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Spring Container GardensSpring container gardens have to be some of the most exciting gardens to create. After months of being cooped up in the house and weeks of dreaming and planning for this seasons’ gardens, spring container gardens are a way to get an early start on enjoying the garden. What containers are waiting for you in storage? Go through them and clean and sanitize them if necessary. If you’d like to make a spring container garden for Easter perhaps an Easter basket or wicker basket would make a good container. Do you want something eye popping bright? Maybe a trip to the hardware store is in order to buy some spray paint in your favorite color or colors. You can buy pots in every color of the rainbow and maybe that’s your choice, but you might also be able to resurrect some old pots you already have and create a new artistic beauty. Or do you have gorgeous urns or pots that you use every year? You don’t have to plant your containers once in May and hope they will last until October. What about planting a spring container garden now with cool weather bloomers like pansies and then replanting it in May with summer annuals and then again in the Fall with a new batch of plants? The same gorgeous urn could be a showcase all season by partially replanting it a couple of times throughout the season.
So now that we’ve chosen the pot, the real fun can begin. Taking a trip to a nursery or green house is always special, but at this time of year it’s especially joyous. When you enter the building and that first blast of warm air and moist dirt hits your senses it’s like a sniff of heaven. I hope you brought a list because if you’re like me, you’ll forget your primary purpose and be attracted to everything you see! A couple of plants that are especially attractive in spring container gardens are primroses and pansies. Primroses are early blooming perennials and come in a multitude of beautiful colors. You might have some planted in the borders of your gardens, but florists and garden stores also sell forced ones that you can transplant into your own containers. The same is true of spring bulbs. You’ll probably be able to find blooming spring bulbs that you can use in your own spring container gardens. 
Pansies are early annuals that actually prefer cooler weather. They come in so many colors it's hard to just choose one. They will bloom like crazy for a couple of months, and look good wherever you plant them. By the time they start to start to wither and look less than beautiful, your other later blooming annuals will be in full bloom. Just yank the pansies out of your spring container garden and replace them with something like Million Bells for a continuous summer bloomer. Take the bunny out, too and replace it with a tall plant like a dahlia, a spike,or a fern. Some vegetables like lettuce prefer the cool temperatures of spring. You could plant a living “salad bowl” with an assortment of leaf lettuces, spinach and chard. Not only would it be attractive, you could trim it every few days and eat it! Don’t be afraid to mix your greens with flowers either. They compliment each other and both will look beautiful next to each other. If you want your spring garden container to be completely edible try this. Plant a few seed onions in the center and surround them with lettuces and then add radish seeds and finally nasturtiums. When it grows you will have height, fillers and hangers and you can eat the whole thing.
Simon and Garfunkel are the inspiration for my next spring container garden. Actually I started it last year, but the center of the pot has a rosemary plant, which I over-wintered. I’m replanting the middle with parsley and sage and a tiny, creeping thyme around the outside edge. I call it my Scarborough Fair garden. Earlier, I mentioned using Easter baskets for spring container gardens. My sister has planted a beautiful bowl and a basket with grass seeds every year at this time. By Easter time she has a living Easter basket, which she puts colored eggs and jellybeans in. It then becomes a table centerpiece. The children love it.
In fact grass seed is very quick to sprout and children could grow their own spring container gardens out of milk cartons or half eggshells and create egg men or miniature baskets. All kinds of vegetables can be grown in containers. Tomatoes are the ones I usually grow, but if you really want to grow your own vegetables and don’t have a plot of land to do so. Don’t be discouraged at your lack of space. Just get creative. There is no reason you couldn’t have peas or beans trailing over your balcony railings. If you have room for a whiskey barrel, you could have all manner of lettuces, onions, herbs, peppers, or maybe an eggplant. My nephew is going to try to grow potatoes this year in a whiskey barrel. In the J.W.Jung catalog I found some more ideas for spring container gardens. They start shipping begonia bulbs soon and for an earlier bloom you can plant them indoors in containers in March. They feature a Skaugum Begonia that will fill a whole planter by itself when it’s mature. J.W. Jung also features dark angel pot dahlias for growing in containers. These compact dahlias were developed just for growing in containers. So take another look at your plant catalogs and see what ideas will come to you for a sensational spring garden container. Then when it is thriving take a picture! I’d love to see your spring garden container! Have fun and thanks for gardening with Julie. Related Articles: Container Gardening Return fromSpring Container Gardens/b>to the Gardening with Julie homepage. |
