Confine your passion

Create living, outdoor bouquets like the pros,

By Jennifer Miller, special to the Rocky

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Moss planters make attractive containers and can hold several plants in one basket.

Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Leaves pour over the sides of a hanging container.

Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Flowers from a container line a patio path.

Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Portability is a big plus for container gardening. Plants can be moved into the sun or out of snow.

Every gardener wants container plants so full and lush that neighbors will gape at the colorful display.

Unfortunately, container gardens planted at home rarely look that spectacular, and sometimes they're so scrawny that gardeners wish they'd never displayed them so prominently on the front stoop.

By midsummer, even the most enthusiastic gardeners can find themselves scratching their heads, wondering where they went wrong. Perhaps only some plants took off, so the whole planting is lopsided. Maybe flowers stalled out or, in the case of hanging baskets, more basket showed than plant.

With Colorado's relentless summer heat, it's a challenge just to keep containers watered, let alone make them look full. So how do the nursery experts do it? And can the amateur create containers as spectacular as those festooned on city light posts?

The answer is "yes," but there are tricks to making it happen. At left are hints for turning containers into living outdoor bouquets.

One of the most popular and stunning is the moss wire basket, so Tagawa Gardens' Kris Higgins takes us step-by- step through the process ( 10).

Many of the same rules apply for planting pots, but we've added a few more tips for those, below.

Hanging baskets

* The bigger the container the better. Use wire hanging baskets at least 14 inches wide and 10 inches deep, and pots that are at least 18 to 20 inches wide.

The larger containers are slower to dry out and allow for greater root growth. But they also require more soil and thus are heavier and less mobile. To lighten pots, fill the lower third to half of the pot with packing peanuts, or leftover plastic pots or milk jugs (not flattened, with the lids on). This not only reduces the need for as much soil, but aids drainage.

* When hanging large baskets, make sure hooks are sturdy. Swivel hooks, pulleys and water wands can make for easier care.

* Choose plants grown from cuttings only. A plant grown from seed tends to bloom once and go to seed, which can result in leggy stems that fizzle out of blooms. A plant grown from a vegetative cutting isn't coded to go to seed, and therefore is tougher, stronger and blooms longer. Ask your nursery specialist to direct you to plants grown from cuttings.

* Try proven plant recipes. It's hard to picture how little starts will look when they've matured and grown together. That's where tested plant combinations come in handy. Ask nursery staffers to suggest winning combinations.

* Think leaves and roots when buying annuals. Buy plants that are short and stocky, with healthy foliage and white strong roots. It's not only acceptable but recommended that customers pull the roots out of the pot and look at them before purchasing a plant.

* Deflower. Removing flowers sends a message to the plants to get their roots down into the soil. By forcing plants to develop better roots, the plant will grow 10 times better.

* Plant closely. Of course squishing plants together is never a good idea, but the rules of planting do relax with container gardening. In containers, plants can be spaced a thumb's width apart. The exception is moss containers, which dry out faster. Plants in moss containers should be 4 to 6 inches apart side to side and about 2 inches up and down. (Moss baskets and moss window boxes make up for this in spades, as the majority of the plants are fed through the sides, thus filling out the container in a way no other can.)