By KAKI HOLT, Special to the Palm Beach Daily News
No matter whether you’re staying put or heading for cooler climes, Barbara Wise’s new book, Container Gardening for All Seasons, has some tips to give you a hand with your summer patio plantings.
First, Wise advocates mixing different textures — fine, feathery foliage contrasts nicely with straight, narrow stalks and broad tropical leaves. Similarly, long-and-linear leaves look great when paired with full, rounded or oval shapes.
If you’re limited on time, choose plants that aren’t as water needy. Succulents, of course, require little care, but the same can be said for showy, tropical plants such as mandevilla, cannas and cordylines. Even roses can be used in containers, says Wise, if they’re disease-resistant and heat-tolerant: In Florida, it’s best to buy only those roses on Fortuniana root stock.
Watch your container size. Some plants, like Tropicanna cannas, will grow up to 6 feet tall by the end of the season and enlarge their root size so much that they’ll break through the pot. So Wise recommends making sure all the plants you plan to put in one pot will remain in scale and that your pot size measures one-half to one-third the size that your tallest plant will be when it matures.
Because there’s less soil in containers, they dry out quicker than ground plantings. Allowing your planter to fully dry out causes considerable stress on the plants, often preventing them from fully recovering or reaching their full potential.
Water with your sprayer on a gentle shower setting and stop watering when water flows freely out of the bottom of the pot. Using a potting soil made for containers instead of soil dug up from the ground also will help, Wise writes.
“The lighter components of potting soil provide more aeration for roots,” she says. “Just stick your finger into the soil, up to your first finger joint — if it feels dry, then water.”
Hope these tips help you to have luxuriant pots all summer.