Small Gardens - use of containers and plants with compact forms

Are you searching for the name of a new patio plant? a compact variety for a small garden?

A carefully chosen collection of both pots and plants will be found decorative. A paved or pebbled area close to the house can be made more attractive with a few well-positioned pots. People at work all day have little time for gardening and they look for a simple design that will be easy to maintain.

There are many types of containers available for use in small gardens. Clay pots in numerous shapes from tiny thumb-pots to giant sizes are not expensive, although one must be prepared to pay a little extra for special designs from an artist’s pottery, where possibly each pot has been turned on a wheel and finished by hand. Half-pots and pans are especially suitable for alpine plants and low-growing succulents.

Pots, tubs and troughs can also be purchased from garden centres in a variety of materials, for example: ceramic, stainless steel, stone, wood and plastic. Some containers made of artificial materials just about pass for terra cotta. Long troughs are excellent for placing where there are no earth beds under windows. But the simpler the pattern the better. Florentine designs in natural terra cotta and stone colours appeal to many gardeners.

Sink gardens have the advantage of looking equally right in paved, pebbled or gravel gardens. Try Geranium subcaulescens – little red flowers all summer or Campanula ‘Mist Maiden’ – tiny hairbell flowers - or for a single planting in a stone container, alpine Viola ‘Myfannwy’ – mauve flowers with purple veins. Alpine plants for different types of soil coming soon to GoneGardening.com

Large containers

Urns, bowls, boxes, tubs, even tin cans may be used for growing plants. And wooden wheelbarrows are occasionally transformed into mini-gardens. In Kenya, gardeners saved empty catering-size fruit and jam cans to use as plant holders. Africans formed clay into pots with wavy tops, denting the edges of the wet, unfired clay with their thumbs or knife handles - in the same way apple pies are patterned - before baking them in the sun.

Plants for pebble and paved gardens

A mixture of dwarf Hebe (veronicas), dwarf or compact varieties of Lavendula and Salvia is preferred by modern garden designers - partly for their labour-saving qualities and partly because they look neat and evergreen all year. Some of the varieties have reddish-purple or grey foliage, which adds to the interest. Anthemis cupaniana with greeny grey compact foliage, and white daisies all summer could be considered as a useful addition to this group.

Or for a damp site to the side of paving or pool, large-leafed saxifrage Bergenia purpurascens might suffice. More varieties for pebble gardens coming soon

Old chimneys, new containers

An old chimney is sometimes used to hold a container of trailing plants such as Scaevola ‘Blue Ice’ or aptly named ‘Purple Fan’ - both create a gentle colour combination with purple and mauve petunias. And the tiny daisies of Brachyscome ‘Mauve Delight’ are a good choice for the front of containers. Torenia ‘Blue Moon’ or Argyranthemum ‘Summer Stars’ are suitable as companion plants. The ferny foliage of the latter made a welcome addition to a mixed arrangement of plants.

Climbing plants to raise from seed

Clematis species can also be set on the top of urns or large ceramic containers to trail down, but I prefer them climbing over fences or arches, although they can also look attractive winding round plant supports on walls.

I shall be raising more Clematis from seed. Clematis macropetala is an early summer deciduous climber with open bell-shaped semi-double flowers in blue or violet blue. Clematis ‘Helios’ is a yellow-flowering cultivar with fluffy seedheads bred from C.tangutica. This one will flower during July to October the same year as sowing. Clematis alpina flowers in early spring and is a neat plant for a trellis. Best results will be gained from sowing the seed of all these species in spring. Full instructions are on the packets. If you seek instant results, you may be lucky enough to find the autumn flowering species in full bloom at a garden centre.

An interesting set

The pin cushion type flower heads of black-maroon Scabiosa ‘Ace of Spades’ should blend in well with other flowers and make interesting dark patches against a lighter background. And for the dark crimson-maroon palette, choose Dianthus barbatus nigrescens ‘Sooty’, clove scented D. ‘Fenbow Nutmeg’, or Centaurea cyanus ‘Black Ball’ – a hardy annual in a very dark mauve, an unusual colour for cornflowers; good for cutting. All of these interesting plants can be grown from seed. More varieties to grow from seed coming soon

Pinks (Dianthus) to grow from cuttings

Many plants of the genus Dianthus are clove-scented. Modern garden pinks were obtained by the crossing of an old-fashioned pink with a perpetual-flowering carnation. They are decorative in the summer border, or even in a pot garden and delight further as cut flowers - lasting for up to a month in water. Along with lavender cuttings, I have been taking cuttings from my Dianthus, which include ‘Rose Joy’, ‘White Joy’, ‘Crimson Valda’ and ‘Valda’ (white with crimson eye). It is best to rejuvenate Dianthus plants every few years by propagating from cuttings. I am still growing plants raised from bunches of flowers given to me years ago as birthday presents!

Patio plants – new varieties

Pelargonium ‘Sarah’ – a new bushy plant suitable for the patio - has only just been released at the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park, so I haven’t tried this one. Named after actress, Sarah Lancashire, this floriferous variety has a compact habit and pink flowers. Pelargonium ‘Samelia’, a new zonal geranium cultivar, is so distinctive it can be picked out from other red varieties – the double, velvet red, flowers contrast well with the dark green foliage – one for the cottage windowsill.

A new dahlia called ‘Ibis’ has compact, pink-crimson flowers that are neither gaudy nor out of scale with the rest of the plant. If you like dahlias, this variety is one of the best for patios. Begonia enthusiasts will be pleased to hear of ‘Dragon Wing’ an exciting new medium sized variety for 2001. Apparently it was named after the mythological dragon due to the large green, wing-shaped leaves.

New patio Fuchsia ‘Sophie’s Silver Lining’ has been named in memory of Sophie Large. The dancing ballerina flowers in delicate colours - pale pink outer petals and semi-double white centres – should make this a popular choice. Royalties from the sales will be donated to the Silver Lining Fund set up to support young actors and singers. The new variety is expected to be available in the form of young plants, in spring 2001.