Photo by Bonnie Kate Zoghbi.
Kathleeen Porciau's gardens, featuring ample use of containers.
Do you know what you don’t need to garden? Land!
Some of the most magical gardens I’ve ever encountered had no yard whatsoever, tendering all floral radiance in the form of pots glittering in courtyard spaces, hanging baskets weeping from porch eves; cattle troughs along a fence, full of tomatoes.
Container gardening is the art of planting within the confines of an object instead of into the earth itself. The container could be anything: terracotta pot, cardboard box, fabric, a milkjug with punched holes. There is endless creativity to be had with containers. One can work vertically or horizontally, entirely indoors, and in very tight spaces.
I most often encounter gardeners utilizing containers for growing vegetables and annual flowers. My garden pal Robbye for twenty years did not have access to a patch of dirt, so her native perennial garden manifested in courtyard ceramic pots and hanging baskets. She, with a keen eye and diligent spirit, created not only one of the most whimsical ornamental gardens in Baton Rouge; she also taught me that these plants I could not imagine might be successfully “contained” could, in fact, bloom prolifically within their vessels. It’s her wild success that inspired me to think more seriously about perennial planting in containers.
All this being said, some of the greatest garden casualties I encounter often involve container gardening. It is so very different from growing directly in the earth that there are key factors often overlooked. So here I lay out some of the pitfalls to be avoided and the tricks I have learned along the way.
Plant Choice
Though Robbye and her container gardens taught me that more plants could be successful in containers than I'd imagined, it is still true that not all plants will be happy with this style of planting long-term. This is especially true if they are not attended to regularly or with diligence.
The thing about containers is that they drain quickly; they do not hold on to water the way the earth does. This fact, coupled with that of South Louisiana’s intense heat, makes drought-tolerant species, often from super hot and sometimes even arid native regions, most ideal for container plantings. Whatever plant you choose will inevitably dry out between some waterings, so choose a plant that will survive this fact of life. For instance, some of the only trees I have seen do well in pots long-term are citrus and olive trees. This is no coincidence. Both of these species can not only handle drought, but often thrive in it.
There is endless creativity to be had with containers. One can work vertically or horizontally, entirely indoors, and in very tight spaces.
This concept is compounded when it comes to using hanging baskets. Since they are lifted and exposed more to wind conditions, their plants will dry out even quicker. If you hang your baskets in the sun, consider it a part-time job.
This is not to say you can’t grow water-loving plants in pots; you just need to prepare to care for those plants more diligently. I get so exhausted caring for the plants in my nursery and my clients’ gardens that at my personal home, I have opted for more succulent-type plants in my pots. These days, I’m growing a variety of cereus, bromeliads, and sedums—plants that won’t shrivel and die on me if I travel for days on end or simply forget about them. Most potted annuals, perennials, and trees are going to need to be watered daily, especially if in the sun or hanging baskets.
Drainage/Moisture Control
Does your pot have holes drilled into the bottom? If you’re struggling with rot in your container garden, your containers must drain well to avoid being waterlogged (unless you are dealing with a wetland-specific species). I find that the cuter and more stylized a planter is, the more likely (1) there are no holes drained or (2) there is a plastic liner in between the soil and pot that does not have a drainage point.
It comes back to “right plant, right space.” I have concluded that a reason many house plants struggle is due to improper moisture control. Many of our common house plants (ficus trees, hoya, ferns, orchids, etc.) come from tropical areas with quite specific growing conditions. Most of them prefer constant but well-drained moisture in a humid environment. This makes them poor candidates for the extremes of our central air conditioning systems, bringing intense cold and intense heat that dry the plants out quickly.
[Read this next: "Our Sustainable Garden: Thoughts on Seeds—The tiny drops of life, falling from the sky, and what to do with them"]
One way I counteract this problem is by allowing my tropical house plants to live outside in warm months, when I can. I usually rotate a few at a time, in minimal one-month increments, onto the shady areas of my porch; they love this and usually produce excess new growth. A great rule of thumb, always, is to understand the native range of the plant you are growing to optimize its growing conditions.
Potting Soil
Your potting medium matters, and the options are not all created equal. I honorably recommend the brand “Foxfarm,” which can nowadays can be found in most all local nurseries, as well as the big box stores. Their products are full of high-quality, nutrient-rich ingredients and minimal man-made chemicals; I find they are worth every penny. In particular, I highly recommend their potting soil blend, “Coco Loco,” which I use almost exclusively. This mix utilizes coco coir in place of peat moss—a far more sustainable option.
In a rather unsustainable industry (Ironic, eh? The garden industry unsustainable?), the use, whatsoever, of peat moss is near the top of my list of unsustainable gardening practices. Found in most every potting soil mix these days, peat moss is favored in the commercial industry because it drains well while still holding onto moisture, creating an ideal balance for many potted plants. The issue is that peat moss (1) is harvested from “peat bogs” that are incredibly biodiverse, unique, and ancient ecosystems (which, while occupying less than 3% of Earth’s surface area, are believed to store twice the amount of carbon as all of our forested areas together) quickly becoming decimated, and (2) it is essentially a non-renewable resource. Peat regenerates at less than a millimeter a year, a growth rate that promises future generations no semblance of the diversity we (largely, gardeners!) have mostly already destroyed.
The good news is that there are ways to achieve similar results as peat moss in potting soil mediums, such as the use of leaf litter, compost, and “coco coir”—the highly water absorbent husks of coconuts and a far more sustainable, renewable resource.
I also encourage filling your pots up entirely with soil. Many gardeners (ahem, my granny) have been known to fill the bottom of their larger pots with such
ecological horrors as plastic bottles and styrofoam to save space, money, and to lend to a lighter pot. Not only does this potentially leach chemicals into the plant, it also takes away from the much needed soil mass root systems need.
The Larger The Pot, The Better
Finally, aside from proper drainage, the biggest mistake I encounter in the realm of container planting is the pot being entirely too small. Life is already stressful for a plant living full time in a container; the more space we grant them, the better. We want space for root development—your plant must have room to reach and grow, avoiding any instance of the container and plant becoming root bound.
And coming back to drainage—the more excess soil for the roots to reach into, the more soil there is to hold moisture. The smaller the pot, the faster it will drain and become bone dry. Going larger also saves you some effort in the long run, so that you can avoid having to “up pot” so often.
Read more entries of Jess Cole's column, “Our Sustainable Garden,” here.
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