Now that most of the country has thawed out from winter, it's time to get busy outside and plant some flowers!
Whether you live in the city or the suburbs, Home Depot's Dave White has gardening tips that you can share with the whole family:
• Ideas for choosing containers:
Variety
Arrange several different sizes and shapes of containers to add interest to your container garden.
Location
Where the container will sit, its texture, and color may also be important in your decision when choosing a container. The right container or arrangement of containers can enhance a room, windowsill, or garden area of your yard.
Plants
Consider the type of plants you will be growing. Small plants do well in a small container. Plants that will grow or are already large need a bigger container.
Prepare the soil before you begin planting.
Fill the container half to three-quarters full with potting soil. Add water-absorbing polymers. These polymers reduce the amount of watering you will need to do by absorbing water and then slowly releasing moisture.
Add fertilizer and mix thoroughly.
When you plan your outdoor container garden:
• Graduate the heights of plants
• Mix foliage and bloom textures
• Group plantings with similar water and sun requirements
• Combine plants with staggered bloom times
Dynamic Design Medallion Planters — Dark Green
Price may very by region
Miracle Grow Moisture Control Soil — 32 quart — $8.98
New and improved. Now feeds plants up to 3 months
Helps protect against over and under watering
Exclusive AquaCoir® formula holds 33 percent more water than ordinary potting soil, and releases it to the plants’ roots as needed
Miracle Grow LiquaFeed Starter Kit — $14.99
Automatically applies plant food at evenly at the correct rate,
Uses convenient refill bottles. No mixing, no measuring, no mess!
Switches easily between feeding and water only
Hand Trowel — $2.97
Hand Digger — $2.97
Mini Tiller — $5.96
Seed Sower — $2.65
Water Timer — $9.99
Plant labels — $2.50
All VIVA! plants have great planting instructions — garden plans and ideas on companion plants — right on the pot! It is easy to have success. For more information visit: www.vivagarden.com — it's full of ideas and care info. We are even podcasting in iTunes!
Sunpatiens — VIVA! Sunpatiens can be grown in full sun and is heat tolerant — the first impatiens ever for sunny and hot areas in the garden. Completely new: This super plant is being introduced through Home Depot. Use in patio pots or in the landscape — we like to plant several plants together for a 'mass' color effect. Plants get about 30" tall. Impatiens is the number 1 bedding flower in the U.S.
Coleus — A really fun coleus variety — we are seeing great new breeding with plants that take full sun - and have great leaf color and shapes. Can plant in sun or partial shade, gets about 24" tall.
Bacopa sutera — Bacopa has become, over the past few years, America's new darling 'component' plant — with bacopa used in patio pots, hanging baskets and window boxes. Small white flowers will cascade slightly over the side of the pots. Best in cooler weather — about 6" tall
Argyranthemum (Marguerite Daisy) — We love daisy flowers and these new Marguerite Daisy types have fantastic flowers that bloom all summer. Best in full sun, great for containers, borders & butterfly gardens, when it gets real hot they slow down and then pick up again in fall. About 20" tall.
Osteospermum (African Daisy) — We really have two types of Osteo flower here — our yellow types are the warm weather flowers that bloom spring through summer while the purple one is an example of a cool weather daisy that flowers its head off all spring and in the fall. They both take full sun, great for containers, borders and mixed containers and are semi drought tolerant. Height to 30".
• For more garden tips visit: www.homedepot.com
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