If you need inspiration for beautiful summer pots, look no further. Clare Foster gives us some planting ideas that will transform an outdoor space with colour, texture and scent.
Pots are an easy win for instant interest in the garden, and even in the smallest of spaces, they can be used to great effect. Summer is all about meadowy abundance and voluptuous colour and you can use pots to create your own slice of wild nature right outside your back door. Think about the look you want before you go out and buy your pots. I like to use a mixture of different pots, especially vintage metal and old terracotta, which suit my traditional old cottage, but if you have a city garden you may want something more contemporary whether in metal, concrete or timber.
Garden centre grab
At this time of year the easiest option is to fill your pots with garden centre bedding plants, which grow gratifyingly swiftly. However, it’s easy to be blinded by the sheer volume of what’s on offer, with lots of fairly gaudy options available, so work out the colours you are drawn to before you go, and let yourself be guided by those when you are shopping. Choose velvety deep purples like Petunia ‘Black Satin’ and elegant corals and apricots such as Callibrachoa ‘Noa Apricot’ or Verbena ‘Samira Peach’, and mix textures and heights to create interest. Select one main show-stopper centrepiece with large, focal-point blooms and then fill in with airy or trailing plants such as Bacopa ‘Snowtopia’ and Lobelia pendula ‘Monsoon’. Adding foliage plants such as Helichrysum petiolare ‘Silver’ helps to defuse the visual intensity of a summer pot, introducing contrast to the composition. For scent, choose tobacco plants or scented stocks.
Perennial pots
If you want to plant pots with more longevity, choose perennial plants that will return the following year. However, bear in mind that perennials will start to dwindle in their pots after a while: the compost needs replenishing every year, and the plants will get congested and need dividing after two or three years. Most perennials can be grown in pots provided that the containers are big enough, but sun-loving, drought-tolerant species are the easiest to grow. Salvias are particularly effective in pots, from the European species such as S. nemorosa to the South American plants that flower later in the summer. Combine the main perennial focal point with foliage plants such as Alchemilla mollis or Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, or with a grass such as Stipa tenuissima.
Summer bulbs and tubers
One of the easiest late summer bulbs for a pot is the Abyssinian gladiolus, Acidanthera murielae, which produces tall, spear-like leaves and willowy creamy white flowers with dusky purple centres. These need nothing else to make them shine. In pots situated either side of a front door, or around a terrace, they will look stunning for several weeks at the end of summer. Dahlias can be grown in pots too, but it’s better to choose the shorter varieties–and be aware that they need plenty of water to make them thrive.
Plant pots for shade
Having something looking lush and gorgeous in a shady corner is many an urban gardener’s goal, but it is often difficult to find plants that flower well in the shade. Bright colours have to be relinquished; instead focus on leaf pattern and texture, choosing foliage plants or grasses that can tolerate shade. White flowers and lighter-coloured leaves work better than darker colours, so choose variegated plants like Vinca minor ‘Argento Variegata’ or silver-leaved Brunnera macrophylla ‘Alexanders Great’ to combine with ferns or other woodland plants. Shade tolerant grasses such as Hakonechloa macra and Anemanthele lessoniana can also be used effectively in pots.
Plant pot recipes
You can either plant single varieties in one pot and move the pots around to create your design, or combine colours and textures in one pot as I show in the recipes below. Use a good-quality, loam-based compost such as John Innes No. 2 for annuals, or John Innes No. 3 for perennials. Or if you produce your own compost, combine it with peat free, multi-purpose compost to make your own mix. Always line the bottom of the pot with at least 10cm depth of broken terracotta crocks or gravel to help drainage.
Summer plant pots: annuals
Apricot and cream for a 30cm pot
1 x Dahlia ‘Sunny Reggae’
2 x Phlox ‘Crème Brulee’
3 x Verbena ‘Samira Peach’
Armfuls of Cosmos in a 50cm pot
5 x Cosmos of your choice
3 x Erigeron karvinskianus
Dahlias through a veil in 40cm pots
3 x Dahlia ‘Bishops Children’
5 x Panicum Frosted Explosion’
Pink and Cream for a 40cm pot
3 x Osteospermum ‘3D Banana Shake’
1 x Stipa tenuissima
3 x Callibrachoa ‘Double Can-Can Apricot’
2 x Bacopa ‘Guliver White’
Summer plant pots: perennials
Blue and silver for a 40cm pot
1 x Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’
3 x Delphinium ‘Blue’
1 x Artemisia ‘Nana Attraction’
3 x Erigeron karvinskianus
Apricot and mauve for 50cm pot
2 x Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’
3 x Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’
2 x Calamintha nepeta
Late summer salvias for a 40cm pot
1 x Salvia ‘Amistad’
2 x Salvia ‘Nachtvlinder’
2 x Calamintha nepeta White
3 x Erigeron karvinskianus
Plant pots for shade
Hellebores for a 40cm pot
3 x Helleborus ‘Winter Moonbeam’ or similar
3 x Anemone blanda
3 x Hedera helix
Ferns and foliage for a 50cm pot
2 x Dryopteris affinis
3 x Polystichum polyblepharum
1 x Ajuga reptans ‘Catlin’s Giant’
3 x Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’
3 x Alchemilla erythropoda
Flowers and foliage for a 40cm pot
1 x Muhlenbeckia complexa
3 x Heucherella ‘Tapestry’
1 x Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’
3 x Athyrium niponicum ‘Metalicum’
This story originally appeared on House & Garden UK.
