Pot Plants For Patio

pinkfloydian

I'm looking to get a list (and pics if possible) of good flowering plants for a patio. I've lots of pots (small, medium and large) and am looking for lots of colour from May to September. Also, as little maintenance as possible and flowers that will come back every year.

Where's the best place to see a good selection? Most gardening centres I've been to have limited selections.

T

pwurple

Bedding?

I plan a season in advance and use seed, because i can't afford to buy loads of bedding. I find you get the best impact from masses of the same plant in pots. Gives good rhythm through the garden. Cosmos is what I've grown this year. Been flowering for a month already. I dead-head regularly and expect it to keep on going.

I've had good success with californian poppies too.

Pelargoniums are easy, good flowerers. Don't mind a bit of drought.

Biggest colours are petunias/surfinias, both trailing and upright varieties available. Need a lot of water and feed to be at their best though.

bumblebee2

pinkfloydian wrote: »

I'm looking to get a list (and pics if possible) of good flowering plants for a patio. I've lots of pots (small, medium and large) and am looking for lots of colour from May to September. Also, as little maintenance as possible and flowers that will come back every year.

Where's the best place to see a good selection? Most gardening centres I've been to have limited selections.

T

Pots will need to be watered heavily and regulary especially in this weather.Clay pots are a biatch for soaking up the water very fast and drying out the plant or plants.For some striking visual colour you could plant the likes of Alium and Eremurus in some large pots and then underplant with some new zealand ferns or japanese tassle ferns or geranium plants.Alium and Eremurus,depending on their exact variety grow up to 5.5 feet tall so these plants make wonderfull colourfull statements when planted in pots and put on a balcony or on a patio.When they have finished flowering,cut the dead flower heads off to prevent them from going to seed,doing this puts extra energy and nutrients back down into the bulb which will be a good thing.
White Anemone plants are also a lovely plant in a pot.These give lovely white flowers from July onwards till late September early October and they self seed too.They grow up to about 4 feet in height.
Take a trip to Mount Venus Nursery up near the Dublin Mountains or go and pay into Malahide Gardens in Malahide Castle and have a look at the flowers there.This will give you some inspiration and some nice ideas too.

lazybones32

Tuberous Dahlias will be your best bet for long-flowering, low-maintenance perennials.

Dahlias are flowering now but when you buy them, make sure they are tubers and not annuals.

redser7

Similar to Dahlias, you could try tuberous begonias. They'll give you nice rose-like flowers in a variety of colours. The 'non-stop' variety are best IMHO. Lift the tubers in early winter or bring the pots inside a frost-free shed and start them again in spring. They propagate easily from cuttings too
But anything in a pot, unless it is very large, will be hard work. The plants will rely on you for water and food.
Your post would have been better sent a few weeks ago in fairness. So maybe this is info for next year.

ABajaninCork

I've got in pots:

Lavender - doesn't take a lot of care.
A beautiful patio rose.
A Lilac bush
A couple of dianthus -they're alpine plants and very hardy.
A Hydrangea - just coming into bloom now with lots of flowers. Mine is white.
I've also planted some pansies in pots - but they take a lot of watering and care.
I've got some oregano and thyme in pots.
Finally - There's an old Belfast sink that was left in the garden. My husband cleared it out, and I've planted rananculus and sweet pea from seed in there, just to see. They're now beginning to flower.

Hope that's given you some ideas!

pinkfloydian

Thanks everybody. I have some great ideas now.