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Our top 5 plants for containers:

For successful summer displays, choose plants that flower over a long period of time, respond well to deadheading and are tolerant of container cultivation. A wide range of suitable plants should be available in most garden centres from late March onwards. However, don't plant them out until the risk of frost has passed in your area.

When planting up summer containers, remember:

• The mainstay of summer containers are tender perennials
  Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs. , often referred to as 'patio plants'. Those such as fuchsia can overwintered in the greenhouse as plants or rooted cuttings
  A method of growing new plants from parts of an existing plant, such as sections of root, stem, leaf or bud. When prepared correctly and planted in the right conditions, they can produce roots and eventually become independent plants. There is a wide range of different methods for taking cuttings, depending on the plant and time of year. or bought fresh each year
• Annual bedding plants are also good candidates and include nasturtium and pot marigold
• It is possible to use hardy perennial
  Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs. plants, such as lavender , which can eventually be planted out in the garden
• Choose a focal plant such as a structural shrub or annual climber grown on a small tripod for the centre of the scheme
• Surround the focal plant with a mix of upright bedding plants
  Bedding plants are usually colourful half-hardy, short-lived or annual plants, grown for displays in beds or containers. They may be changed seasonally, with spring, summer and winter bedding displays each using different plants of appropriate hardiness and flowering times. and some that trail over the side of the container. Plant at least three of each
• Link the scheme together by repeating some of the same plants in each container and consider restricting the colour scheme
• Combine plants that have similar requirements; most summer bedding plants do best in full sun but some, such as begonias and tobacco plants, will tolerate light shade
• Where daily watering is impossible, consider drought-resistant plants

Whatever the style or situation, there are summer container plants to suit;

Focal point: Argyranthemum (marguerite) grown as standards, dahlia , fuchsia , Lantana , lavender , Phormium and salvia .

Upright (larger): Ageratum , Brachyscome iberidifolia (swan river daisy), Diascia , heliotrope , Lantana , marguerite , Osteospermum , Pelargonium , salvia , Verbena , Zinnia .

Trailing: Calibrachoa (million bells), ivy-leaved pelargoniums , lobelia ( Lobelia erinus Cascade Series ), petunia (Surfinia types) and Verbena (trailing).

Light shade: Begonia , Glechoma hederacea 'Variegata' (ground ivy), Impatiens walleriana (busy Lizzies), Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' (creeping Jenny), Mimulus Magic Series (monkey flower), Solenostemon scutellaroides (coleus), Chaenostoma cordatum 'Snowflake' (Bacopa), Torenia .

Drought tolerant: Aeonium 'Zwartkop' , Echeveria , Mesembryanthemum , sedum .

Foliage: Coleus , Dichondra 'Silver Falls' , Helichrysum petiolare , Senecio .

Scented: heliotrope , Lobularia maritima (alyssum), Matthiola (stocks), Nemesia , Nicotiana (tobacco plant).

Hot tropical: Begonia (tuberous), Bidens , Canna , Coleus , Gazania , Lantana , Tagetes (French and African marigolds).

Cool and calm: Alyssum , French lavender (Lavanula stoechas and L. dentata), Lobelia , marguerite .

Links:

10 AGM perennials for containers
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