Suggest / Recommend a plant for my pot?

Hi folks,


I have been gifted two plant pots at Christmas. I love them, nice size and in a style i'd be fond of (a granite-y kinda look).


They're circular, about 21" tall, and 16" diameter at the top (widest part). Same kind of shape as this:








My back garden is where they'll go. I have about a dozen Goldcrest (lemon cypress) trees in the garden, all growing in buckets (lined against a wall, it's dark at the moment so can't get a picture). I like the look of the goldcrest, like that it's evergreen and that it's practically impossible to kill. My garden is also very bare for colour, lots of white/grey, so the green looks nice in it.



So I was wondering if anyone could recommend something similar, but different, for these? As these pots are bigger than my current bucket-pots, I'd like to put something in them that will grow to a decent size, and will look nice when it's done. Make a little feature of sorts out of them.



I would require it to be an evergreen as these will be fairly substantial in my (relatively small) garden, so will be an eyesore if they're twigs most of the time. I'd also ideally like something perhaps a bit tree-like, but can't have anything that will grow too top-heavy, as I would be concerned about upsetting the centre of gravity and having them topple over a lot (though I presume if i filled the entire pot with compost, the weight itself would hold it steady?).


I was considering maybe a single hedging/shrub style of plant (like a laurel type thing) but not sure if that'd just look a bit odd plnated in a pot on it's own.


Could anyone suggest anything?

Cheers

macraignil

Bay leaf laurel would be a good idea for them and there is the advantage that you can use the leaves in stews and some other recipes. Olive trees might also be an option I've also seen photinia red robin looking well in large containers.

From your suggestions above, I ended up roaming around Google, and this came up when googling one of your three suggestions (I can't recall which one).

Apparently it's called Pleomele Fita (Anita). Would this grow in ireland? (or look how it does in the photo? Or is that a lot of careful grooming to get it looking that way).

Similarly, Cordyline Australis (Cabbage Tree) also appeared. Would this grow here?

(not knocking your suggestions by the way, still looking them up )

Lumen

Don't know about Pleomele, can you find it for sale anywhere in Europe? If not then it's a bit academic.

The Cordyline will grow but is a normal sized tree so not suitable for those small pots. They also have indestructible leaves which drop, and are not fully hardy such makes them even less suitable for pots which get colder in winter than regular soil.

Your Cypress trees are very unusually small for trees, for something up to 4m you'd usually be looking at shrubs or fruit trees grafted on dwarf rootstocks.

Container gardening is a lot more effort as the plant is vulnerable to drought and frost. I have plants that were near death all summer that would have been fine in the ground.

Cheers for that lumen.

Unfortunately / thankfully container gardening is the only way I can do anything in the garden as it's entirely paved, with no grass or soil areas.


Would something like this work? Is this just joe-soap laurel that you can buy practically everywhere?

looksee

If you are concerned about the pot falling over you need some pebbles at the bottom - a shovel-ful of gravel or pebbles will provide drainage and weight the pot.

What to put into it, Phormiums are available in different colours are easy and look good - and you would have room to tuck in a few bulbs or annuals around them for variety. Agapanthus is also striking and easy with big blue (or white) flowers in summer. Dierama is spectacular if you leave a bit of space around the pot, and they grow happily in a container. They are not really evergreen though.

Lumen

If you're looking for specific evergreen ideas, now (and for the next couple of months) would be a good time to go round garden centres, because they tend to stock things which look good now, whenever now is.

I think Phormium might look a tad messy? Although I don't mind the general look of it myself, I reckon it could 'spill over' a lot and look a bit unkempt? I've googled it and I admit I do like it (and always just called it ornamental grass for some reason, nice to know the actual name of it, now ).

Agapanthus looks even more 'wide' than Phormium, which would be what i'd hold against it, unfortunately. Ideally i'd like something that will look nice, but grow ultimately/mostly upwards and then spread a bit, so it's not taking up too much space (as I say the garden itself is relatively small).


Here's a photo of the garden to give an idea of what I'm working with (I'm doing a bit of painting at the moment, hence everything kinda randomly scattered about).






Unfortunately in my haste to get a decent garden picture, I didn't get a shot of the plant pots I'm trying to fill :rolleyes: but they're about twice the height of the green buckets that the goldcrest are in. In a perfect world, I'd get something that'll grow to the height of the wall itself (or thereabouts, the wall is approx 6ft and will be another foot taller next year when a capping gets put on it).

macraignil

macraignil wrote: »

Bay leaf laurel would be a good idea

Is 'Bay leaf laurel' just the same thing as hedging laurel you see for sale in every garden centre up and down the country? or a different thing altogether?

looksee

Deleted User wrote: »

Is 'Bay leaf laurel' just the same thing as hedging laurel you see for sale in every garden centre up and down the country? or a different thing altogether?

No, its the one you use for cooking, it can be a bit temperamental, or it can grow like a weed.

As to the shape of plants, that is such a personal preference that you need to be fairly specific about it. I would like the different shape of the wider plants, but that is my preference. You are evidently looking for something very formal, in which case something like clipped box (buxus) might suit.

Lumen

Don't know about the aspect, but those walls are crying out for some climbers or espaliered fruit trees.

Figs are supposed to work well with root restriction, if you have a south facing wall.

macraignil

Deleted User wrote: »

Is 'Bay leaf laurel' just the same thing as hedging laurel you see for sale in every garden centre up and down the country? or a different thing altogether?

The one I meant is Lauris nobilis. There are other types of laurel sold for hedging that I think are a bit faster growing but not good for cooking with.

Lumen

Lumen wrote: »

Don't know about the aspect, but those walls are crying out for some climbers or espaliered fruit trees.

Figs are supposed to work well with root restriction, if you have a south facing wall.

I thought about that originally, before the wall was painted. However, I think I'm too fond of the simple white wall look, now, that I wouldn't like to cover it (I was initially thinking of putting some guttering on it, and seeing if I could grow some ivy out of the gutter, down the wall, but changed my mind on that, too).


I like the plain, clean look.

macraignil wrote: »

The one I meant is Lauris nobilis. There are other types of laurel sold for hedging that I think are a bit faster growing but not good for cooking with.

I wouldn't really be planning to be cooking with it, either way, to be honest (I won't completely rule it out, but it'd be very unlikely).


There's a garden centre in Ardee called Arthur's Nursery that I found on Google today. Not too far away from me, and they said they're open tomorrow, so I'll take a spin out there tomorrow afternoon and see what happens

Lumen

Fair enough. Wait until it's dirty at least!

Hocus Focus

[QUOTE=Deleted User;10899528I wouldn't really be planning to be cooking with it, either way, to be honest (I won't completely rule it out, but it'd be very unlikely).
[/QUOTE]


You just throw a couple of leaves in when doing a roast, roasted veg or any kind of a stew. Take them out and discard when it's cooked. A very useful herb to have by the back door.

So I went to Ardee to visit the Garden centre there (lovely chap and a nice place) and I ended up leaving with two of these. Supposedly Portuguese Laurel, but I'm not so sure..?

I like the look of them, though. Aim is to get them into their new pot-homes tomorrow.









They were €20 each, which I felt was reasonable enough. They're about five and a half foot tall.

Lumen

They look like cherry laurel to me.

This is the leaf of Portuguese laurel.

Lumen

I've never seen cherry laurel living in a pot other than when very young, but I'd expect it to suffer. It's a naturally huge plant and when under stress tends to go yellow and ugly.

There are lots of lovely shrubs that work in containers.

AGM list is a good start.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/articles/graham-rice/shrubs-and-climbers/10-agm-shrubs-for-containers

My favourite in my own garden is a pieris.

looksee

I agree with Lumen, I have some cherry laurel growing in a bit of woodland and it is due to be removed as an invasive pest. It grows huge, though you should get a couple of years out of it in a pot. The Cherry or common laurel has rounder leaves than the Portugese laurel. The plant is entirely poisonous so don't get mixed up with the bay and try and cook with it!

troyzer

looksee

Yes dear, very droll.

Hey Lumen, from a bit of Googling around, I'd say you're pretty spot on with the comment that it's likely not Portuguese, but instead, Cherry Laurel. It seems a much closer match to the plants I have.

It'll be getting moved into a bigger pot today at some point, so hopefully it'll last me a little while yet.

Can I ask, mine are quite 'bushy' plants all over. Is it possible to shave it back a bit, around the bottom, to make it a tad more 'tree-like'. Kinda like the picture below:





Or is that level of cutting back a bit excessive, and likely to just kill the plant altogether? (or is that just a different plant altogether, and growing differently?) (EDIT: I'm not necessarily trying to cut it back like a tree like the pic above, but would be interested in tidying up around the bottom of the plant a bit, and cutting a bit off the bottom/sides to tighten it up a tad).

Would I also be correct in saying that the right time of year to try and cut back anything on a plant is spring, after any risk of frost has come and gone?

looksee

looksee wrote: »

I agree with Lumen, I have some cherry laurel growing in a bit of woodland and it is due to be removed as an invasive pest. It grows huge, though you should get a couple of years out of it in a pot. The Cherry or common laurel has rounder leaves than the Portugese laurel. The plant is entirely poisonous so don't get mixed up with the bay and try and cook with it!

It's a good thing you posted that last line! although I'm no chef, I'm sure it would have been attempted at some point haha.

Lumen

Cherry laurel is almost unkillable, so work away.

virino

Hebes can be lovely in containers too - some will bloom for a long time. They are quite hardy, evergreen, but would enjoy being sheltered by a house wall. You can get miniature ones, taller ones, variegated or plain leaved. The flowers can be blue, white, red. There are lots to choose from.

I'm afraid I already have the Cherry Laurel, Virinio.

That said, I do have a raised flowerbed of sorts in between my two laurel plants, that will need something nice put into it (I was gonna leave it empty and use actual flowers, then when they die off, clear it out and leave it empty again and repeat each summer). Then i was thinking of throwing some gravel/stones into it instead for decorative effect (with a false floor added of course, not gonna fill the whole thing!).

That said, if anyone has any evergreen suggestions for that, it'd be great. Wouldn't mind a bit of colour there throughout the whole year.



Here are the two Laurels in their new homes, where I hope they'll live for a few years to come

macraignil

There is variegated hebe that has interesting leaf colour all year round that can be seen in this linked video.

macraignil

macraignil wrote: »

There is variegated hebe that has interesting leaf colour all year round that can be seen in this linked video.

I'm struggling to picture what that would look like if planted alone in my wooden box.


Is it just like a series of 'stems' that grow upright?

Lumen

For that box consider a mix of plants. The Americans have a phrase "fillers thrillers and spillers".

With the right combination you should get a view of the colours from inside without cutting out the light.



Maybe row back on the evergreens, they're often quite boring. Plants use a lot of energy looking sexy and can't sustain that year round. If you get the combinations right you should get decent colours over a long season.

looksee

You will need to put some weight into the bottom of that box - pebbles, bricks, rather than just creating a false floor, if it is only filled at the top it will be liable to fall over.

macraignil

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm struggling to picture what that would look like if planted alone in my wooden box.


Is it just like a series of 'stems' that grow upright?

It's fairly similar to most shrubs in shape. The one in the video clip I posted is shaded behind the house and a fence so has stretched up to reach more light. In a windowbox it would not be able to stretch as much and would have a more rounded appearance. Perhaps 3 small ones might fill your planter. Rosemary is also evergreen and has flowers at different times of the year so might also be an option. Clipping can also keep these to the size you want.