Potting and planning for plant perfection

Container planting can add so much to a garden, whatever the season, and there are lots of options to chose from writes Kya de Longchamps

CONTAINER planting allows you the versatility to compose highlights in your garden through every season. Portable, and adding their own dash of presence, use containers to fill out dull areas of patio, break up the uniformity of a border, flank a walkway or even to grow fruits and vegetables on a balcony. There are a wide variety of styles, sizes and materials on the market. Beyond aesthetics, choose a pot for the plant shape, type and conditions. The needs of your plants must come first.

Clay, glazed pots and resin

Fired earth or terracotta pots have a rosy hue that sings against greenery. It makes for a tough, frost resistant pot, and even when chipped and faded with age looks gorgeous anywhere in the garden. A rub of yoghurt at the start of the season and left in a shady place, they will take on a green blush of algae and moss. Their semi-porous nature allows plants roots to breath. Pots with raised decoration may suffer frost damage, so move them indoors in the really cold weather. Adding a fired glaze to a pot inside or out, not only adds flash, but makes them watertight through the body. Look out for high fired beauties form home and abroad in jewel colours and grazed finishes, often sold as three size families at great prices. For a budget cheat, resin is really only obvious to the rap of a knuckle and apart from being economical, resin and plastic pots are light to move and retain moisture where other materials will wick them away.

Metal and alloy

Lead planters are both heavy and brittle, but easily mimicked by painted zinc or resin with a chalky black finish. Fibreclay is another composite material, offering that nice subtle dark finish of lead without the weight. For an alternative high shine that will bounce light out of dark walled in corners, catch the reflections of water and add a modern, uptown feel, plain zinc is robust and beautiful and with a rub of mineral oil will glitter through the season. Metal planters will get hot in direct sunlight, so check those soil moisture levels meticulously in warmer months Argos offer a 50cm pack of two zinc pattern stamped planters for €30.40 or a plain, flared pair for €33.99.

Stony faced

Stone planters are easily mimicked in a number of aggregate and composite pretenders (concrete) and you can find everything from sandstone to polished limestone styles at good prices in pots, urns and rustic troughs. Sleek polished fibre stones are highly contemporary and look great with everything from formal bay trees to a collection of lofty annuals skirted by a dribble of ivies. Stone and concrete has a thick profile with good insulating properties in hot and cold weather, regulating soil temperature. Keep in mind that even without a dozen litres of planting material on board, stone and any aggregates will be heavy to move.

Situation with sense and style

If your patio or chosen positioning is likely to be windy, a pot with a broad base will hold firm. If the plant is an upright growing variety, too small a pot is very likely to tip over if it dries out, and will look gawky and out of proportion. Ensure wider plants are no more than around 50% stouter at the sides than the container holding them. Create a sense of pleasing symmetry at an entrance, gateway or along a rambling path with identical containers. Pot up plants and drop them into witty supports from an old wooden barrow to a cracked chimney pot. Some containers are such attention grabbers that even without plants in leaf or bloom, they make a sculptural statement. A wrapping of horticultural fleece or bubble wrap will ward off frost damage where you cannot move a gigantic pot or urn. One large pot gives a lot of bang for your buck, but can be further enhanced by placing the tallest member to the rear with complementary plants.