Stuffing Flower Pots and Baskets

I don’t know exactly when this happened, but I have become a little bit of a gardener … at least when it comes to doing flower pots. Last week I drove out to the nursery and got some bedding plants and a few trays full of basket stuffers for whenever the time and a nice day would come around. While there, I ran into a friend and told her how I’ve always been attracted to the violets, pinks and mauves but, since we repainted our house, those colors just don’t seem to go. She said, “Oh, what you need to do is, think Mexican.” Wouldn’t you know it, that thought helped me and off I went to choose bright reds, yellows and even orange.
Saturday was the day. My old pots and baskets were all lined up along the patio. I dug around the dirt in each of them, removing roots and old dirt from some of the tops and adding fresh potting soil. Then I took a pail with soapy water and scrubbed the outside of the pots to clean off last year’s stains, and snails that may have attached themselves over the winter.

Then the fun part began. I divided the plants amongst the pots, reading labels as to which ones like the shade and which ones like more sun.

Next, starting with the centre, I dug up in the loose soil and placed each little plant, pushing the soil hard against it to tuck it in well.

For my pots that get the morning sun and mostly shade, I planted begonias, fuchsias, torenias, lobelia and a white geranium in the middle. I know geraniums like more sun, but I like the way they fill the center.

My window boxes, facing the afternoon sun, got some fancy petunias and alyssum.

The hanging baskets by our back patio also got petunias.

The various pots on the patio were filled with dwarf daisies, a type of chrysanthemum,

a splash of trailing verbena,

yellow daisies with brown centers,

and a Figaro mix of dwarf dahlias.

A new plant I look forward to watching this summer is a climbing mandevilla.
It came with a small wire trellis, but when I re-potted it, I also stuck in an old wooden one, having big hopes for growth.

Every pot got a good watering with fertilizer and the job was done. Now I just need some patience. Which reminds me . . . I still plan to get some impatiens for some of my shaded areas.