Metal Plant Containers – How to Plant Them Up

My friend Kay recently got her hands on a bumper bundle of metal plant containers and very kindly offered me a couple of them. They’re buckets, and I love them.

She then asked my opinion on what to put in them. To be honest, Kay needs no advice on planting. Her garden is lovely; she’s a very creative and resourceful person and it shows in her nature-friendly garden which is packed with lovely plants and raised bed cold frames she’s made herself. Kay’s even grows slabs of turf on rotation in trays for her son’s guinea pigs to feast on! (Her son lives in a house which doesn’t have a lawn). In short, Kay knows her ‘gardening onions.’

But as I had three other metal plant containers to fill, I thought a blog on this topic would be timely.

The Containers

In addition to Kay’s lovely buckets, I have two, more squat metal containers which another neighbour gave me last year. (I clearly live in a very generous village!) Over Winter I’d planted these with Cineraria, under-planted with pale lemon and Green Star tulips. They had looked quite stylish (I think), standing proudly either side of my front door. Indeed I gave the tulips a 10/10 in my blog on my Best Tulips of 2021 the other week.

But with the tulip flowering finished and just the Cineraria left in them, it was time to carefully plant out the tulips in the garden, and replant the containers.

I also have another metal bucket which I always plant with soft pink tulips. This time I’d chosen Tulip Palestrina. Again the tulips were long gone. So I had this bucket to fill too.

My Plant Criteria

In choosing plants for these five metal containers I followed five key criteria.

• The plants had to good for insects.
• They needed to provide a long period of interest.
• I didn’t want to spend a fortune. With over 70 containers in my garden this is a priority for me. Everyone assumes that I spend a lot on plants, and I must confess I do buy a fair number, but I also re-use almost every plant I have in a pot. That’s why I use so many perennials and shrubs in my containers.
• I wanted to create a few different looks or colour combinations, to suit different areas of my garden.

Metal Plant Containers #1&2 – Pink and Silver

As colours go, I think a classic combination with metal plant containers is soft pink. It works beautifully with the silver/grey of the metal. Added to this, I had the old Cineraria from my previous planting which I wanted to reuse. Its silver foliage works well with soft colours; it looked fantastic with the pale yellow of the Green Star tulips and I thought it would look equally lovely with pale pink.

Cineraria and Scabious

With a lot of Cineraria to use, I decided to go for this colour combination in both of the buckets from Kay. For the pink I’ve gone for Scabious Flutterby Pink. This has large pink pin cushion flowers, a flowering season from June – October and is an absolute butterfly and bee magnet. The Cineraria provides height in the planting combination – and cost me nothing.

Geranium Pink Souffle

To further fill the bucket I’ve added the Geranium Pink Souffle which has very delicate pink flowers. It is a low growing, spreading variety and isn’t really designed for containers; indeed people normally get it as ground cover! Obviously by the end of this season it will have ‘covered the ground’ in a buckets, but that’s fine. I’ll simply pop it out into my sunny flowerbed, where it will be able to romp away at the front of the border. I bought one of these plants and divided it up when I got home, so I could pop half in each bucket – making it a relatively inexpensive solution.

Diascia Light Pink

You may recall from my blog about planting an Autumn Container that for pots you need to think in threes – thrillers, spillers and fillers! Something which grows vertically – this creates the ‘wow’ factor, that’s your thriller. You then need one that spills dramatically over the side of your container, to take the eye down. Last come your filler plants. Plants which plug the gaps. The spiller in this planting combination is Diascia Flying Colors Light Pink. It a cheap annual for containers.

I think the whole effect is very soft and romantic. Hope you agree.

Metal Plant Containers #3 – Yellow and Purple

I’ve gone for a yellow and purple combination in one of the squat metal plant containers, as I think these opposites on the colour wheel work brilliantly together.

Campanula Persicifolia Blue

There’s no purple on show yet. That’s because, for the purple, to give the container height, I’ve chosen Campanula Persicifolia Blue. I just lifted a couple of clumps from my sunny bed! Commonly known as the fairy bellflower, this lovely Campanula has deep purply blue flowers from June to August. But it’s attractive green foliage is present for the bulk of the year. Eventually this will bulk up to fill a lot of the container, but if it becomes too big I can easily move it back into the garden – or give it to someone (as I do have an awful lot of it!)

Osteospermum 3D Yellow & Leucanthemum Hosmariense.

I’ve chosen two plants for the yellow. The first is Osteospermum 3D Yellow. It really lives up to its name as the yellow is really zingy. It produces stunning double flowers throughout the Summer and into Autumn. This is a tender perennial, so I’m going to take cuttings from it and keep them indoors over Winter, as I’m guessing it won’t survive our Winter. Well not if we once again have relentless frosts!!

I’ve also added to this planter Leucanthemum Hosmariense. This plant produces a long succession of white and golden-eyed daisy flowers above mounds of silvery leaves from late Spring to mid-Autumn. The silvery leaves of the Leucanthemum tie in nicely with the Cineraria which I’ve again re-used in this display.

Another great option for the yellow would be Achillea Moonshine. I have a lot of this in my garden, indeed I already have a huge patio container full of it, but I wanted more of a soft, loose look, which I think daisy type flowers provide.

A Grass Alternative – and I don’t mean astroturf!

I wanted to add a green grass to the mix in this container but none of those in my garden were quite right and all the grasses at the garden centre were so expensive. So I had a radical thought. Chives! Before they are in flower the chives look just like the grass effect I was after. And once they’re in flower the purple heads will fit with my colour scheme! Obviously we’ll be able to use the chives in our cooking too (well I won’t as I can’t cook for a toffee, but Mr F-W will.)

Chives obviously will make the container smell ‘oniony’ but if the pollinators don’t care then I certainly don’t. Indeed when in bloom, chives are always teeming with bees. So I’m hoping this plant choice is a cheeky, chivy stroke of genius!

The chive plant cost about £3 and again I divided it in two, to use it in two containers. So it’s a thrifty move too!

You will see I don’t have a ‘spiller’ in this scheme; nothing trailing to take the eye down. I’m relaxed about that at the moment, but if I feel it needs something to trail a little I’ll pop in a bit of dark green variegated ivy. I have loads of it in the garden. I’ll go the variegated route as I think that will pick up on the yellows in the container.

Metal Plant Containers #4 – Red and Orange

The fourth of my metal plant containers has a much hotter look and feel. To achieve this I’ve mixed oranges and reds with green.

Geum Totally Tangerine

The world and his wife probaby has a bit of Geum Totally Tangerine. It seemed to be everywhere in garden centres last year and is still popular in them now. I bought some of this beauty last year when looking for hot border plants to create a ‘hot corner in my garden. It thrived and so I’ve lifted a small bit to use in this container.

Soft Shield Fern

Totally Tangerine grows about 60cm tall and flowers from May until the first frost. I think its long wirey steps look wonderful veaving through a fern. So I’ve planted it up with a gorgeous Soft Shield Fern. The fern will want more shade than many of the other plants in this combination, so I’m going to keep the container in partial shade and see how it all gets on.

Osteospermum Margarita Orange Flare

For an extra shot of lower level orange I’ve chosen this orange osteospermum. This is an inexpensive filler plant which won’t last our Winter but only cost a few pounds and will flower its socks off all Summer long.

Heuchera Fire Chief

To inject the red into this display I’ve added Heuchera Fire Chief. The plant I’ve used is one of the cuttings I took about six weeks ago when I sorted out my leggy heucheras. I took about 19 cuttings and all bar one thrived. So if you have a heuchera and want more of them, do have a go at propagating them.

I think this mix gives the container a vibrant slightly tropical feel. I love it!

Metal Plant Containers #5 – A Mixture

The final one of my metal plant containers is the smallest bucket and I’ve simply stuck in it the bits and pieces of plants which I had left after I’d planted up the other pots!

So it has a clump of the Campanula Persicifolio Blue, some chives and a further Heuchera Fire Chief cutting. To this I’ve added the red Geum Mrs Bradshaw, which again I lifted from my hot corner. I’ve also popped in an orange viola which was going spare in another container. In my experience, these jumbly containers often work the best. We’ll have to wait and see. But that’s the fun of it isn’t it!

So there you have it – five containers, very inexpensively planted up, and mostly with plants which will give me and my garden pleasure for years and years to come!