Gardening & Growing Tips

Put a Plant in a Pot
How Hard Can That Be?

By Linda Askey, former gardening editor for Southern Living magazine, horticulturist, and Fafard spokesperson.
©2007 Conrad Fafard, Inc.

Container gardening offers the best opportunity for success for both beginning and experienced gardeners because the gardener can supply plants perfect soil, sun, and water conditions.

Select a pot for its style and color compatibility with the surrounding garden and structures, as well as for its material. Plain terra cotta containers are versatile and affordable, but they can break in freezing weather and dry out quickly on hot days. Other choices include high-fired terra cotta, glazed ceramic, concrete, fiberglass, and resin.

If in doubt, choose the largest container that will work in the location. It will appear more abundant and the plants will have a bigger reservoir of moisture and nutrients.

Put a large pot in its final location PRIOR to planting. Then fill it with potting mix.

Because we eventually want to rearrange, every container gardener needs a hand truck and bungee cord.

There are three types of sun exposures — sun, shade, and morning sun. If your containers are growing in morning sun, you can use both sun-loving and shade-loving plants, provided they are tolerant of a little less than their ideal.

Keeping the ultimate size and habit in mind, arrange plants in the pot prior to planting. The tallest plant goes in the middle if the container is to be seen from all sides, or place it in the back if the pot is placed against a wall.

Saucers are a no-no outdoors! Your plants need good drainage. You only need pot feet to lift your pot off your deck or porch to improve drainage and to allow the surface below to dry.

Begin with foliage. A composition with "good bones" will give you the season-long impact of striking line, textural contrast, and lasting color. Then add flowers to complement and enhance the colors in the foliage.

A guideline to assembling a mixed container is to have something tall, something that is small, and something that falls (over the edge).

Without water, plants will die. In the heat of summer, plants need water every day. If your pot is small or growing in sun and your potting mix doesn't already have moisture-holding polymers, consider adding some to the soil to create a reservoir of moisture.

If your potting mix doesn't already have fertilizer in the mix, use timed-release granules to make feeding constant and simple all season long.

For best results choose a quality potting mix such as Fafard's Complete Container Mix to provide the excellent drainage needed, while Raintainer crystals in the mix hold enough water in reserve to carry plants through dry, windy days.