Evergreen pots for all year interest
Siobhan O'Sullivan
Posts: 18
Good morning
As you may have seen from my last post I have a project ongoing for a friend who has recently taken over a cafe with a garden who have no gardening experience and have called on me for some help.
They have a few pots which they would like to be low maintenance with year round interest - easier said than done for me but I am happy to learn.
I thought about some evergreen clematis (clematis armandii) with a pointed trellis and perhaps some star jasmine. Also seen some layered bulbs for spring flowers in pots. Also maybe some grasses?
Any thoughts/experience/suggestions would be greatlyfully received. I am off to my favourite garden centre today to get some inspiration but also want to go with some thoughts before so not to get overwhelmed.
Thanks
Posts
I have star jasmine in a pot and it seems to do ok, looks pretty-I put it in the greenhouse overwinter though as I wasn't sure how well they cope with frost... maybe someone else can advise?
What about some evergreen herbs like rosemary and bay?
Myrtle? Lovely fragrant flowers, evergreen, you can get variegated varieties. You can eat the leaves and berries. Good for wildlife.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3346354/Myrtle-How-to-grow.html
Last edited: 22 July 2017 10:26:21
If the pots are big, you could try growing flowering trees like cherry blossoms or magnolia and maintain them at the size of a large bonsai. I have successfully grown a few trees in pots in my balcony.
Great - good food for thought and I'll check it out. Happy for more recommendations but great help so far!
Maybe barberry 'Mystery Fire: evergreen, flame coloured flowers, small dark fruits in Autumn, hardy, you can eat the fruits (not sure this is true of all varieties as some fruits are too tiny)
https://www.rightplants4me.co.uk/content/plant?PlantID=2715&LatinName=Berberis
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/jun/25/foodanddrink1+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-b (if this article doesn't link well, it's called " Super ingredients: Barberries"
Sweet Cicely: white perennial. All parts are edible - Anise flavoured. Good for soil, loved by pollinators
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/556.shtml
Bronze Fennel - sculptural, all parts edible (anise again)
Japanese wineberry http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3322293/How-to-grow-Japanese-wineberry.html
Pheasant tail grasses
Fuschia hawkshead
erigeron https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/32487/i-Erigeron-karvinskianus-i/Details