Let's talk about small space gardens!

Found Items can make great pots!
While hiking in the woods I ran across an old home stead and found this neat porcelain wash pan lying in a pile of junk.
We bought 4 old wire chairs at an auction for $20.
Put them together and you've got a great little succulent garden and a ready made plant stand!

Put something unexpected in your garden like an old chair or bicycle. Even "found items" can really add interest to your informal garden.

Unglazed terracotta bowls make nice ˘heap succulent gardens.

Succulents like this hens and chicks and stonecrop don't like too much water so terracotta works very well.

A drain hole in the bottom is mandatory and water will wick right through the clay and keep your succulents happy with just weekly watering.

Hyacinthaceae, Ledebouria (le-de-BOR-ree-a) socialis (so-KEE-ah-liss)

Spotted, silver or leopard squill in a small pot is nested in the rear of this clay bowl garden.
The little pot in the rear gives extra interest with 2 levels of plants.

What a difference a few weeks make.
The spotted squill and stonecrop sedum are happy in this clay bowl garden.

Here we have 2 versions of the classic clay strawberry pot.
One has some squill in the top and both have various succulents. (Various means I don't know their real names!)

The squill and many of these other succulents are from South Africa so they must come in the house for the winter.

We store these pots in our walk out basement on the floor near a door that has a window. They receive only a few minutes of direct sun once in a while and the basement is typically in the upper 50s or low 60s but they survive there every winter.

NOTE- Hens and chicks are a favorite succulent everywhere AND they will survive outside all winter!

Coleus does well in a larger patio pot.

Look how this pot of coleus and sweet potato has grown to fill this corner and turn a "desert" into an oasis!

Note- the hanging baskets above and a red gazing ball down below help fill this space with color.

You don't even need a patio for hanging baskets!

Just a strategically placed nail or a shepherds hook hanger will do nicely.

Throw a splash of color on an unremarkable brown fence!

Hanging baskets are like paintings on your wall. They can add color and interest just about anywhere.

Hanging baskets give your garden "verticality" and extra interest.

You can define an entrance with a pair of pots.

These cana "tropicana" are small in stature and work well in our patio pots.

Bonus-- when winter is about to kill these canas we simply chop off the tops and place the pots in a dark corner of the basement. The root tubers survive nicely and will come back next spring as soon as we give them water and warmth.
We remove and divide them every other year.

You can mark the edge of stair steps with potted "million bells" wave petunias.

Add a touch of the tropics to your patio with a majesty palm.
We find them at mega department stores in the spring for $10.

Note-- Majesty palm needs lots of sun and warmth and some humidity so they don't really like being taken inside for the winter. We usually toss ours on the compost pile in the fall after the fronds get frosted.

Add some color and interest to a plain brown deck area with assorted pots.

Here we have pots on the floor, pots on the rail and hanging pots on the fence posts.

THREE- count 'em 3 levels of color!! We don't want your eyes to get bored when you sit in our garden!

"Million bells" wave petunia work GREAT in larger patio pots!

Here's a money and back saving tip for you--

Don't fill your largest pots with potting soil.
Most plants, especially annual flowers like wave petunias and other small stem plants have shallow roots.
There's no need to fill the pot with heavy and expensive potting soil.
Before adding soil, fill the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 with crushed aluminum cans. Cover the cans with a piece of landscape fabric and THEN add your potting soil.

Your pot will weigh less and you'll use less potting soil and your plants will thrive because it's pot has great drainage.

Even these canas benefit from a layer of crushed aluminum cans in the bottom of their pot.

This last great splash of color is provided by a floor pot of Lantana.

We hope you enjoyed your visit to our little patio pot gardens!

Please come again soon!

We're going to take a break for a few minutes but feel free to wander anywhere you please in our backyard gardens!

These pages were ALL created with plain old NOTEPAD.
If we've misspoken, misspelled or made a typo we'd be grateful if you drop us a line so we can fix it.

Thanks for stopping by. We hope you enjoyed your visit to our tiny piece of Kentucky!
Come back anytime!

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