In shade or sun, there are lots of options for container gardens
The second week of April is a gorgeous time in Western Washington, as the bulbs, rhododendrons and flowering trees and shrubs teach us about resurrection. Take the time to enjoy the show and then dig in and start creating beauty in your own outdoor or indoor space.
You can fill containers with cool-season flowers and foliage now. If your pots are on a protected porch or patio go ahead and use one of these planting recipes to fill them up. Many of the plant materials used below are ground-cover plants that you may be able to dig up from your yard. This is a good time to prune back or thin out ground covers, so why not make them transitional players in your porch pots? Once the weather is warm enough in mid-May, you can replace the ground covers with annual flowers.
Porch container garden for the shade
Tall: A bare or just budding branch of maple, birch or filbert can be poked into the middle of the pot if it is seen from all sides, or position your thriller or tall element in the back if the container is shoved up against a wall. You can also use shade-loving foliage plants such as Fastia japonica, Nandina or Gold Dust Aucuba as the main plant in a shade container garden.
Medium: Heucheras are bold foliage plants that do best if divided up every spring. If you have heucheras that are stretching to the sky with long necks just snap off the stem and poke it into your container garden. Try to group at least three foliage plants around the tallest plant thriller plant or branch.
Short or Spiller: Ajuga is a shade loving ground cover starting to bloom now. It comes in several foliage colors (from rosy pink to deep black), but the pointed blooms are almost always deep blue. Use ajuga stolen from your shady corner to fill in and spill over the edge of your deep shade containers.
Colorful annuals that can handle cool weather now: Add a punch of color with lobelia, primroses, lobelia or pansies. They can all survive a few frosty nights.
Patio container garden for the sun
Tall: Shop your landscape for a young tree or holly seedling and transplant it into the center or back of the pot. Dwarf conifers, Nandina, yucca and spiky cordyline are other options for the tallest or thriller portion of this spring container design.
Medium: The sun is not glaring hot this month so you can use foliage plants such as heucheras or Black mondo Grass now without risking the foliage damage of sunburn. Do not use coleus plants outside until late May. Many annuals such as marigolds, coleus and geraniums are sensitive to cold nights and will pout and become stunted if you plant them out too early.
Spiller or low plants: Sweet alyssum, pansies, primroses and lobelia are all annuals that can be planted outdoors in containers now and will adapt to shade or sun.
Spring has arrived, so there is no reason not to have bountiful containers.
This story was originally published April 4, 2020 at 10:01 AM.