Summer Planters – Sure Fire Winners

Hot Colour Schemes

Summer planters and pots are so useful. In a large garden you can use them to quickly add structure to your space and points of interest (while you wait for trees or major shrubs to grow). If you’ve just a small patio, a combination of pots, closely packed together, can create the effect of a border. While if you’ve literally only space for one large pot, by using a mix of tall and shorter plants, you can still create the look of a mini flower bed.

But coming up with ideas of combinations of plants for large summer planters can feel a bit overwhelming. There’s a lot of space to fill, so lots of decisions to make.

As a result, all too often people play it safe and simply plump for nothing but boring old bedding plants.

I have no problem with using bedding plants in combination with perennials and shrubs. But it feels like a bit of a waste of a big pot to have it full of only summer bedding. Such planting often looks a bit samey and garish. It doesn’t last beyond one year. And some bedding plants are bred for purely colour. They aren’t bee or butterfly friendly which we so need to think about these days.

So over the next couple of weeks I thought I’d share a couple of planting combinations for large summer planters, which will make your containers look really different and special.

• This week I’m focusing on hot colours – to give some summer sizzle
• Next week I’ll think about softer pastels to create a lovely romantic, cottage garden effect

Basic Rules for Summer Planters

Before I plunge into the plants, I thought I’d first outline some basic rules which I think you should bear in mind if you want to emulate these schemes, or come up with a knock-out combination of your own.

• The summer planters do need to be large – at least 40cm diameter or more. Otherwise you won’t have enough space for this many plants and will struggle to create the ‘full generous effect.’ Also, small containers dry out quickly.
• Use perennial plants and perhaps shrubs (just be careful of the size). The beauty of both is that they will come back year after year – giving you value for money. Otherwise replanting something up of this size every year will be expensive. Another bonus with perennials is that you can divide them and often easily take cuttings from them, creating more plants for future pots!
• Think about the period of interest your plants will offer. You don’t want pots that take up lots of space to be all done by the end of June!
• More is more – be generous with your planting. You want to create a lovely full effect from the get go.
• Check the conditions the plants like. It’s no good planting a sun worshipper with a shade lover. Wherever you position that pot, one of them will be unhappy!
• Use a good peat free compost for containers. Mix it with grit to provide drainage (though if I don’t have grit at the time I often don’t bother and it’s still fine!)
• Be prepared to water and feed. When planting, if I have them, I add some slow-release fertiliser granuals for good measure. Six weeks after planting I then tend to start feeding with tomato feed every week and I’ll continue until the growing season is over.

Enough of the rules, let’s get onto the summer planters and this week it’s all about creating a lovely combination of hot coloured plants.

Summer Planters with Sizzle

I have a hot coloured corner in my garden. I created it two years ago and each year I’m gradually adding to it and editing it, as I get clearer about the look I’m trying to achieve. A path from our back door runs right through the area. At the point where the pathway splits – to either head to my precious potting shed or the patio – I wanted to create a bit of a statement by having a large pot mark the ‘fork in the road.’ This is how I’ve planted it up.

• Physocarpus opulifolius Lady in Red
• Geum Nonna
• Heuchera Ginger Ale
• Erysimum Golden Jubilee

Physocarpus opulifolius Lady in Red

Summer planters often benefit from having a key anchor plant around which everything else works. For instance, with this container I’ve gone for a centrepiece shrub of Physocarpus Lady in Red.

This is a deciduous shrub so will lose its leaves in winter, but while the leaves are there – well they’re gorgeous! They are a fantastic reddy-orange shifting to a bronzy-brown in autumn. The shrub will grow 1.5-2 metres tall. But I think the size of container I’ve gone for can cope with that stature. I’ll prune it between January and March to keep it in a nice neat shape.

I think having leaves as one of the key colour components in a hot container is a smart move. This is because if you aim for all your colours to come from flowers, there’s a risk with hot colour planting that the whole effect is a bit eye-watering and garish.

This physocarpus produces white/light pink flowers in May and June. I can hear you saying ‘light pink isn’t a hot colour Louise you idiot!’ But although the flowers are pale pink, I don’t think they will dilute the container’s hot colour theme, especially given the other plants in the pot. Indeed I think they may lighten the colour intensity a little and provide a little further relief on the eye.

Geum Nonna

To compliment and soften the effect of the centrepiece shrub, I’ve chosen a geum. I love geums. Their soft, bossy flowers bobbing on wirey stems are so attractive. And there are so many gorgeous varieties to go for. A new variety which has really caught my eye is Geum Nonna. It produces warm, ruffled apricot semi-double flowers which shade to a reddy orange, from May and right through the summer. Added to this, the geum is evergreen. So this sizzling planter will look good for ages. Geum Nonna is a relatively short geum, at just 40cm tall. And it’s a bee and butterfly magnet – another major tick in my book.

Heuchera Ginger Ale

Heucheras are such wonderful and useful plants. They look handsome on their own in containers but they also are a brilliant foil to other plants. I’ve the gorgeous Heuchera Root Beer in the red corner of my patio. And for this hot container I thought I’d go for another drink – Heuchera Ginger Ale. This plant is aptly named as it has refreshing, ginger ale coloured foliage which is run through with little silver veins.

It grows about 55cm tall thanks to its spires of small ginger, yellow and light pink flowers, which emerge from late spring to early summer. They are stunning, but are a bonus rather than the main attraction. As it’s the leaves, which will romp on and on which are a phenomenal support act to the geum and physocarpus.

Erysimum Golden Jubilee

I’ve got a number of erysiumums in my hot corner. But this variety is a bit different. It has compact mounds of deep green leaves, covered with masses of very scented dazzling yellow flowers. The flowers come in late spring and last into early summer. So I concede it’s a much shorter performer. But the plant is not a main feature of this pot. It’s a small side attraction. And its flowers are loved by bees, so I’ve included it as I feel it’s a useful burst of nectar in my spring garden.

Time for the Big Reveal

So how do all of these look together in my planter? Well what do you think?

Summer Planters – other hot colour options

Other hot coloured perennial plants which I think look lovely in combinations in summer planters include:

• Heuchera Boysenberry which has mahogany-red ruffled leaves all year round
• Erysimum Rysi Copper – this perennial wallflower has lovely warm, velvety copper coloured flowers throughout spring and summer. Though, I’d only keep it in a container for a year before planting it out in the garden.
• Penstemmon Garnet or Red Riding Hood are good if you are looking for red shades. I’ve had the former for years in a pot
• Salvia Royal Bumble – another red and super easy to take cuttings
• Rudbeckia Short n Sassy or Rudbeckia fulgida ‘City Garden’ – back to the oranges and yellows with these two beauties
• Crocosmia Emily Mckenzie which is a lovely compact variety and a stunning orange. But be careful as crocosmia can take over, so may be bullies in a container!
• Achillea Moonshine – acid lemon flat flowerheads, which go on and on.
• Achillea Terracotta – as the name suggests, gorgeous orangey-red flowerheads
• Rose Lady of Shalott – definitely one for a large container, this shrub rose grows 1.3 metres tall and has a 1 metre spread. But give it a massive pot and it will reward you with masses of orange-red, chalice-shaped blooms and a delicate tea fragrance.

All of these plants will come back year after year. And the perennials are easy to divide.

So if you are creating large hot-coloured summer planters resist ramming them full of bedding plants. Instead give combinations of shrubs and perennials a go.

Next week I’ll provide some thoughts for large, romantic, cottage garden style planters.

Until then, happy gardening – x