I grow 10 pots of Gloriosa vines,11 pots of Asiatic lilies (includes a bunch from the Tiny series),12 pots of tender/tropical bulbs, 10 pots of Amaryillis and 2 of Pleione and 2 of Queen's Tears (these 14 are all inside bloomers in the winter), 3 of annuals, an ivy leaf geranium, 4 hanging baskets (2 airplane plants, 2 Thunbergias), 3 cactus, and 1 Golden Dew Drop trained into a small tree form.

jmorth, That is an impressive number of pots. I have seen your Gloriosa lilies in pots.
When DD and I joined housholds we ended up with 35 pots. Some have been disgarded over the 7 years we have been here,most are on the deck, 2 are in my garden and a few are in DD's garden.
I had no garden space at my other house so I had bug tubs in the driveway. I also had a few on my studio patio.
It's a great way to garden.
Old house pots.






I still have this Red noid lily .It's been since 1996





Pots on the driveway.


It wasnt possible to drive a modern car down the drive to the garage in the back so I gardened there.

Lovely to look at, and a good idea.

SCButtercup said:That is a great idea, thanks for the styroform cooler idea. I hate to throw out styrofoam and I always get a ham packed in a disposable cooler from my boss at thanksgiving. This will be a way to use last years cooler which is still in my garage.

Yes we love photos. It is a fun easy project and cheap too. I get the caulking and caulking gun from the dollar store. You can use old plates and maybe fill in between with dollar store rocks or marbles. Just put your caulking on thick.

I have these outdoor for years with no breakdown.

My first outdoor all winter pot for summer. No need to buy annuals pots.

First Perennial pot completed. I have 4 started but this is the first one completed. All of them have a knockout rose bush found them on sale for 3.00 so I figured I could use it as the bones and I know it is going to be hardy.

Just a reminder of why I am doing this. I have a patio that is 100' by 60' I wanted perennial pots that would be attractive all season and save money not having to buy so many annuals to fill pots or have to drag in a lot of tropical plants every winter. The patio is as large as a suburban back yard so I needed to many plants to give it the lush look I liked sitting on the patio.

I CAN LEAVE THIS OUT ALL WINTER AND THE FIRST SIGN OF SPRING WHEN I GO OUT AND SIT ON THE PATIO THINGS WILL BE BLOOMING.

FIRST COMPLETED PERENNIAL POT................
Blushing Knockout Rose - All Season
Thoneless White Rose -All Season
Wild Cherry POW WOW Echinacea - Fall
Heuchera Kassandra - All Season
Sedum Brilliant - Fall
Asiatic Bulbs - Spring Summer
Oriental Bulbs - Summer
Will sprinkle Sweet Allysum seeds on top of the soil for groundcover spiller.

Very nice. It should mature nicely.

Thank you. I will post them as I complete. I have two of the styrofoam coolers. I have to decorate them once I get them planted so they will look like stone planters and not coolers.

The other two are large polyurethene pots. They are 4' tall and 4' wide. I am just going to put one knockout rose in each of those and a couple perennials and Spring and summer bulbs and hardy sedum.

FYI......I did not think Knockout roses had a sent but in the pots up close I noticed they have a nice rose fragrance. That is going to be a plus on the patio close to the seating areas.

Thank you all for the suggestion it really helped choosing plants.

Little boxwood trees have become one of my favorite back drops for my gardens. They are evergreen, so one has something in the garden all winter. I have them along a property line with roses, and they are lovely. There are small varieties or can be trimmed. I like Wintergreen and Chicagoland. Green Mountain is a tall and skinny variety, but it has more trouble in zone 5 than the others. It lives, but I have to trim off unhappy leaves in the spring.

That is not the sea behind the trees. It is a sea of parking lot. The evergreens are much needed.


Little Chicagoland starts. Boxwood roots if one pokes a branch in the dirt.

Cinta, Are you finished yet? I think these are great containers. Looking forward to your pictures.

springcolor said:Cinta, Are you finished yet? I think these are great containers. Looking forward to your pictures.

Not yet Spring. Maybe I can do them tomorrow we are suppose to finally stop raining and sun is suppose to shine Sunday. I got them in the pots at a good time with all the rain. It is something about rain water that plants love so much it makes them settle in better with rain water instead of my tap water. My tap water makes me sick I can only imagine what it does to the plants.

Did you see my instruction pot before?
http://garden.org/ideas/view/C...