Perennials offer more options for container gardeners
Containers on your deck or patio can be so much more fashion forward than the classic combo of a green spike surrounded by red geraniums and vinca vines trailing over the edge. In addition to considering some of the newest annuals to hit the garden benches this spring, push your cart over to the perennial benches where there is a wealth of worthy candidates for container gardeners.
Compact perennials with extended periods of bloom or colorful foliage are ideal for containers.
Plant Corydalis lutea in pots on patios shaded by mature trees. Small yellow flowers bloom heavily in late spring and then continue until frost. Its fine-textured, fern-like foliage is a lovely contrast to larger-leaved neighbors.
Add the wow factor to containers with the large blooms of coneflowers. Echinacea purpurea PowWow Wild Berry is a sun-loving blooming machine. Large, bright pink flowers on 2-foot stems begin in early summer and don't give up until frost. Butterflies love them, too.
Dianthus Rockin' Red is perfect for growing in pots. It grows just a foot wide but 18 to 24 inches tall and boasts glowing red, lacy flowers from spring to fall if spent blooms are deadheaded.
Let the violet-blue flowers of geranium Rozanne spill over the edges of a container from late spring to fall. It performs in full sun or part shade.
Coral bells (Heuchera spp.) offer a multitude of cultivars with bold foliage colors. Green Spice has large green leaves veined in reddish purple; Caramel sports apricot-colored foliage; and Forever Purple parades glossy, purple leaves.
Nepeta x faassenii Purrsian Blue was outstanding in containers on my sun-drenched deck last summer. It bloomed nonstop from late spring until the end of summer. Planted at the front of a pot, this round mound of small, lavender-blue flowers not only pleased me, it also delighted butterflies and hummingbirds who stopped by for a snack.
Ornamental grasses contribute linear form to container designs. Calamagrostis Karl Foerster is a cool-season grass and sends up tall flowering stems early in summer. Check out smaller varieties of Miscanthus sinensis and Panicum virgatum for other sunny containers. Shade gardeners should try cultivars of Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra) or northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium).
Scabiosa Butterfly Blue is so floriferous, it even puts some annuals to shame. Frilly, blue flowers sit atop 15-inch stems over a mound of blue-gray foliage from late spring well into fall. Plant it in a container in full sun and very well-drained potting mix. Butterflies and other pollinators will approve.
Sedums are fabulous in container designs. I love Sedum Matrona because it contributes foliage interest - reddish gray-green leaves held on reddish purple stems all season long. Later in summer, when other flowers may be waning, it displays large, mauve pink flowers on 2-foot stems that last through fall. Butterflies and bees are drawn to the flowers like magnets.
When planting perennials in containers, plant them much closer together than their recommended spacing in the garden and pay close attention to their watering needs. Perennials have larger root systems than annuals and may require more water when planted in a pot.
At the end of the season, plant them in the garden instead of tossing them in the compost bin. Cover them with a thick layer of shredded leaves after several hard frosts to help them settle in to their new homes.
• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist, garden writer and speaker. She blogs at gardenwithdiana.com.