Container Gardening Extravaganza, Part 1

Well, there is a big story about house sales increasing - only it is not really news because it always happens at this time of the year. However, it does remind all home owners that if you want to sell your home now is the best time to do it.

Presentation of the front of your home is important, but with a chilly start to the year there are not many plants peeping through yet. One artistic way to dress up your front is to use containers pots. It's okay that some of them are expensive, as you can take them with you when you go and have instant plants in your new house!

Container gardens also look good on the deck, so here are a few reminders to help you to get the best looks from your pots. The first consideration, of course, is the pot itself. While the plain terra cotta pot will lend itself to most 'looks', there are certain styles that bring a look with them.

For instance, if you choose white pots on a stem rather like the Grecian statue look, then you will probably have to buy this style of pot for the whole grouping of pots. Some can be elevated on white stands of different heights that are usually formed like Greek columns, and the odd Greek statue will not go amiss!

This is a rather sophisticated look, and it is also limiting so if you like more choice, think about the ceramic glazed pots. These come in rich blues and greens - in fact all colors. To elevate some of these pots you can buy extra pots and turn them upside down to make a figure eight shaped stand. (Stand the same color pot on the same color upside-down pot for unity.)

These will often come in sets of three and may come on sale around springtime. If they do come on sale, hurry along to buy them as they usually go fast. Now we come to the grouping plan. Many of us will be arranging these pots on our deck, so a corner is a good spot for that, but whether they are going to stand on your porch, deck or yard, the grouping will follow the same formula.

If you do not want to use a corner then choose a spot, perhaps backing up to your deck railings or house wall. Arrange the pots in a certain order if you have one in mind or try this idea:

From three sets of three ceramic pots, the biggest three will be approximately eighteen inches tall, the middle three will be approximately fourteen inches tall and the smallest three will be ten inches tall.

You will also need an eighteen inch block to stand a big pot on, and a nine inch block to stand another big pot on. As you are facing your pots, your left hand will refer to the left side of the grouping and the right hand will be the right side.

I suggest you draw a sketch of this so that you can follow a visual plan (sorry I can't!). Here goes: the eighteen inch block is at the back of the group and a large pot stands on it. Directly in front of this but moved over slightly, say six inches to the left of it, stand another large pot on top of the nine inch block.

The third large container will also be in front of the back one slightly to the right hand side, nestled between the two pots and this third pot will be standing on the floor (i.e. not raised.)

At this point you have one pot at a height of 36", one at a height of 27" and one standing on the floor at 18" high; so each oif these large pots are at staggered heights. The choice of plants, shrubs etc is also important but that is in part two of container gardening extravaganza, so for now, back to the pots!

We upturn one fourteen inch pot to use a stand and place a matching fourteen inch pot on top of it. This duo is positioned on the left between the back pot and the pot on the nine inch block. This will mostly hide the larger block.

The remaining fourteen inch pot and one ten inch pot will stand side by side in the very front of the nine inch block, to disguise it. One ten inch pot will be placed on the far right hand side of the large container standing on the floor. The last pot is your choice and depends if you want the arrangement to be a longer shape or a deeper shape.

The final touch I would suggest is that you add a decorative extra: buy a large flat glazed bowl about 12" diameter. Choose one that matches or complements your pots and fill it with water. You can be sure to always have some foliage in it by going to the local fish-tank shop (aquarium) and buying a few fish tank greens for a dollar. When you have company just toss in a few floating flower heads for effect.

It is possible to economize on pots if you can be clever with your arrangement of them. For instance, pots will often be grouped with some taller ones at the back, and this is where you can economize.

The back pots are mostly hidden by the front pots except for a few inches below the rims; if you can camouflage this by using trailing plants then you can just buy cheap pots for here, if you need to economize. However, it is not always easy to ensure the plants permanently camouflage the pots.

Right, now that the pots are placed, let's move onto to the plants. For this you will need to read Container Gardening Extravaganza, Part 2.