Multiseason container garden planting made easy!
Would you like to have gorgeous container displays year-round? New Jersey gardener Heather Thomas recommends starting in fall. She has a simple method for creating stunning containers that flow seamlessly from season to season, always filled with flowers and foliage. Let’s follow her steps!
Choosing the right container
Start by choosing a container that can withstand your zone’s coldest temperatures. Composite, plastic, wood and metal are good choices that won’t crack if the soil inside freezes and expands, as it might in USDA zones 5 and colder. Heather uses a composite self-watering container with an inner wall that forms a water reservoir during the summer. In her zone 7 garden, this drained reservoir becomes an extra layer of insulation in the winter for the contents of the pot.
How to create a multiseason container garden
Step 1: Plant spring-blooming bulbs in containers in the fall
Step one of this multiseason container is planting spring-blooming bulbs in fall. Fill the pot with slightly moistened potting mix and space bulbs, such as tulips (Tulipa spp. and hybrids), hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) or daffodils (Narcissus spp. and hybrids), close together (Heather can get 48 tulip bulbs in a 20×20-inch square pot). Cover with potting mix according to the recommended planting depth for the bulbs.
Step 2: Create a winter container arrangement
The illustration above left shows the next step. On top of the planted bulbs, set a piece of 2-inch-thick craft foam, such as green FloraFōM®, cut to fit snugly into the container. Then on top, create a winter-themed arrangement by inserting evergreen boughs, Southern magnolia branches, pine cones and other accents into the foam. Heather reuses this foam for several years — she tucks branches in the holes that are already there. Method adapted from Deborah Silver of Detroit Garden Works.
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Fall Garden Plant Combos
Step 3: Make way for the spring container show
As winter ends, peek under the foam to see if the bulb foliage is emerging. When it does, remove the foam and winter arrangement to make way for the spring show. Heather says sometimes the plants even push the foam layer up to let her know it’s time. Begin watering bulbs as needed. If you like, add seasonal accents, such as a few corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana) branches.
Step 4: Refresh container with summer-blooming flowers
Once the bulbs are done blooming, pull them out to make room for a summer planting. “Plant in Late Spring” in the illustration above, shows you how this goes together:
Heather's nested pot method for summer plantings
- First, bury an empty nursery pot in the potting mix.
- Then drop in a pot planted with a focal point, such as the vining mandevilla (Mandevilla hybrids) in the photo above.
- This pot-within-a-pot keeps vigorous roots contained and easier to dig out in the fall.
- Heather finds it quick to pull out plants she wants to overwinter inside this way too.
- Around the outside of the pot, plant a mixture of summer annuals to fill your containers with color all the way through fall, when you can pull the focal point plant out and swap it for a fall garden mum. One container for four seasons — how easy is that?
Want to see more of Heather's Garden?
Get a PDF download of Heather Thomas' Cape Cottage Garden feature article from Garden Gate magazine using the form below.
