Potted Plants

Spring may be here, but it’s no time for rest! Horticulturist and landscape designer, Colin Barlow shares his tips on how you can create a fabulous potted display, overflowing with late spring and early summer colour.

With our spring gardens radiating in the glow of vibrant colour from daffodils, jonquils, tulips and pansies, you could be forgiven for relaxing as you take in the spectacular show. But a little planting and creativity now will reap dividends in the days of late spring and early summer. Using a pot and a mix of perennials, here's how you can continue to enjoy the floral show.

Planning ahead

There are a range of interesting plants like bulbs, perennials and annuals that can be used to create a show-stopping display. For bulbs, I prefer to use the newer types of OT liliums. These are a hybrid cross between the exotic oriental liliums and the tough and sturdy trumpet liliums. OT liliums are more vigorous, wind resistant and sweetly perfumed. Often in their second year, they can carry up to 25 buds per stem! I like to use a large ceramic pot around 50-60cm high and wide for planting. Fill twothirds of the pot with premium potting mix and add some extra controlled release fertiliser. Next, depending on the size of the bulbs, evenly space three to ten liliums around the centre of the pot. Backfill with potting mix until near full, just under the pot rim. Flowering usually takes between 10 to 14 weeks from planting.

 

Planting partners

To create interest until flowering, try layering the pot with other perennials like salvia, ivy-leaved pelargoniums, scabiosa, angelonia, heuchera and nierembergia. These provide varying levels of flower colour and foliage coverage until the lilies grow up through them. Bulbs such as calla lilies, tuberose or gladioli and annuals such as cosmos and zinnias also make a great addition.





 

Silver service

Silver-leaved plants including Helichrysum petiolare, Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ and Plectranthus argenteus make a classy addition to the overall composition of the planted pot, providing contrast, texture and volume as they spill over the sides. Alternatively, for a more contemporary look, small grasses and sedges like Carex ‘Feather Falls’ and ‘Dusky Fountain’, Molinia caerulea and Festuca ‘Elijah Blue’ add lightness and movement to the design.

Care tips

Water the plants and bulbs in well after planting and position the pot in a sunny to partially shaded spot. Feed lilies fortnightly with a liquid fertiliser as they come into flower. Once the season finishes, deadhead the flowers and let the stems die down naturally before removing them. The understory planting will help to conceal the stems as they die down.

 

COLIN’S FAVOURITES

For OT liliums, it’s hard to go past cultivars, like ‘Belvelle’, ‘Miss Peculiar’, ‘Dalian’, ‘Yelloween’,‘Silk Road’, and ‘Fujian’. The double oriental lilium ‘Magic Star’ has layers of ruffled frilly pink petals with white edging featuring red stripes and freckles. It’s also a longlasting variety that is pollen free; ideal for allergy sufferers.