Thank you, Alice. Next year maybe I'll know what I'm doing before I stumble, fumble around so much. OTOH, it may not be as much fun to get all organized about it. Not that I ever have to worry about being too organized...

I am responding very late but maybe not for your zone (10b)?

I want to throw in the idea of using herbs as "spillers" to go over the edge of the pot. One which has surprised me with its utility is oregano. There are several varieties, all of which have very pleasing leaf shapes and textures and they all have a fragrance. Plus, you can eat them.

If this idea is not useful, just never mind me.

I've thought about oregano a lot. There's Kent Beauty, with pinkish flowers, and another one whose name has escaped my lame brain - all white flowers, and of course that's the one I want. I cannot believe I have no oregano anywhere - not even store bought. Rosemary is blooming like crazy - it must really like the rain. Can't get a pic right now, its 2:00 in the a of m. Last time I looked it was 12:30 - what happened?

Sweet potato vine is good too. I love mine filling out the urns. I will post a pic when i am on the computer.

Sweet potato vines, and there are so many gorgeous varieties now, are good choices as long as you don't have a deer problem. They are candy to deer.

Oh, really....................I did not know that. I wintered these over for at least 3 years and finally decided to let them go to the big garden in the sky last fall. Now I can have such fun buying more.

Your plants are just beautiful Anna, and so neat and well behaved. Things grow so quickly and get out of bounds around here. You must not have the same problem with deer that we have. Unless they are in a well protected area, usually our sweet potato vines are just a mass of "sticks" on a vine. The deer just pick the leaves off leaving the stems or petioles which must be unpalatable to them.

The vine in the bottom 2 pix was certainly NOT well-behaved. I have never had a SP vine that meandered over the acreage like that one did. Here is a pic of it from the front side of that "circle". I just left it, as it looked pretty neat to see all that from the front. The pot was in the back. This is facing the road. We have TONS of deer around here, but they have never bothered anything of mine. Oh, crap, it isn't...........if I can delete it I will and find the one I want. So hard to see the thumbnails.

I'll try again. I found another one where I just left the basket sitting on the ground on the mulch. That one went crazy too.

LOL, that would be a late spring pic here. You can imagine what it would be like by July. Have you ever dug up the tubers? They look like (and are) enormous sweet potatoes. Being a bit ditsy I tried cooking one once and it is not something one would do twice.

ardesia said:Your plants are just beautiful Anna, and so neat and well behaved. Things grow so quickly and get out of bounds around here. You must not have the same problem with deer that we have. Unless they are in a well protected area, usually our sweet potato vines are just a mass of "sticks" on a vine. The deer just pick the leaves off leaving the stems or petioles which must be unpalatable to them.

I tried every thin for my crazy deer problem. If you want to try some thing these worked great for me. I have acres of land and herds of deer, they even jump the eight ft fence.

last yr with these I had no damage.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BQRF60/

I think my deer have wings, see-through powers, and laser beams. Nothing stops them and they eat almost everything.

They even nibbled on my daffodils, which are supposedly disgusting to deer.

Why are such beautiful animals so wicked???

Jai_Ganesha said:I think my deer have wings, see-through powers, and laser beams. Nothing stops them and they eat almost everything.

They even nibbled on my daffodils, which are supposedly disgusting to deer.

The same thing happened to me. Daffodils are suppose to be poison to them. I could understand if I did not have an acre of land that is not garden so they have food but they still come and eat everything in the garden. I have looked out and saw fifteen deer or more just munching away my garden.

I encourage all to try those deer chaser. It has a sent they love and they go to it and it shocks their nose. The deer jumps and start running and the other deer run to because they do not know why the shocked one is running.

I don't feel comfortable using those because I babysit a little dog with learning disabilities who would definitely find a way to get hurt on them.