Container Hope

This purple/red/cobalt blue hued container echos the purple chairs

Long time readers know that C&L has shallow soil and a limestone bedrock that makes planting some flowers and shrubs in the garden next to impossible....
So I learned to garden with plants that love difficult conditions...Plants that when coddled and given fertile soil, quit and lie down on the job. There have been no better hardworking plants than native plants indigenous to the Central Basin and cedar glades. Plants that can take wet winters and dry summers.

Summer 2009

Beauties~Like Tennessee Coneflower~ Echinacea tennesseensis,

Yellow Star Grass/Hypoxis hirsuta
another cedar glade native

Sweet little yellow Star Grass~~and, Zizia aurea/Golden Alexander~~This lovely, hardworking plant is in full bloom. It came to my attention at the Chicago Botanical Gardens at Spring Fling last year. What a survivor~ it has lived its life in a nursery pot, unprotected all winter. I planted it in the GOBN last month.


Past experience has taught this gardener to be thoughtful about where and how to plant any plants that are picky about drainage, constant moisture or may not be able to tolerate clay soil! (go here for a story on Moist, Well Draining Soil)

Container tulips

So, I have to rely on containers to keep any picky plants alive. In fact, containers are the 'It' thing in my garden these days!

They allow me to add a few difficult plants to my collection~Plants like Dicentra peregrina×eximia ‘Burning Hearts’. It requires a moist well draining environment! And, we all know that Clay and Limestone doesn't offer moist and well draining accommodations!

Vegetables and herbs are making the container scene, too. That's red sorrel above. Rainbow chard grows beautifully in containers and has survived this past winter. The little seedlings are basil. They're tucked in there, until I transplant them to their container.

Even evergreens are planted in containers. They are the most difficult plants for me to get established here. Junipers work beautifully, but, I wanted a fast growing plant to use as a screen. Inexpensive, fast growing Leyland Cypress have proved to be a good solution. I'll have to transplant them to larger pots, but, they have worked to mitigate a design flaw in my 50s ranch. Our driveway is long and resembles a runway with a hangar at the end. The trio and warm brown bench attract your attention and stops that "coming in for a landing feel".

And,

I'm really excited about the big glazed pots I found at the grocery store...Several now reside at C&L.... They really are quite large~

This big round one has my heart aflutter. It took up half the space in the wayback of my Subaru Outback! It will be the home of Nelumbo lutea, our native water lily/lotus
A hardy lotus that prefers still waters, like this small lake near a greenway we hike. I already know that it will sit in a place of honor, so that anyone arriving will see it.

In the meantime, I do need help lifting these big guys and placing them around the garden! There will be no moving them once they're planted.

Gail