Containers for summer colour

Create your own 'garden in miniature' using some of the summer container plants from the selection I have chosen, says Anne Swithinbank

- Anne Swithinbank

BY late spring and early summer, when there is no more danger of frost, bedding plants can live outdoors. This is the green light to dust down empty pots ready to receive a wide range of tender perennials and half-hardy annuals bred to bloom all summer and up to the first frosts of autumn. Gardeners who yearned after specific cultivars and colours of begonia or bidens will have ordered their plants for delivery and may have been nurturing them under glass or on windowsills since mid-spring. Yet there is a lot to recommend impulsive visits to garden centres, shows and stores nearer to setting-out time.

Sun-loving plants

Plants will be larger, flowers opening and it is fun to wander around picking out complementary shapes and colours, a pot or trough to match and containerplant compost. Bear in mind that smaller containers will dry out faster than larger ones. Most bedding plants are sunloving and rely on good light for sturdy growth and plenty of flowers. For shady north-facing positions or under trees, check to make sure plants can thrive with less light.

For a pot 16in (40cm) across, 8-12 smaller plants will be plenty. Fill it almost to the top with compost, then having made sure their roots are moist, remove plants from their pots and spend time arranging them, adding or taking away compost under their roots until they sit at the correct height with space for watering. Fill in around them, firm the compost and water in using a fine rose. I choose mainly single-flowered cultivars to please nectar-loving insects, but also for their beauty of shape and form. Tone down dazzling colours or add to a dreamy pastel arrangement by adding foliage fillers like Artemisia 'Oriental Limelight', spider plants or trailing, silvery Dichondra argentea 'Silver Falls'.

Regular feeding