Selecting pot plants for patio

pinkfloydian

Hi,

I need to get some flowers for pots on my patio.

I know absolutely nothing about gardening, so I was wondering if anybody could recommend somewhere that would help me select and also that will deliver to North County Dublin.

A good website for selecting would also be helpful.

Tommy

Fionne

A local garden centre is your best bet if you want advice. Pots are so easy to do though, even with summer bedding plants available in many supermarkets. Of course you need to start off with good soil, a multi purpose compost and maybe some slow release fertiliser mixed in (though that's not essential). Then it's a matter of deciding what way you want to plant - a single plant per pot or a mixture?

I have several pots in my garden. In sunny spots, I have lavender (you might want to mix some grit into the compost for this to give it the soil it likes), I also have a small grass in a pot, surrounded by violas. In another, I have sedum, some ivy and it had daffodils earlier in the season. In a shadier spot, I have a large pot with a Fatsia in it - that's just foliage, no flower but looks wonderfully jungly. I have wildflower seeds growing in a pot, as well as cowslips and heathers are great for year-round interest. Bulbs can go in as well and will pop up next Spring to surprise you.

The only limit is your imagination.

pinkfloydian

Thanks for the comprehensive reply FonE. Much appreciated.

As I said, I am a complete novice, but I am thinking of growing my own flowers for pots on my balcony in time for summer 2022 (I will buy from garden centre for this summer). Do you know of a good book that would show how to do this from scratch e.g.

a) selection of plants/flowers to choose from (only needed from Apr to Sept)
b) whether to use seeds or bulbs and how to propagate (annuals)
c) plant care and fertilisation
d) plants preference to sun/shade
e) how to protect during winter months
f) pest control

Tommy

looksee

There are loads of books, but the DG Hessayon books were my bible getting started. Presumably they have been updated, but even if they haven't the information doesn't change much.

You could use a mixture of seeds and bulbs, the seed packets will tell you when to sow. Though if you only have a few pots a couple of trays of young plants at this time of year will do you just as well, maybe just do one or two types of plants from seeds, just for the experience. This year (for me anyway) has been a bit of a dead loss with seeds, they have grown but they are so slow and when I see the trays of young plants looking healthy and ready to put out it makes me wonder why I bother. (I will do it again next year )

pinkfloydian

Thanks looksee