Advanced search

Plant Life Valerie Easton

Containing Our Enthusiasm

With help from an expert, we can put out pots in good order

Wendy Welch sparks creative energy when she talks container plantings. "The days of potting up by Mother's Day and ripping apart in autumn are through!" declares this designer and teacher known for her long-lasting foliage combinations.

Welch not only plants up gorgeous pots, but she gets right down to practicalities. She advises to forget putting gravel or terra cotta shards in the bottom of pots, and especially not those Styrofoam peanuts. Just good-quality, organic potting soil from top to bottom, although if you worry about soil seeping out, simply cover the holes with a paper coffee filter. By the time the filter rots away the soil will stay put.

Welch started out clerking at Swansons Nursery a dozen years ago. She moved up to designing Swansons' signature pots with overflowing foliage medleys that have inspired countless sales of euphorbia and hellebores, hebes and heucheras.

Every winter, Welch teaches a container-gardening class at Edmonds Community College. Welch and I met up recently at Swansons on a day she was picking out plants for her class's final project. As we walked through the nursery, she pointed out pot after beautiful pot, explaining that many of them had been planted two, three or even four years ago. Sure, their soil has been refreshed, and maybe a couple of flower plugs tucked in for summer, but these pots last through the seasons, and for years. How does she do it?

A clue comes with the final class assignment. Welch's 25 students were put in teams and challenged to design and plant pots with a minimum two-year lifespan, each with one focal-point plant for year-round interest. The students picked out Nandina 'Plum Passion,' Cordyline 'Red Sensation' and a slim, golden Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa 'Wilma Goldcrest') for centerpieces. Does Welch advise them to put these focal-point plants dead center in the pot? Not necessarily. She suggests students think about the perspective from which the pots will be viewed and how they'll be grouped, and plant accordingly. Most of all, she encourages students to pack the pots tightly so the "plants put on a show."

Further Welch wisdom:

• Pots should always be at least 18 inches across; three times that big is better. A large pot always has more impact, and plants in roomier digs are less work to care for.

• Welch prefers neutral pots with a rustic brown glaze. These all-purpose pots look right at home with all styles of gardens and architecture, including Asian, formal, cottage and modern. To avoid a yard-sale look, choose pots in various sizes and shapes with similar finishes.

• Foliage always comes first, then add flowers for summer interest. Welch prefers a color scheme she calls "monochromatic in a tight color palette." She chooses only plants that flower for at least eight weeks, or have fabulous leaves.

• Select a variety of plant shapes — think "thriller, spiller, filler." But Welch is quick to say these rules can and should be broken, as in a student-designed pot filled only with low-growing sedum. Welch suggests planting sedum "head-to-head for a tapestry look."

• Coil quarter-inch emitter hoses into pots for the most efficient watering. "You can get them at Home Depot, and it's kind of like putting Legos together," says Welch. Even with a drip system, water deeply by hand once a month in summer to eliminate any dry spots.

• Welch's best tip flies in the face of established container wisdom. Never overfeed containers. Too much fertilizer causes plants to become root bound too quickly. Welch's containers last for years because she gives them only a little bit of granular organic fertilizer each spring, supplemented by a weak dose of fish fertilizer if the plants start to yellow.

Want to see how the students' final projects turned out? Their pots will be on display at Swansons through the summer. Just ask any staff member where to find them.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "A Pattern Garden." Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Greg Gilbert is a Seattle Times staff photographer.

Buy a link