outdoor pot plants

I'm completely gormless when it comes to plants. Can anyone advise what would be best to add some colour. I live next to the firth of forth so need somethings that are hardy.

Also how often do you have to feed/ water outdoor palnts

 

what sort of colours do you like? Do you prefer bedding stuff like busy lizzies, or bushes with flowers? Give us a clue!! There are lots of plants out there....
Several of us live around your area - I'm in Falkirk, and quite a few in Fife, Perth, and even further north!
As for watering outdoor plants - at the moment the weather's doing quite enough! Feeding - again, that depends on what the particular plant needs - and whether they're in the ground or in containers. Just let us know what you like, and we'll all help - we're good that way! :D

 

Just noticed the title of your thread - pots!! Which answers one of those questions!! Personally, I pop in a few of those little pellets you can get in B+Q or garden centres - osmicote, slow release fertiliser. They'll keep things going well for a season, by which time you'll have learnt loads about plants and will know what to do - particularly if you stay around this forum for long! There are some plants which do well in the soil up here that people generally have in pots down south, like rhodies and azaleas. If you're after that sort of thing, check on plant label, and if it says acid-loving or ericaceous, you'll need to get ericaceous compost instead of general/multi-purpose stuff, and special ericaceous food - again, B+Q, etc will have it. Have fun!

 

We've grown quite a number of geraniums in pots in recent years. They can stand a bit of drought and make a nice splash of colour.

Much depends on the size of your pots - you can plant a mixture of tall plants and trailers such as lobellia in bigger pots.

Last year we had - petunias, geraniums, b. lizzie, lobellia, dahlias, begonias, cineraria, salvia in pots of various sizes.

As well as the osmicote suggested by Dendrobium you might want to think about some water retaining gel (buy it in crystaline form). I'm told it is the same stuff as is used in nappies!

 

For a slightly different purpose, though! Liquid storage, fair enough, but just imagine the idea of the liquid being released as needed!!