Container Gardening

Hello All.
We have recently had the very back of our garden flattened and covered in shingle. (Very boring, I know, but we work long hours and need a low maintenance garden.) There is one smll veg patch area and we are having a greenhouse put in this week.

Our plan is to use lots of different shapes, sizes and types of containers and fill them full of plants and flowers. Some perennial and some annual so that there is not too much maintenance involved. My question is, what kinds of plants and flowerrs would you suggest? This is very much a blank canvass, but I do know we need some height out there, it all looks very flat at the moment!
Thanks everyone!

 

I'm a container gardener (no choice at the moment) and you'd think it was a low maintenance way to garden, but actually it's very time consuming. The main issues are watering as in summer containers need watering I find, at least twice a day. They dry out incredibly easily. Smaller containers dry out much quicker.

Also if you are thinking of growing perennials/shrubs these will have to be repotted and often root pruned probably every 2-3 years as they will out grow their containers. The pots also require top dressing - I remove approx 2" of old compost and refresh with new compost every year adding a bit of slow release feed.

I have all sorts of things growing in my containers. The rules say that some things are best not grown in a pot but I grow just about anything I fancy. I have had everything from climbers to trees to annuals. For instance I have a little sycamore tree and a whitebeam tree that both grew by accident - seems a shame to bin them so I kept them. They're doing fine. Grow whatever you fancy I say!

I wouldn't have a container garden again. It's hard work! I'd rather have borders. Bank willing I'll be moving at the end of this year/beginning of next. I may have a few pots but I have over 100 now and there's no way I'm having that many again!

 

I fully agree with everything @Fern4 said above, particularly re the watering. Drives you mad at the height of summer! But I love my containers. I like to mix things in the pots, ornamental grasses at the back, then something like a hosta and trailing plants at the front. And you can move them around, that's the bonus! Take a look at the thread about using the stuff out of nappies to retain moisture, that might help too. Good luck and we would love to see pics!

 

Thanks for your advice guys, I will certainly take it all on board. I really liked the idea of being able to move things around as well.
When I said low maintenanvce, I more meant less weeding! It's the one job in the garden that drives me mad. We water our flower beds twice a day int he summer and I actually find it very relaxing; our jobs can be quite stressful, so it's a nice change of pace.

I'd heard about the nappy thing somewhere else - I'll take a look at that too.

Hopefully we'll have some pictures to show soon, I'm trying to be good and not rush out and buy loads of flowers and then get bored before I've planted them all!

 

Everything in my garden is in pots.
My garden is very heavy clay, and gets waterlogged easily. And my home is rented. Solution, everything is in pots, therefor they don't get waterlogged, and can come with me if I had to move

I don't pay attention to where it's supposed to grow. If I fancy it, it goes in a pot.
I have Acers, shrubs, annuals, biennials, perennials. Literally all sorts.
Just ensure the correct compost is used in them. And as above I remove the top layer and replace every year with feed too.

Pretty much everything is doing well.

I'll list a few of my favourites doing well or that have done well in the past... Lupins, Delphiniums, Rudbeckia, Foxgloves, Acers, Hebes, Passiflora, Clematis, Aquilegia, Gazania, Tulbaghia, Fatsia, Photinia... The list goes on.
One of my very favourite that has thrived is my Callistemon.

I like to grow say a Perennial in a big pot, or an Acer. Then use trailing annuals, planted at the edges of the pot, and let them trail down the sides of the pot, like Surfinia, or Verbena. It really does look lovely in the summer imo.

 

You still have to weed your containers though.....it's amazing what gets in there!