This is my patio display for 2023. Some of the showier flowers are in a non-blooming cycle: some purple Torenia, some purple and pink petunias. Still, all the greens and variegated leaves give a nice “garden” feel to the arrangement. In a part shade spot like this, a pink/purple/coral palette, or a white/blue/pale yellow, is easiest. Oranges and strong yellows are usually plants that need full sun. Petunias, though sunny, always seem to work for me in this space, and the leaves stay a little greener in shade. I’ve got a few houseplants here: two peperomias, a pothos, and some African violets. One serendipitous discovery came this year when I bought a tile of sedums (a flat with several types sown together). I broke it up into individual pots, and arranged them as a low front border for the others that sit on blocks, and they add a unifying element, strengthening the garden appearance.

Part of my succulent space along the garage wall. I finished it this year with two large pots for non-succulents. One is an illicium shrub needing help after the harsh winter storm in December; others are daylilies the deer never let bloom, so I’ve given them a more protected spot. And some veronicas for color, a few summer annuals in the red pot. I bought both containers at Big Lots, where I found lots of great garden stuff this year. (Meanwhile, the cool spell we’re having in June isn’t great for succulents. Mine haven’t taken off yet.)

Lush look on this spot that has a container array tucked behind the little wall. When we get winter rains, this area holds water and acts marshy, but when the trees leaf out and their roots start absorbing rainfall, it easily gets dry. The pots are protecting two physocarpus that have never in three years grown well. The deer are blocked now from eating the leaves, and the roots are consistently moist. Meanwhile, the verbenas, lobelias, and painted ferns, plus a yellow creeping veronica in the corner, are altogether pretty oomphy. 

This is a gathering pot, where I root bits I collect, often because the deer have yanked a stem off a plant and tossed it on the ground. There’s sweet william, geranium, dichondra, a tiny azalea, and a juniper that I’m training with the staple, lower left, to grow over the side of the pot like a bonsai. 

This is the time of year to buy hanging baskets on sale. A lot of them, especially the Mother’s Day creations, have a combo of plants chosen to look beautiful together. Then they get overgrown, and a little yellow, and you get to buy them at 50% off. The trick is, if you’re thinking you don’t have space to hang another basket, you can just remove the hanger and use the plant combo as a pot. A good rule of thumb is that if the combo is for sun, start it in part shade; if for part shade, give it strong shade. Shear back or hand pick the spent blooms, and trim out any yellow or brown leaves. Also, take a whiff of the soil, and discard all of it if you smell anything mildewy. (That is, mix it into your compost heap, don’t throw it away. And if it smells rotten, don’t buy it.)

You can also take one or two of the plants out to use elsewhere, so that the basket gets a good rejuvenation, with more root room and fresh potting soil. In a few weeks, like the pansies above, that came combined with white bacopa and purple nemesia, the basket (pot) should be bumptious with bloom.