Sprucing Up Your Container Gardens for Spring

Recently, I participated in an interview with garden writer Marty Wingate entitled Sprucing Up for Spring which  was published in the Alaska Airlines magazine for March, Alaska Beyond .

Marty writes “Container gardening seems like an intrinsic time-saver, because it’s so, well, contained.  But easy as it may be to have a pot at the front door or out on the deck, containers can assume a sad-sack appearance by the end of winter.  Our first inclination is often to dump the entire contents and begin again.   That may not be necessary.  sprucing up by selectively removing and replanting can provide new interest, a fresh environment, and months of color.”

Your Container Gardens
It’s rare that I would completely undo an entire container garden.  Most of my clients prefer some sort of evergreen anchor plant (also called a “centerpiece”) which can be retained for a few years as other plants are exchanged around it.  This is the most cost effective type of design.  Most anchor plants need to go after about three years, but some can live in the container planting for much longer, if they have been cared for properly.  They may have taken over the entire planter or pot by that time in any case.  Sometimes a client will choose to retain this larger plant alone and create newer plantings in pots or planters arranged as a grouping.  There are many solutions to designing and gardening effectively in containers.

Here is the online link to the rest of Marty Wingate’s article.  You can jump to page 132 to read the rest of the article Sprucing Up for Spring.