Looking For Winter Hardy Outdoor Plants for Container Gardening/Potted Plants
By Leighann on Jul 3, 2009 in Gardening, Life
If potted will it stay small? Any other idea's? I don't want your typical shrub bush our Christmas tree but I want some green for the porch and sidewalks.
I live in the northeast section of the USA. The plants will be on my porch so I'm not worried about water getting in them but that brings up another point, must they be watered during freezing weather?
We had wonderful rosemary bushes outside our house in Arkansas. We never watered them or bothered with them at all, and they grew like weeds. They are evergreens (check the kind you get, some varieties are more hardy than others), don’t need much water, and you can use them for delicious recipes like lamb, duck, breads, etc. They smell lovely, too. You can prune them back really easily and keep them as small or large as you want.
For more suggestions and Amazon resources, check below.
Simply potting something will not keep it small if it wants to be large. Go with something that is a dwarf to begin with, or learn some bonsai techniques.
Boxwoods are evergreen, and stay small, and you can trim them into shapes if you like. Holly is evergreen, as well as inkberry – similar to boxwood in appearance. Any of the spruces or pines are evergreen – but you'd definitely need to big a dwarf variety. And most of them are bushy, not upright conical.
One other thing…you don't mention where you live, but I'm asuming it gets cold enough there for deciduous trees to drop their leaves. If you get freezing weather, anything in a pot is in danger of having the rootball freeze. If you winters are mild, it should work fine. If you have sustain subzero temps, you might want to consider dropping the pots into the ground for Jan-Feb, the coldest months, or move them to a protected location (east side of the house, out of the prevailing winds), and insullate around the pot with straw or leaves to protect the rootball.
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Cat
| Mar 1, 2009 | Reply
Evergreens! That's where they get their name, of course. Hollies will, too.
There's a good list in the first link I've put in sources to indyzoo. Happy planting!
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superfantasticultramegaforce
| Mar 1, 2009 | Reply
dwarf alberta spruce
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glenn t
| Mar 1, 2009 | Reply
Hi:
There are a lot of dwarf shrubs that will do well in a pot and provide you with different colors then your normal evergreen shrubs. You live in a colder region but since they will be sheltered, yes stay on a watering schedule. You will not have to water them as much as during the growing season, but still important. I live in the southeast and bring my ferns and some catus in the garage for the winter. I water them throughout our cooler months.
Some suggustions for you:
Mop Cyress
Sunkist Arborvitae
Dwarf Hinoki Cypress
Ruby Loropetalum
Dwarf Hemlock
These are just a few. When you pot them, put some light weight potting soil along with some humus and vermiculite. Add a little organic mushroom compost as this acts as an organic fertilizer for up to one year. It doesn't smell great but your plants will love them.
Good luck to you and I hope this has helped some. I will direct you to my gallery of plants section of my website as well as my site map. Browse through and get some other ideas for your planters or any other landscape need you may have for next years growing season. Have a great day!
Kimberly
http://www.landscape-solutions-for-you.com/Gallery.html
http://www.landscape-solutions-for-you.com/Site.html
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Kimberly C
| Mar 1, 2009 | Reply