Old stone sink

Hi
I've recently moved house and am very excited about being out in my new garden but trying to hold back from changing anything as I've been told I should wait a year! (I'm still fairly new to gardening)
Anyway, there is an old stone sink out the front of the house, covered in moss and screaming out to be planted up. It's not very deep and has no drainage holes, and I'm looking for ideas of what to plant in it to brighten it up for the next few months. I guess it would need to be something which didn't mind it's roots being a bit wet!
Many thanks

 

Welcome to GC, Reem

I think my friend has her's planted with alpine plants? But, if you have no drainage, maybe some bog plants?

There are many experienced gardens here who will be able to give you more definitive advice; even the slightly mad members give great advice

 

Yes, it would have to be bog plants for to cope with conditions as they are now. I'd suggest ligularia, rodgersia, osmunda (fern) among others.

Sadly, you will find that many bog plants are perennials which die down in autumn and reappear in spring so are doing *zilch* right now. So your immediate options are really limited. You could plant up some primroses/primulas as they will be in the shops now, fairly cheap, and they enjoy moisture. If they are totally waterlogged for some months they may die off but by that time you could replace them with something else.

How deep is the sink, BTW? I'm imagining quite shallow one.

Your summer options are wider but still weather dependent. I have a number of containers with no holes (and I don't want to drill holes - they are old dolly tubs etc) and for some years I have planted them up with summer bedding etc and they have remained nicely moist and easy to care for, the plants drank up all the excess water. Last summer they were over-flowing stagnant lakes! Oh well, some you win.....

 

Hi

Thanks for the suggestions, I think will go for the primroses as seems the quick and easy option for now as just need some colour over the next few months, I will probably plant it up with alpines for the summer though.
It's a pretty shallow sink, not yet measured it but may be able layer the bottom with some grit to help with drainage.
Can see ill be on here a lot over the next few years!

 

If it is a sink it should have a least one hole in it where the waste pipe would have been fitted!

I suggest you completely empty it and check if my thoughts are correct.

If they are not, then you could take the opportunity while it is empty to drill a number of holes.

Drill them as big as you can, small holes wilt silt up very easily.

If you drill bit is quite small then drill a series of holes close together in a circle, then you might be able to tasp out out the centre and form a decent sized hole!

Best of luck!

 

If it was a water trough then there would be no drainage hole.

 

I wondered about the drainage hole - but I was imagining an antique stone trough, possibly pre-plumbing, like Armandii has got. Probably worth a bit so that might be something to think about before drilling holes.

A shallow sink always looks lovely planted with small alpines or sempervivums but they don't tolerate waterlogging well.

Bog plants such as the large perennials I mentioned would need a deeper sink.

The only low-growing. shallow-rooting bog plants I can think of are the sundews - can anyone think of anything else if the sink proves to be indeed unholy?

 

You were right Tee Gee, there is a hole where the waste pipe would go

It's a pretty shallow sink though, not actually measured it yet.

 

Good! Now all you have to do is treat your sink like a large plant pot with a hole in the bottom and place crocks over the hole to prevent it becoming blocked when you fill up with new compost!

You could also thinks about putting a small upturned pot with extra holes drilled in it over the hole

If you are thinking of growing alpines in it the fill it with a gravelly compost and this will help with drainage as well!

 

I always think they look best when "over-filled" if you know what I mean.

Google image search will give you some great ideas:

 

I was going to suggest alpines too. I think they look lovely in any sort of low planter