Something for a pot that grows to 4ft?!

Hi Gardeners, not been in here for ages, weather been too awful to care about planting! We've got the horrible mess cleared up and are now starting on the planting. I'm looking now for:
Small trees or slenderish shrubs that will grow in big pots and not go too tall. Around 4ft would be ideal or 5ft at most. They would be facing south west, not too exposed or sheltered. And must be fully hardy. Apart from that, it doesn't matter what colour etc they are. I have an open area of grey gravel all along the front of the house that I need enlivened by some greenery

 

Coucou @silu.....your department, I think? Especially on relative hardiness!

 

The mess round the back is now sorted, but the front is a huge expanse of pale grey gravel and it's getting on my nerves. I've done a fair bit of googling on this and am stumped, so any advice would be lovely Sorry not got a pic of it yet.

 

Before and After round the back. Now slowly filling up with plants but not helped by being ill.

 

I'd go for blueberries. They come in all sizes and nothing beats snacking them while sitting next to the pot you planted them in.
Just remember to use acidic soil (Rhododendron soil would be perfect) and top it off with a bit of pine mulch.

 

For a small shrub, I'll always recommend lilac microphylla. It doesn't go above 4-5ft fully grown, with a kind of loose vase shape, and it's not very quick growing. It has very small leaves (hence the name) and small spikes of strongly-scented pink flowers. It has a main flowering in May like all lilacs, but unlike other lilacs it keeps producing a few flowers all the way to autumn.

I've also got a dwarf philadelphus in the front garden. It's taking a while to get established, but the position is a bit exposed and dry. I can't really recommend from experience until I see what it looks like fully grown, but it's something to consider. They're a rather untidy bush, but with a load of white scented flowers in summer.

Also there are several small buddleias. The pom-pom buddleia doesn't grow more than about that height, and there are other more "normal" buddleias too.

 

How about chamaerops humilis, the dwarf fan palm, or a cordyline such as Red Star? Both of which I have here in pots - lovely strong architectural-looking plants, needing little care. Up in Scotland you *might* lose them, if you had a really harsh winter, but I doubt it, mine seem tough as old boots. Besides, they are readily available, relatively inexpensive plants - the Asda up the road from me has nice-looking fan palms right now at £15 a time, and had youngish cordylines earlier in the season for £5 each.

 

holly

 

Cordyline no, the neighbours in this village lost theirs over winter. Still googling and thinking on all the suggestions, tyvm!

 

I have grown various shrubs in containers over the years, my favourite is Viburnum x bodnantese that grew happily in a 50cm pot for a decade. It reached 120cm (+ 50cm pot) and then stopped growing but flowered each winter and did the job in bringing greenery to a gravelled corner.

It is now in ground and has grown a lot. There is a small Clematis growing through it to get some summer flowers.



I believe that growing large plants in containers will ultimately restrict their growth, something like a bonsai effect. So I wouldn't exclude shrubs that in the books grow 2m or taller, very likely they will not do that in a container.

Other shrubs that I find good in pots are Rosa Rugosa and Blackcurrant (I'm growing one as a standard now and it has just reached about 120 cm height. I'll top it this summer. )

All of the above are deciduous so something evergreen would be great too. Camellia is the loveliest choice, and Sarococca is another very hardy and undemanding shrub.

For a bit of variety, it's also possible to erect an obelisk in a container and grow various climbers.

In general, wind will knock tall plants in containers over no matter what, unless the containers are concrete. Underplanting shrubs looks great but will make annual topdressing difficult so liquid feeding is more important.

Anything is worth a try. Here's my freebie thank you-note from the birds, a birch forest complete with Anemones and Alpine strawberries

 

Bamboo? Quite nice waving about and rustling in the wind, handy if you need a bit of a screen-thingie

 

Lost this thread now foundit again. I have noted down everything suggested, saving up for heavy planters now so the wind doesn't just knock them over. MANY THANKS!