The Best Low Maintenance Plants For Outdoor Pots And How To Take Care Of Them
March 28, 2021 by Catherine
Are you looking for advice on the best plants for outdoor pots?
Whether youre a beginner gardener whod like to start small with plants in containers, or a seasoned pro whos keen on planting outdoor pots, theres lots here to inspire you.
This post on the best plants for pots lists over 25 fantastic low maintenance plants for outdoor pots. Ive also included simple tips for taking care of your plants so that they thrive and provide you with a gorgeous display, and a quick guide to the basic tools you need for planting containers.
Container Gardening: The Rules To Know And The Rules To Break
May is the month to assemble pots and containers for the rest of the growing season. They arent just for summer spared an early frost, tender container plants can still look great at the end of October, so it pays to devote some time and resources to getting them right.
Lushly planted containers bring the joy of gardening to the smallest of urban spaces. In larger landscapes, they help carry the garden through high summer, when the general show is dulled by the heat. They also have an important design role, in announcing an entrance, softening corners and even screening unwanted views.
The popular formula for composing a garden in a pot is to observe the mantra of thriller, filler, spiller. The reference is to a single upright specimen , annuals that trail over the lip and others that fill the remaining gaps . Some of my horticultural friends have grown weary of this principle. I think any clear concepts that help people compose with plantings are useful, so Im not quite as dismissive of the prescription.
Bear in mind, though, that plantings that prioritize leaf ornament and texture above flower show offer stronger designs while being easier to maintain. In shade gardens, this is the only way to go. Leafy tropicals and other foliage plants including begonias, caladiums, coleus, cannas, ferns, dracaenas and philodendrons can be used for dramatic effect in the shade container.
Best Tall Plants For Container Gardens
The Spruce / Christopher Lee Foto
Tall potted plants can turn ordinary container gardens into works of art. They add height, variety, and a little drama to mixed containers. But grouping plants in containers takes a little finesse. The general formula is “thrillers, spillers, and fillers.” In other words, combine a tall focal point plant with something that spills over the side of the container to soften the lines. Finish with shorter filler plants in between. Virtually any plant can succeed in a pot under the right conditions. Here are 20 of the best tall potted plants to grow in a container garden.
Don’t Miss: Lowes 9 Ft Umbrella
Read And Save The Plant Tag
The Spruce / Gyscha Rendy
Plant tags are critical. They will tell you how big your plant will get, how much light, water, and food it needs and how much care it will need. The tag will also tell you if your plant is annual or perennial and if it’s a perennial, what zones it will survive in.
The tag will also tell you about your plant’s “habit,” which means its shape and how it will grow. This is important when considering your container design and how to arrange your plant combinations. For example, if you have a large pot you might want some plants with “upright habits,” to give your design height and then some plants with a “mounding habits” for filling in your design. To finish your pot, you might choose plants with “trailing habits,” to drape over the sides of your pot.
Top Plants For Evergreen Pots
Read more about each plant in the post below, too.
In the depths of winter, evergreen pots spiral box topiary, box cones and grasses create structure and interest in my garden. Frost-proof pots essential these are stoneware, not terracotta. This is a spiral box, which, in 2021, had been in my garden for six years. Sadly, however, box is now too threatened by box tree moth and box blight. I dont recommend you plant box in your pots until these problems have been eradicated.
For year-round impact, you just cant beat evergreens in pots. Here are ten plus easy ideas for plants for evergreen pots.
Don’t Miss: How To Identify Vintage Woodard Patio Furniture
Fuldaglut Sedum Is A Small Plant That Makes A Big Splash
The dominant feature of Fuldaglut sedum is the bronze red leaf color that becomes red in winter. The delicately scalloped foliage has larger leaves than most of the species, and in late summer, it is topped with cerise blooms that last as long as three weeks. At only 6 inches tall and 12 inches wide, this sedum dresses up a containers edge and even makes a good cut flower for small bouquets. It likes full sun but will grow in partial shade.
Get our latest tips, how-to articles, and instructional videos sent to your inbox.
Our Patio Potted Flowers And Plants Gallery
Patio border lined up with Hyacinths in black pots forming a lovely line of potted plants. I like the color scheme of purple and white which syncs with the garden above the rock retaining wall.
A terrific example of large and small potted plants in a grouping on a sun deck. In this case the pots look fantastic as well enhancing the overall look.
A large cluster of yellow and purple flowers in ceramic pots on a patio with a yellow, white and pink centerpiece.
The image above shows a great way to create a centerpiece with patio flowers.
I love this dense flower display on the patio but it also serves as an example of how the aged pots detract from the overall effect.
One of my favorite deck flower and plant displays. This is a zen garden on a deck that includes an terrific mixture of flowers and plants using a variety of pot styles. The display is set up in a tiered cascading fashion creating a burst of color in the corner of the deck.
Potted cacti in clay pots on a white cinder block railing. This is a great example of incorporating cacti in your patio displays assuming you reside in a drier climate.
Heres an iron bowl serving as a flower pot on a deck. The point here is to show that you can be creative with pot selection.
Top-down view of potted plants and flowers in pots elevated in iron pot holders. Notice the tiered effect here as well .
I love the creativity here of creating a wall garden on this privacy wall that borders the patio. Its much nicer than just the wall.
Also Check: How To Paint Wrought Iron Patio Furniture
Make The Most Of Your Vertical Space
Strong fences and walls can make an excellent backdrop for vertical planting schemes. You can grow ornamentals, herbs as well as some fruits and vegetables and make use of every last bit of space in your garden.
There are lots of ways you can utilise your vertical space as shown in this video
Garden pots used correctly can really liven up any garden and make a great gift if youre stuck for what to get a garden-loving friend.
Mixed Flower Pot Planting Design In Shades Of Yellow
A beautiful container garden does not have to have all the colors of a rainbow. Sometimes variations of one color, such as the yellows or burgundy colors below, can look drop-dead-gorgeous.
Plant list 7: Durango Dahlia, Great Balls of Fire White Ivy Leaf Geranium, Yellow Petunia, Bidens ferulifolia Bidy Gonzales
Also Check: Black Spot Lichen Removal
Best Potted Patio Plants And Outdoor Potted Plants For Container Gardening
With potted patio plants, container gardening allows you to enjoy the benefits of a broad range of garden plants even in a small outdoor space.
Container gardens are versatile, attractive and easy to care for, making them excellent additions as patio plants.
In this article, we will discuss a dozen of the top outdoor potted plant picks for creating a container garden that delivers a powerful visual impact.
We will also share tips to help you choose the right containers and set up your garden. Read on to learn more.
The Recipe: Thrillers Fillers And Spillers
Planters look best when you combine plants with three different habits:
- Thrillers are usually vertical, such as phormium, canna, calla pennisetum or upright fuchsia
- Fillers tend to be horizontal or weaving, such as heliotrope, osteospermum, petunia, coleus or impatiens
- Spillers are cascading, such as helichrysum, ipomea or callibrachoa.
Don’t Miss: How To Build A Hip Roof Patio Cover
Pretty Pistachio And Appletini Coralbells
Primo Pretty Pistachio and Dolce Appletini may be coralbells , but they have enough pizzazz to hold interest by themselves, making them one of the best plants for container gardening. Pretty Pistachio features medium-pink flowers rising above mounded chartreuse foliage all summer long. Appletini offers ruby-red flowers on dark-red stems from early to midsummer. Its light-green foliage is decorated with an intriguing silver overlay for added appeal. Both perennials are hardy in Zones 4-9, preferring part shade but accepting full shade. Available wherever Proven Winners plants are sold or from Walters Gardens.
Magnolia Spider Plant & Caladiums
Youll be phobia-free about welcoming these spiders into your homespider plants, that is. For this flowing composition that can create color throughout your garden, Red Freida Hemple caladiums, a spider plant, and a Little Gem Southern magnolia decorate a large pot in the corner. This helps hide a downspout, and fills the space with bright beauty. Working with the idea that repetition creates rhythm, and that builds to a harmonious container garden, smaller pots of the same caladiums tie the grouping together. The boldness of the plants is contrasted with the simple, neutral containers. Think of using natural tones in stone and off-white for these outdoor container compositions.
Container gardens are perfect ways to highlight the elegance of simplicity. This succulent garden is a perfect example of having individual plantings in single containers, allowing each to reflect its unique leaf shape and form complemented by the architecture of the container. Using various decorative ground covers jazzes up your potted plantingsthese are enhanced with beautiful selections of natural stone. The highlight of this design is a potted blue agave surrounded by pebbles serves as a living sculpture on this deck. The smooth stones inside the container reflect the larger stones around its base, creating a synthesis of inside and out.
Recommended Reading: How To Identify Vintage Wrought Iron Patio Furniture
Blue Star Juniper Has A Useful Color
The low-growing Blue Star juniper has tightly arranged, 1/4-inch-long, steel blue needles. This color makes the plant stand out in winter. It reaches 3 feet tall with a 3- to 4-foot spread, but it is slow growing. It works well in containers because it combines easily with most colors and the branches arch elegantly over the rim of a pot. It prefers full sun but will take partial shade. It doesnt like humid conditions.
How To Keep Container Plants Flowering For Longer
Having invested time and money in your plants for outdoor pots, it makes sense to try and get the best display out of them for as long as possible. Deadheading is a simple way to do just that.
Deadheading involves removing any flowers that are drooping, dead, or forming seed heads. Doing this stops the plant setting seed, and makes it produce more flowers instead.
To deadhead your plants, you simply pinch or snip off the old flower heads. You can use your fingers, but a pair of *snips will make the job a lot quicker.
Try to deadhead your plants regularly for the best results.
Don’t Miss: How To Identify Vintage Wrought Iron Patio Furniture
Decide On The Aesthetics
Take the Container Color into Account
Unless you’re set on specific plants, it’s best to pick the pot before you decide what’s going in it. Look for ones in a style that suits your home. Classical urns look great on stone patios or flanking the front entry of a formal house, while clean-lined geometric shapes complement modern settings.
Muted neutral colors emphasize the plants, while vivid ones draw more attention to the pots themselves. If you’re going for a grouping, an odd number of pots generally looks better than an even-numbered collection.
Purple Majesty Ornamental Millet
Heres a plant with real stage presence when it comes to container gardening. Use it by itself or to back up smaller companionsjust be sure to put it in a large pot. Purple Majesty ornamental millet grows 4-5 ft. tall and 8-12 in. wide. Its attractive foliage takes on a darker hue of purple in full sun to make it among the best flower landscape ideas. Purple Majesty is heat-tolerant and low-maintenance, and it offers interest from spring till early fall. In some climates, it holds on long enough to add winter interest as well. Seeds available from J.W. Jung Seed.
Recommended Reading: How To Replace Webbing On Patio Chairs
Sculptural Evergreens For Pots
Look for strong shapes and colours. Phormiums and yuccas are back, and are increasingly popular. Very trouble-free plants!
This variegated yucca in garden designer Posy Gentles garden adds light to a shady corner. Yuccas are easy care, but do occasionally need a bit of a wipe.
This is Phormium Joker in a pot wedged into a border where it adds sculptural interest in summer. In the autumn it adds to the colours and in winter and spring it is almost the only presence in this part of the border. It seems to need very little feeding or watering even in the driest weather I have only watered it once or twice a week, while most of my pots need daily watering.
Can You Plant Perennials In Flower Pots
Absolutely. If your perennial plant is suited to growing in a pot, theres no reason not to. In fact, growing perennial plants in containers is a much more cost-effective way of gardening. It also opens up the range of plants available to you significantly. You can grow flowering plants, shrubs and even small trees perfectly well in pots, if you choose the right variety. Read on to find out what perennials do well in pots.
Don’t Miss: Concrete Patio Cracks
Impatiens Spider Plant Begonias Ferns & Ivy
Your garden is a palette for your creativity, and garden design is your paintbrush. One of the best ways to create a beautiful composition is to hang your baskets in unexpected places. This container is a medley of plants that grow in various shapes and to various heights, creating their own unique array of delights. A hook installed in a tree branch holds this basket featuring a sensational combination of plants that will work wonderfully in the shade. Youll love the way many of them spill over the basket and drape in the wind.
How Often Do We Add Fertilizer To The Beetroot Crop
Regarding the fertilization of beetroot, we add 2 tablespoons of complete organic fertilizer, rich in nutrients every 20-30 days for the good growth of the foliage and the production of the fleshy root. In addition, foliar fertilization with boron helps to have a good production of beets without spots and bumps.
Don’t Miss: How To Build Hip Roof
Patio Plants: Container Gardening With Perennials
Container gardening has traditionally been focused on the use of annual plants, but containers are a great way to garden, and we can also use them to grow beautiful perennials and ornamental grasses. Below, Chief Horticulturist David Salman will review tips for proper planting, expanding your plant palette, and recommended container plants.
Read on for helpful tips for success with container gardening.
Plant Containers Put You In Control
With container gardening, you can enjoy flower gardening, vegetable gardening and even growing dwarf versions of trees and shrubs. Imagine the possibilities for topiary plantings!
If you live in a small home with only a balcony, patio or deck you can use this outdoor space for your garden, and your entire garden can grow in containers.
On a large estate, using large outdoor potted plants in container gardening provides a way of softening corners, defining the outdoor space and bringing life into featureless areas.
Theme parks make excellent use of outdoor potted plants in large containers to create impact.
Recommended Reading: Keep Flies Away Outside Patio
Emerald Arborvitae Works Where You Need Some Height
The shape and texture of its foliage make it easy to combine with other plants. A container will keep it well under its natural size of 15 feet high and 4 feet wide. Plant it in full sun or light shade.Emerald arborvitae provides excellent year-round interest because it maintains its rich green color in winter. The upright, narrow habit of this cultivar of our native arborvitae fits the bill as the vertical accent that many containers need.
What Are The Best
There are many varieties and hybrids of beetroot, local and foreign to grow in our garden. Some varieties of beetroot have a thick round root, others more flattened root, while there are varieties that are grown mainly for their leaves. The most famous varieties of beetroot are the following:
- Detroit beetroot variety: Beetroot variety that gives large round beets with glossy green foliage and crimson flesh color. It is the most commercial variety of beetroot and is relatively early.
- Egyptian beetroot variety: Productive variety of beetroot that gives a flattened root. Although it gives delicious fruits, it does not have a great commercial impact on consumers due to the shape of the root.
- Celery: Many do not know that celery, the favorite vegetable we grow for its leaves, is a variety of beetroot with large glossy green foliage and smaller root.
- Sugar beet: The well-known sugar beet that gives us sugar, is a special variety of beetroot with a well-developed root that has a high concentration of sugars.
Also Check: How To Get Mildew Stains Out Of Outdoor Cushions