Container Gardening Complete

Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 82 6/5/17 2:54 PM
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 83 6/5/17 2:53 PM

82 chapter 2

Ornamental grass (Miscanthus

sinensis ‘Variegatus’)

Stonecrop (Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’)

Coneflowers (Echinacea cultivars)

Hosta (Hosta spp.) Salvia (Salvia sylvestris ‘Blue Hill’)

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Designing and Planting Your Containers 83

potted flowering bulbs will not survive the winter

if the pot’s exterior is left exposed to the elements,

even if the bulbs are winter hardy when they’re

planted in the ground. But if you insulate the pots

according to the instructions given in Chapter 5

or move the pots into an unheated garage or root

cellar that’s cold but not freezing, hardy bulbs will

do quite nicely. Tropical bulbs, on the other hand,

have to be overwintered as houseplants or lifted

from their pots and stored indoors in a dormant

state. Typically, spring-blooming bulbs are planted

in the autumn, while summer-blooming bulbs

and tender tropical bulbs are

planted in the spring.

Including pots of spring-

blooming bulbs in your

container garden is a great way

to add early season color to your

landscape because many of

them are in bloom long before

the weather is warm enough to

plant annuals and warm-season

vegetables. When these bulbs

are finished blooming, they can

be lifted from the containers

and planted elsewhere in

the garden.

In the following chart,

you’ll find fifteen great bulbs

and tubers to add to your

container garden.

Bulbs and Tubers

Another group of plants well-adapted to container

culture are plants that grow from bulbs. Bulbs are

underground, fleshy storage organs. Though bulbs

and tubers are botanically different, they are often

lumped together as bulb plants, which is what I’ve

done here.

Both hardy spring-blooming and summer-

blooming bulbs, as well as tender tropical bulbs,

can be included in containers, though careful

consideration has to be given to seeing them safely

through the winter. In northern climates, most

Hardy, spring-flowering bulbs,

such as these tulips (Tulipa spp.),

do well in containers, provided the

bulbs are not allowed to freeze

out during the winter. Keep the

container in a cold garage or

insulate the pot from planting time

until the spring.

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