perennials are great in a container array. But they need to be planted in separate pots, as should almost all decorative plants. Put them center stage when they are at their best. Move them back, or even out behind the garage, when they are in their dotage. This is true even with all-season annuals.

The whole point of growing in containers is its adaptability. You can MOVE things. Unless you have them all planted together. And that is what the "experts" on television are doing, not because it is good gardening, but because it is good television. Or magazine photo spreads.

I grow a couple of hundred plants in containers, big and small, and I move them as their condition dictates. Every week I have a different and better garden. But you don't need a hundred plants to do this. You can do it with a dozen. But you can't show it in 22 minutes on HGTV. As writers, I think we need to break the 22 minute barrier, and we have the medium to do it.

Yeah, I should have waited until morning.

 

D

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