Patio plant ideas

Good Morning

I joined up yesterday , And must say I'm getting a very warm welcome and here's my first question

So I have a garden that I'm working on at the moment when it's finished I will have an area of fake grass (Sorry I know some don't like it ) And a patio area

So in the mornings it's shady in the garden until 12.30 ish when the sun comes around

So I'm looking at planting in pots and containers but am a little unsure what to plant I would like to have a cherry tree but I'm not sure if it would grow in a pot ?, The only thing I'm sure about is I to plant some hanging baskets but I know it way to early for them at the moment

Could anyone suggest anything ?

Thank you and sorry for going on , Ian

 

Maybe small shrubs are a good idea for pots. Many are evergreen, but deciduous ones are nice too - bare branches can look quite architectural.
I've got one called Spiraea which, although deciduous, has bronze foliage and pink flowers in the summer. I've planted one in a tub and I've put crocuses and some other bulbs with it , so as well as summer, the tub is quite colourful in late winter and spring too.

 

For rapid gratification you can't beat bulbs. You're too late for the spring ones (unless you buy them already in flower) but it's just the right time to start looking at the summer ones - e.g. lilies, freesias etc.

I have two Daphne Perfume Princess on my patio which flower in the depths of winter and have a beautiful perfume. They prefer a bit of shade so should be happy on your patio. Mine doesn't get any sun in winter but gets quite baked in summer, so I move the daphnes into a shadier corner then to protect them.

If you want to have a go at growing from seed and you have a nice sunny windowsill now would be a good time to start some plants for your hanging baskets.

 

For foliage I would recommend Pittosporum and/or Physocarpus. In a large tub with an obelisk you could have a Trachelospermum Jasminoides (star jasmine)

 

Hi Ian,

So essentially you want plants that will do well in containers, in part sun. Is the patio quite big? Because that will probably determine how big your containers can be. While some trees can be OK in containers, the containers will need to be very substantial.

Some smaller options that I have thought of:

• Flowering quinces (chaenomeles). Their growth habit isn't rounded and bushy, it's a bit more irregular and wild, and some but I like that personally. The blooms are gorgeous and then they turn into fruit, which gives them a very long season of interest. They are deciduous but their downtime is fairly short. They are the some of the first plants to bloom (mine are starting to bloom right now, when not much else is). Most of them have spikes - though you can actually get some without and which also don't produce fruit, if you don't like that. A very pretty one that I grow is this: Chaenomeles speciosa 'Geisha Girl' - flowering quince
• If you want a rounded bushy, almost cloud-like shape, hebes are reliable low maintenance plants and they are evergreen.
• If you don't mind watering and fertilising frequently, there are some lovely roses which don't require as much sun as others, e.g. Dannahue®
• Pieris is another evergreen option. A few months ago I bought two of these. They require slightly acidic compost: Pieris japonica 'Ralto'PBR | pieris 'Ralto' Shrubs/RHS