Plants

If you’re a regular reader of my blog (and also Flowerona), then you’ll know that we’ve featured the RHS Chelsea Flower Show a lot over the past week or so!

Inspired by some examples we saw at the show and on our journey to and from it, our June ‘Flowers In Pots’ post features bedding geraniums – a brilliant plant that will bring an instant burst of colour to your patio or terrace all summer.

Not to be confused with their perennial cousins which reappear each year, bedding geraniums are annuals and will only last for one summer season.   They can be planted in pots or alternatively can also be used to fill any gaps that you have in your flowerbeds.

As they are tender to frost (not hardy), now is the perfect time to plant them out in the garden.  They will flower for the whole summer and (weather permitting) last well into the autumn.  So, although you’ll need to replace them each year, the value they’ll bring to your garden will be well worth the effort of potting them up.

There are many different varieties of geranium, almost one in every colour possibly imaginable, but the most common ones are pink or red.  There are upright and trailing varieties too – the pot on the left of the picture above features an upright variety which gives a more formal look.  The trailing forms on the right are great for window boxes and large pots as they spill over the edge to create something much more informal.

If you’re going for a big burst of mixed colours, you can combine the geraniums with other annuals but if you want a more sophisticated look, try planting groups of the same variety in one pot, as above.

Grouping pots of different sizes will bring some added dimension to your patio or terrace and look less contrived.  Think about the overall size of the area and try to choose pots that will be in balance with the overall space.  If you have a large area, for example, smaller pots will get lost, so use them in groups alongside a larger pot so that they will enhance the whole look.

(Pictures:  Rona Wheeldon for Flowerona, Lisa Cox, Bill Barber)

This month’s post from the Flowers In Pots series is all about hostas and planting them in pots is ideal as you’ll find out later in this post. Read more

Rona and I hope you’re enjoying our Flowers In Pots series.  Perhaps you’ve potted up your primula plants and agapanthus bulbs. Read more

April is the season to start thinking about planting summer bulbs in the garden.  Most species are tender to the frost, so unless you allocate time in the autumn to protect them from the cold there’s a very high probability that they will not survive the winter. Read more

Welcome to the first edition of the new monthly ‘Flowers In Pots’ series.  I’m very excited to be working with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, a blog inspired by flowers, to bring you quick, easy, cheap and accessible ways to brighten up your home (inside and outside) with flowers in pots. Read more