Ready to break free from the cycle of planting, maintaining, and replacing summer bedding? This episode explores thoughtful alternatives to traditional bedding plants that offer beauty, functionality, and sustainability for your containers and pots.
We dive into fruit-bearing options that deliver multiple seasons of interest—from the compact Coronet apple tree that thrives in large containers to strawberries and raspberries that cascade beautifully over pot edges. These plants don't just look good; they reward your efforts with harvests you can enjoy straight from your patio or balcony.
For those seeking low-maintenance solutions, discover the world of alpine and rock garden plants that create evolving, textural displays while demanding minimal care. Learn how properly planted container roses can rival any bedding display with months of flowers and fragrance, and how architectural foliage plants like hostas, astelia, and ornamental grasses provide striking structure throughout the growing season.
The episode also explores beautiful herb combinations that serve double duty as ornamental features and culinary resources, modern cordylines that bring color and form to contemporary gardens, and strategic ways to use container plants for privacy screening.
Whether you're gardening on a balcony, patio, or simply want to reduce maintenance while still enjoying beautiful planters, these alternatives offer longevity and sustainability without sacrificing visual impact. Plus, many can transition to your garden beds when they outgrow their containers, making them truly investment plants for years of enjoyment.
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
how's it going, everybody?
I'm with episode 277 of master,my garden podcast.
Now, this week's episode I'mlooking at the subject of
alternatives to summer beddingand I suppose it's you know it's
the time of year where a lot ofpeople have their bedding out
and in the pots and so on, andbut it really is from now on.
You know, the middle of may,the end of june or the early
(00:34):
june was kind of the typicalkickoff period for bedding
plants.
And you know bedding plants arebeautiful and I've covered it
on the podcast before some greatcombinations that you can use
for your hanging baskets, yourpots, your window boxes and so
on.
And you know they are superb.
They give huge blasts of color.
(00:55):
You'll see it in all the towns.
You know the tidy townscommittees will be busy putting
up their hanging baskets, doingthe roundabouts with the, with
the flowers and the pots and thestreet containers and the
roundabouts and all that.
And you know, as I said,bedding plants are hugely
colorful and they add hugevibrancy at this, you know, for
the summer months and obviouslywinter bedding into winter
(01:17):
months.
So they're hugely, hugelyuseful.
I suppose the alternatives toit that I like to look at are
they're going to be.
You know pots.
You're going to have pots andcontainers that will give
different look.
You know, potentially, some youknow as nice a flower, but also
(01:43):
something that afterwards canbe popped into the garden, so
something that's going to becomfortable in a pot for a
period of time and then,potentially, can be moved out
into the garden and so itbecomes a more long-term project
.
The bedding plants, as I say,hugely beautiful in terms of
giving that blast of color andvibrancy, uh, but the thing
(02:04):
about them is that it's it'svery short-lived and, you know,
unless you have to mind themreally, really well, it can be
extremely short-lived becausethere's a little bit of minding
on bed and plants and pots.
There.
They need a good bit ofwatering, they need quite a bit
of food, they need a bit ofdeadheading and so on, and while
(02:24):
they do, as I say, lookbeautiful and they do fulfill
that sort of color blast that welook for in the summer, what
I'm going to talk about today iskind of a list of alternatives
that you know shouldn't beoverlooked and will have more
longevity, I guess, within yourgarden, while also providing a
(02:45):
level of beauty that will bedifferent to bedding plants but
nonetheless will be quite good.
And so we're going to look at alot of different alternatives,
and there is lots of differentalternatives and some of them
will be quite different, quiteunique.
Quite some people might findthem a little bit strange, but
(03:06):
there's, you know, there'sdifferent ways to look at things
and I think you know any ofthese will be at home on your
patio or, you know, at yourdoorstep and whatever else.
So, as I say, some kind ofalternatives to your standard
container planting of the summer.
I've covered, sort of coveredthis episode before, but this is
(03:28):
sort of a different slant on it.
You can, of course, you know,incorporate some bedding into
most of these type plantings,but these are for the purposes
of, you know, this episode.
These are complete alternativesto bedding plants, and so I
suppose the first one is yeah,definitely, it's definitely not,
(03:50):
you know, to compete withbedding.
It's a different idea and it'sthe growing of, you know, fruit
in, you know, a container onyour patio or at your, you know,
on your balcony or at your backdoor, and you know, on your
balcony or on your at your backdoor, and you know, sometimes
people think that it isn'tpossible or that it's it's
difficult to do or that itdoesn't, you know, fit in with
(04:13):
color schemes and whatever else.
But there's some greatopportunities and possibilities
here.
For example, the Coronet applethat we spoke about on the
podcast before it's a, it's anapple that has been bred in
ireland to be extremely small,miniature tree and grows no
higher than sort of four or fivefeet and doesn't have a big
(04:34):
head on it but does producefruit, as in apples, on a
regular and consistent basis andso that that pot is into, you
know, the likes of an oak barrelor a larger pot is a fabulous
planting to have on your balcony, on your decking, on your patio
(04:54):
area or whatever, and this canbe mixed with some flower around
the base of it, possibly sometulips earlier in the year.
But it's going to give you sortof benefits over more than one
window.
For example, in the springtimeyou're going to have nice flower
on this apple tree.
It's going to be nice andcompact and will have some
benefit for pollinators there.
(05:15):
But then later on your fruitwill develop and it's going to
be a nice, interesting talkingpoint and then, as the fruit
ripens, you know if you're outthere gardening with kids at a
certain point the fruit is goingto be beautiful and ready to
harvest, and what a nice, simpleand easy way that is to
incorporate fruit into yourgarden.
And so the coronet apple is asuper example of that.
(05:39):
Another example of that, ofcourse, is strawberry plants so,
so easy to grow and againyou'll have sort of beauty and
interest and food from it.
So you have, when you get the,the lush green leaves of the
strawberry plant, again that canbe planted around the base of
your, of your coronet apple, forexample, and they're going to
(06:02):
produce white flowers.
Those white flowers are goingto turn into your fruit, and
again that's going to be reallyinteresting.
And again you know, if you'regardening with children, it's
going to be lovely to be able togo out there and pick fruit,
and it's a real win-win.
Depending on what you knowvariety you go for.
For example, if you wanted tohave continuous fruit, you're
going to choose an ever-bearingvariety that's going to have
(06:23):
fruit within its first year andit will continue to fruit over
time for years to come.
You're going to get at leastthree to four really really good
years out of those strawberriesand then at that stage you can
save your runners and pot upagain, but again more than one
period of interest.
You'll have the lush, the lushgreen leaves of the early part
(06:43):
of the spring.
You'll have the flowersfollowing it on and then,
obviously, the beautiful fruit.
So a nice addition, interestingaddition to to your, your patio
or decking.
And, again, as I say, you canpair that with the coronet, the
coronet apple tree.
You can also have the likes ofespalier trees trained onto you
(07:06):
know, some sort, some form of atrellis that can be planted in a
pot up against the wall.
So again, you're getting thoseperiods of interest and, of
course, you have the benefit ofbeing able to harvest, harvest
your fruit from there.
So the likes of pears and so on.
So so you know, there's lots ofopportunities there.
Another good one, and a listenerof the podcast showed me, or
(07:30):
sent me, a picture of abrilliant example during the
week of raspberries.
That had been.
She had been growing in potsfor a while and had struggled a
little bit, but after, you know,giving her some advice on what
to do, she's now grownsuccessfully, really
successfully, with fruit everyyear, raspberries in a pot, and
(07:50):
the pot was a lovely decorativepot and that looks extremely
well on your again, on your,your patio or your entertaining
area and again you have thesefresh strawberries ready to pick
, fresh raspberries ready topick whenever they're ripe.
So you're adding sort ofinterest and different functions
(08:11):
to to these plants, as opposedto it being just the aesthetic
or the beauty of, you know, whatwe know as bedding plants.
So fruit is a good option.
Another really good option is isrock planters or alpine style
plants, and I spoke about thesebefore on the podcast.
These are, again, really,really good.
(08:32):
You can do them into hangingbaskets, window boxes, small
pots containers and anything.
They're going to be happy inthere for a long, long period of
time and with the correct mixof small plants.
So alpine plants are, generallyspeaking, they grow in rocky or
clay-siled or typically theones that you would see creeping
(08:56):
into the gaps in stone wallsand that type of thing.
Or you'd see them on coastalareas.
You'll see likes of trift incoastal areas and you get the
cultivated versions of thosethat are suitable for your, your
alpine or rock plantings.
But the beauty of these is thatyou're planting them now.
They're going to be, they'regoing to be low maintenance,
(09:17):
which is big thing with pots, alot of pots can be, you know,
can require quite a bit ofmaintenance, as I mentioned with
bedding plants, but the likesof alpine plants, they're going
to be quite low maintenance.
So once you're starting withthe kind of correct growing
media at the start and for anyof these planters, actually a
really good sort of rule ofthumb for for your potting mixes
(09:38):
go with one third topsoil, onethird good quality compost,
that's composted plant materials, and one third farmyard manure
and mixing in a bit of seaweedinto that dried seaweed and
that's a superb mix forbasically any of these planters
that I'm going to talk about.
But the rock planters will bethat same mix but you're going
to mix through a little bit ofhorticultural grit or
(10:00):
horticultural sand through that.
So you're basically creating amore airy, free draining growing
media.
But those plants are going torequire very little maintenance.
They don't, you know they'renot.
They don't require high amountsof feed and they don't require
higher, high amounts of water.
But they will have flower, theywill have interest.
(10:22):
You know, in terms of the likesof the oparichas is going to
have spring interest.
Then you're going to havesaxifrage which is going to be
flowering now and you're goingto have sempervernums which are
going to be able to spread andsprout and you're going to see
new plants developing andspreading and they're adding
(10:42):
different layers of interest.
So you'll have color atdifferent times, you'll have
flower at different times,you'll have the multiplication
of the plant and the plantcreating basically new little
plants off the side of it, andthey're all interesting.
Aubreches is another one, andOxalis is a really nice one,
very, very continuous floweringfor a longish period of time and
(11:08):
really beautiful, and Luisia isanother one.
So, yeah, there's lots ofvarious rock plants.
So when you go into yourgardens and you're looking for
the alpines or the rock plants,they'll come in really, really
small pots and this can beplanted into a really small
container it doesn't have to bea big one at all and it's just
going to give you a really lowmaintenance planter that can
(11:34):
look well, can sit on your onyour patio, your decking, your
balcony, and and thrive overmany, many years with quite,
quite little input from yourself.
So it's always a good one toadd in and then going to look at
some sort of singular plantsthat can just steal the show on
their own, and I suppose we'rebetter placed to start them with
(11:58):
roses.
So again, roses and pots doextremely well.
In fact, sometimes they can doa lot better than they will do
out in the open ground,depending on the type of ground
that you do have.
But you'll remember back toepisode 244, I had Joseph from
David Aston Roses on and wespoke a lot about various types
of roses, the benefits of DavidAston Roses and so on and so
(12:23):
forth.
But we spoke a lot about pottedroses in that episode and it
was a really, really good one,if you ever want to go back and
check it out.
So episode 244.
But there's some fantasticroses for containers.
And again, when you talk aboutlongevity, so if you get, say,
some of the patio roses, theywill continually flower for
(12:44):
months and months on end.
A lot of roses are juststarting now, so you'll see a
lot of people this week with thefirst rose flower popping out,
but over the months of June,july, august, september, even up
into October, some of theseroses will have flowers for that
length of time and they'llrequire, again, very, very
little input from yourself oncethey're established.
So you're looking for a littlebit of watering and a little bit
(13:07):
of feeding, especially,especially on the patio ones
that are continuously um pushingout flower, just they're.
They're quite hungry and typeof plant.
But again, if you're startingwith that mix of one third, one
third, one third with theseaweed in it, that would be
superb to to give them a coupleof years and then you will need
to be feeding them after that to, I suppose, allow them to be,
(13:30):
to remain strong and to push outthose flowers.
Some good examples there,particularly from the david
astin range, are things like umgertrude jekyll, which is a
really beautiful sort of deeppink color, fantastic smell on
it.
That's quite tall now, sothat's going to be a shrub rose,
(13:50):
an old English shrub rose, butfragrant, strong plant, so quite
big, will have loads of flower,abundance of flower on it, and
that's a brilliant, brilliantexample.
Gabriel Oak is another one.
So there's's you know there'slots of really good examples of
roses that will be perfect incontainers or planters and it's
(14:16):
going to give you, when you havea rose, a really good rose
that's grown really well, that'sflowering, then the high impact
from that is going to beequally as good as the best
possible you know display thatyou'll have from your bedding
plants.
So really good alternative.
And again, if you get some ofthese shrub roses that will be
quite tall and upright.
You'll have a lot of flower uphigh.
(14:37):
There is always the potentialto add some more color just
around the base, especially ifyou're into something like an
oak tub, which can be quite big.
You'll have the space to getsome flower in around the
outside.
So double the impact by bydoing this.
But again, as you, as you know,as you'll see everything I've
mentioned so far if at somepoint in time it gets, you know
(14:59):
it basically has outgrown thepot, it's quite comfortable at
that point going out into yourgarden beds.
So, again, you're gettinglongevity out of it, real long
time out of it, and that's, Ithink, what we're kind of aiming
for with these typerecommendations.
Then we're going to kind of moveon to sort of foliage plants,
(15:23):
and there's so many here.
These are plants that arecapable of holding a centerpiece
or holding a pot and lookingextremely well pretty much for
12 months of the year.
Obviously there might be timeswhere they'll look a little bit
better or grow be growing alittle bit better, but there is,
there is these plants that willlook well all year round in a,
(15:45):
you know, in a pot or a planter,and some of them actually that
I'm going to mention have beendeveloped by an Irish breeder
called Pat Fitzgerald, and Pathas some varieties of plants
that you know that are reallydesigned to be in pots or
planters, really designed to bein pots or planters, and he has,
(16:12):
he has a, he has a website onthem.
You can't buy from them, butit's just kind of for research,
for research purposes it's.
I think it's my plant dot, ie,I think and basically he just
highlights some plants that aresuitable for your garden border
but also really, reallycomfortable in your containers
and pots and so on, and yeah,there's some superb ones in
(16:33):
there.
First one I'm going to mentionis an interesting one.
It's hostas and you know hostas.
There's so many, so manyvarieties of of hosta.
As we heard before on thepodcast, the young leaves are
actually edible on most hostas.
I've never actually tried themmyself, but yeah, they are.
(16:53):
But if you can get a hosta overa period of time to fill out a
pot so you might have a 30centimeter pot get a good size
hosta, plant it into it andallow it over three or four
years to continue to to grow andfill out that pot, obviously
for the winter time.
There's no leaves there thatthat planter can go away.
(17:15):
You know, behind the scenes,where it's not going to be seen,
but when the springtime comesand that's opening out and and
as they are now out into full,the full foliage has opened up.
There is so many beautifulhostas, you know, in a if you
get a dark terracotta pot andput a really nice hosta into it
(17:35):
that has filled out the pot,you'll struggle to find a better
display in a pot than somethinglike a hosta.
It's, it's very basic.
There is no flower of note.
I know they do flower but noflower of note on it.
But that foliage and the way itsort of frames the pot or sort
(17:57):
of creates a canopy over the potis just fantastic.
And, as I say you'll do, youknow it will look fantastic on
any border or in any decking,you know, on any seating area,
balcony, any of those things.
The beauty of it as well isthat it's really, really happy
(18:18):
in shade, but it also does wellin full sun.
So they are a shade plant,typically speaking, but hostas
will do well more or lessanywhere.
So if you're on a shadedbalcony, for example, it'll do
fine, but if you're on a balconythat's getting loads of sun,
it'll also do fine same for, youknow, your, your patio areas,
or whatever.
It's a fantastic plant and theydo when filled out.
(18:41):
So don't go for a pot that'sreally big.
On this you're going to go for,sort of a 30 centimeter pot or
something like that nicedecorative pot.
Get a good, a good size hostathat you, you know you really
like the foliage of, and allowit to fill out over a couple
years and you will find acontainer that just looks superb
for several months of the year.
As I say, it'll die off in thewinter time.
(19:02):
You just put that away where itcan't be seen and then up it
goes.
It comes again next year andagain it's a really high impact
but low effort container on yourbehalf, which is, I think, what
we're all looking for.
Another one that's, you know,loved and hated by a lot of
gardeners.
Some gardeners consider them tobe weeds.
I am not one of those.
(19:24):
I think they look fantastic forat certain times of the year
and that's agapanthus.
So there's so many agapanthusthere and again it will need a
little bit of time to just fillout a pot, but if you and again,
it's only for sort of sixmonths of the of the summer, but
if you can get a again a potthat's not too big, get a really
nice colored agapanthus intothat, allow it to fill out over
(19:47):
a period of a couple of yearsand that will be a display that
can be just popped in and outover the next years to come.
Dies back in the winter time.
Nothing to look at in thewinter time, obviously, but then
summertime, a little bit likethe hosta, it comes out
beautiful flowers on it,typically your reds like or
sorry blues, dark blues, lightblues and even some whites.
(20:10):
But my favorite is the reallyreally dark, deep blue flower
that you can get.
The foliage itself, you know iscan be quite uh, shiny, just
looks fresh and if they're grownreally, really well, it's a
nice, a really nice plant forfor pots.
(20:30):
So that's agapanthus, and again, there's loads of different
varieties there.
The next one is can look with.
It will look exactly the sameall year round and this is why
it's.
It's a really brilliant one forpots.
And that's astelius, and againmentioned pat forster.
So some of these varieties arehave been bred by him and you
know a couple of them areastelia silver shadow, and
(20:52):
that's a really silvery leaf umplant.
It's looks a little bit likeyour cord line leaf, a little
bit like that.
So it's that style of a leafand they kind of fall over.
But again, a bit like what Iwas saying with the hosta, when,
when they start to grow andfill out that pot, they really
frame the pot and you can havethat lovely contrast of this
(21:15):
gray foliage up on top and thisnice pot on the bottom, nice
decorative pot on the bottom,and the silver foliage is
fantastic.
That planter, that plant, then,you know, in a couple years
time, if it outgrows that pot,you can, you have the option to
pot it on into a bigger pot.
Alternatively, if you're on a,you know, small patio area or
(21:36):
whatever, it can comfortably goout into the garden and will
grow away happily there foryears and years.
So again, there's longevity ineverything that we're doing here
.
Another really good astelia isson of a red devil and that's,
as the name suggests, a redleafed one.
It's a beautiful one as welland that's, you know, along the
same lines of silver shadow.
It's going to be a long-termplant.
(21:58):
A beautiful, beautiful color onit and and really good then
other ones, the cord line, whichyou know was.
It's a sort of a sort of aplant from the past.
Every garden from a house thatwas built 30 or 40 years ago has
a big, tall card line somewhereat the front and probably
(22:20):
standing 10 foot tall at thisstage.
But there is so much more tocard lines than that, the the
beautiful ones that are therenow, again suitable for for
planters and again suitable togo into gardens afterwards.
There's one particular onethat's fantastic colors.
Sorry, fantasticallyinteresting colors.
Personally, I don't love thecolors of them.
(22:42):
I think they're.
They're.
Yeah, I just don't love thecolors of them.
They're.
It's charlie boy.
Charlie boy is a fantasticplant.
Personally, the colors don't doit for me, but there's a
beautiful kind of pinky, gray,gray, greeny color to it.
There's kind of three tones toit and it's a lovely, lovely mix
of colors.
There's some other good ones,like Tar Bay Dazzler.
(23:04):
It's another really good one.
Again, you'll see those on myplant that I eat and there
that's a brilliant, a brilliantplant to go, as I say, forget
about the one that's, you know,10 feet tall at the front of
your, your granny's house orwhatever, and card lines are so
much more than that.
These days they are a littlebit overlooked.
(23:25):
They are a little bit, you know, people kind of don't like them
as much as they used to.
They're a little bit out of outof fashion, I think I would say
.
But certainly there's somefantastic ones there and again
it's a plant that can go to thegarden or go into a bigger
planter after.
Another good one is Carex.
So Carex, evergold, carex,everillo, different like the
(23:47):
evergold, is a really bright,fluorescent, greeny, yellow type
color.
The everillo has a silvery, youknow a silvery kind of a or
again a greeny kind of a shadeto it, um, luminous kind of
color, for want of a better word.
And they're superb, they'rereally.
(24:09):
They have really abundantfoliage, so lots of foliage that
again will hang down over a potand it looks like it's hanging
over the edge of the pot like ashaggy dog hanging over the hair
of the shaggy dog hanging overthe head.
It's kind of a reallyinteresting contrast between the
pot if you get a nice pot to gointo it.
(24:30):
So carex, a really really goodone as well, and some other ones
that kind of get overlooked alot nadinia, and again, some
nice ones there.
Yuccas don't like thempersonally, but they're
brilliant.
They are brilliant for forplant, for planters and
containers.
And then some of the othergrasses, the likes of miscantus
(24:53):
that can give you just on apatio, can give you just such a
tall, flowy type foliage that'sreally really good for screening
areas and that sort of thing.
And bamboo will also do thesame thing.
So bamboos do really well incontainers and like.
The thing about bamboos is thatthey'll they'll be quite hungry
(25:15):
, they'll be quite thirsty inthere, so you will need a bit of
maintenance on them, but butthey are superb in planters and
containers and ideal forscreening, you know.
So if it is in a patio areathat you'd like a bit of privacy
on, you can create for want ofa better word a hedge of bamboo.
That is not completely blockingthe view, but it certainly
(25:36):
gives you a layer of privacythat adds to it.
Another good one is chysia.
So chysia, again, probably aplant that's a little bit out of
fashion at the moment andcertainly one that gets
overlooked a little bit, butchysia thornatus sundance is a
super one.
Choisea ternatus sundance is asuper one and that's um, you
(25:57):
know that's, that's a.
A plant that is perfect in acontainer will look well, will
look exactly the same for 12months of the year.
You know it's, it's one that isgoing to look the same all the
time and then eventually can goout into the garden or can go
onto a bigger pot.
So, again, we're getting thislongevity out of it and that's.
You know, that's what you'rekind of aiming for on these
(26:19):
things.
Another option is a herb planter.
So these are, these are goingto be superb and obviously you
have the functionality of havingfresh herbs for your cooking,
fresh herbs for your herbal teaspossibly, and medicinal herbs
and so on.
But there is also so much moreto herbs in terms of the look.
(26:43):
So, for example, you can get abeautiful bronze sage, so it
gives you that same taste thatyou get from a standard sage,
but it has a bronze leaf on itand looks really well.
So it's ornamental.
And if you're able to mix aplanter together, possibly with
a bay laurel in the center so,for example, if this was an oak
barrel bay laurel in the center,you know around it then you
(27:05):
have your, your bronze sage,variegated thyme, there's a
variegated lemon balm, beautifulfor teas but also really,
really attractive in look.
There's the likes of fennel,and again you can get bronze
fennel.
So, again, beautiful, look,your parsley, your chives and
(27:25):
all of those.
You can mix all those togetherand create a really, really
beautiful display of herbs thatwill sit comfortably on your
patio and all the time they areto be harvested, to be used in
your cooking, to be used in yourherbal teas and so on.
So, again, more functionality,more longevity in the planters.
(27:46):
That's not to say that beddingplants don't have their place.
That's not to say that I don'tlike bedding plants.
I love them, but I just thinkwe should.
I don't like bedding plants, Ilove them, but I just think we
should view things in in aslightly longer term maybe as
well, and look at notalternatives but complementary
plantings that we can do.
That maybe means that all yourcontainers if you have 10 pots,
(28:08):
then you have two or three ofthem that are bedding plants and
the rest are more long-term,which for you means that you
have less, less work you'regoing to, you know, do the
planting once and then you'llhave a little bit of maintenance
on them, I guess you know, interms of watering and feeding,
but typically they're going tobe a lot easier to mind and bed
and they're certainly going togive you a lot more longevity.
So complementary, complementaryideas rather than replacing the
(28:34):
replacement of bedding plants.
So that's kind of what I wantedto cover in this week's episode.
There's obviously bloom wascoming up and I've just this
week got the irish garden on theon the back page actually, or
the second page from the backpage 88 I'm in there this week
and my inspiration piece.
So a little little bit aboutabout me and what has inspired
(28:57):
me in gardening.
So check out the Irish garden.
It's, it's a great read at thebest of times and, as I say, I
have a little piece on the backpage of this, of this episode
which is brilliant.
But also in this episode is anextensive Bloom preview.
I guess Bloom's coming up in acouple of weeks time, in a
(29:18):
week's time, the 29th, startingThursday the 29th and runs right
through the Bank Holidayweekend until the 2nd of May,
and there's some on the gardenstage.
There's some fantastic speakersWon't go through this full
schedule but just to give you anidea of some of the speakers
that are, on thursday it'semceed by fiona nulon, who's the
(29:40):
holistic gardener, former guestof the podcast, really super
guest of the podcast.
But on the stage on thursdayyou have dear mcgavin, you have
adam frost of bbc gardenersworld fame he's on the main
stage.
Leonie carnelius, a formerguest.
Jimmy blake of hunting brookgardens, talking about
(30:01):
propagation.
Mary keenan from the irishgarden and gash gardens that's
fantastic garden for anyone that, um, that hasn't been.
And mary's wealth of plantknowledge.
So mary's on the stage onseveral days, which is
definitely there on the thursday, and then there's a panel
discussion at the end.
Friday you have any differentspeakers mary reynolds is on,
(30:21):
adam frost, again there.
Mcgavin, mick kelly, founder ofgiy, is on.
So paul smith is actually onfriday as well.
Another fantastic gardener,saturday.
We've Colin O'Driscoll andKitty Scully kicking off the day
Saturday morning.
So again two brilliant,brilliant gardeners Doreena
(30:43):
Allen, mary Reynolds again.
Niall McAuley is on in theafternoon.
Niall, again a former guest ofthe podcast.
So loads on.
And that continues throughsunday and monday as well.
And niall hatch, talking aboutattracting birds into your
garden, is on monday.
And you know many, many more uh,brilliant speakers on the
(31:07):
garden stage over a couple ofdays of bloom.
So yeah, definitely it's a,it's a brilliant, it's a
brilliant day out for a family.
Actually, there's loads to doLoads of, you know, from a food
perspective.
There's loads of food halls andvariety of foods and different
things to look at.
So it's fantastic.
Lots of good speakers this yearas well.
(31:36):
And then that's just one stage.
That's the garden stage.
There's the.
There's the Irish garden planthealth clinic, so you can bring
your, your pictures of yourplants or your leaves, your
plants, and if you have someissue or other, and show them
and they'll give you solutionsfor that or tell you what it is
and tell you how to sort ofremedy it.
So there's lots of, lots ofgood things on.
There's a sustainability stage,I think as well, so there's
some you know good speakers onthere.
(31:56):
There's the flower rangers havea brilliant marquee there, so
there's lots of different flowerarranging events and talks goes
on there.
Yes, there's loads going on atbloom and the fact that it's
over five days on a bank holidaygives people a great chance to
go and, as I say, it's a goodfamily event.
Following week after that, then,is buds and blossoms leash
(32:18):
garden festival.
I'm speaking at that myself andso hope to talk a little bit
more about that on the podcastnext week, and you know there is
just some really good speakersand some great stories there.
Some great, great stories thereto be told.
Looking forward to speaking atagain.
I found it was my first kind ofevent to talk at in in that way
(32:39):
and but I really enjoyed itlast year and, yeah, nice to get
back again this year.
So, loads coming up.
That's um, that's pretty muchthis week's episode.
As I say, alternatives arecombinations to the sort of
standard bed and plantcontainers that you might see
there.
Some ideas to you know, maybeget some longevity, more
(33:02):
longevity, to have less work onyourself, to pot these planters
once and not have to do it againfor maybe a number of years,
but while also getting thebenefit, or the longer term
benefit than maybe you wouldfrom something like a summer
bedding container.
As I say, both have their place, both can complement each other
, but there are some alternativeideas, alternative ideas to you
(33:25):
know, to to fill your pots andyour containers this summer.
And that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening.
how's it going, everybody?
I'm with episode 277 of master,my garden podcast.
Now, this week's episode I'mlooking at the subject of
alternatives to summer beddingand I suppose it's you know it's
the time of year where a lot ofpeople have their bedding out
and in the pots and so on, andbut it really is from now on.
You know, the middle of may,the end of june or the early
(00:34):
june was kind of the typicalkickoff period for bedding
plants.
And you know bedding plants arebeautiful and I've covered it
on the podcast before some greatcombinations that you can use
for your hanging baskets, yourpots, your window boxes and so
on.
And you know they are superb.
They give huge blasts of color.
(00:55):
You'll see it in all the towns.
You know the tidy townscommittees will be busy putting
up their hanging baskets, doingthe roundabouts with the, with
the flowers and the pots and thestreet containers and the
roundabouts and all that.
And you know, as I said,bedding plants are hugely
colorful and they add hugevibrancy at this, you know, for
the summer months and obviouslywinter bedding into winter
(01:17):
months.
So they're hugely, hugelyuseful.
I suppose the alternatives toit that I like to look at are
they're going to be.
You know pots.
You're going to have pots andcontainers that will give
different look.
You know, potentially, some youknow as nice a flower, but also
(01:43):
something that afterwards canbe popped into the garden, so
something that's going to becomfortable in a pot for a
period of time and then,potentially, can be moved out
into the garden and so itbecomes a more long-term project
.
The bedding plants, as I say,hugely beautiful in terms of
giving that blast of color andvibrancy, uh, but the thing
(02:04):
about them is that it's it'svery short-lived and, you know,
unless you have to mind themreally, really well, it can be
extremely short-lived becausethere's a little bit of minding
on bed and plants and pots.
There.
They need a good bit ofwatering, they need quite a bit
of food, they need a bit ofdeadheading and so on, and while
(02:24):
they do, as I say, lookbeautiful and they do fulfill
that sort of color blast that welook for in the summer, what
I'm going to talk about today iskind of a list of alternatives
that you know shouldn't beoverlooked and will have more
longevity, I guess, within yourgarden, while also providing a
(02:45):
level of beauty that will bedifferent to bedding plants but
nonetheless will be quite good.
And so we're going to look at alot of different alternatives,
and there is lots of differentalternatives and some of them
will be quite different, quiteunique.
Quite some people might findthem a little bit strange, but
(03:06):
there's, you know, there'sdifferent ways to look at things
and I think you know any ofthese will be at home on your
patio or, you know, at yourdoorstep and whatever else.
So, as I say, some kind ofalternatives to your standard
container planting of the summer.
I've covered, sort of coveredthis episode before, but this is
(03:28):
sort of a different slant on it.
You can, of course, you know,incorporate some bedding into
most of these type plantings,but these are for the purposes
of, you know, this episode.
These are complete alternativesto bedding plants, and so I
suppose the first one is yeah,definitely, it's definitely not,
(03:50):
you know, to compete withbedding.
It's a different idea and it'sthe growing of, you know, fruit
in, you know, a container onyour patio or at your, you know,
on your balcony or at your backdoor, and you know, on your
balcony or on your at your backdoor, and you know, sometimes
people think that it isn'tpossible or that it's it's
difficult to do or that itdoesn't, you know, fit in with
(04:13):
color schemes and whatever else.
But there's some greatopportunities and possibilities
here.
For example, the Coronet applethat we spoke about on the
podcast before it's a, it's anapple that has been bred in
ireland to be extremely small,miniature tree and grows no
higher than sort of four or fivefeet and doesn't have a big
(04:34):
head on it but does producefruit, as in apples, on a
regular and consistent basis andso that that pot is into, you
know, the likes of an oak barrelor a larger pot is a fabulous
planting to have on your balcony, on your decking, on your patio
(04:54):
area or whatever, and this canbe mixed with some flower around
the base of it, possibly sometulips earlier in the year.
But it's going to give you sortof benefits over more than one
window.
For example, in the springtimeyou're going to have nice flower
on this apple tree.
It's going to be nice andcompact and will have some
benefit for pollinators there.
(05:15):
But then later on your fruitwill develop and it's going to
be a nice, interesting talkingpoint and then, as the fruit
ripens, you know if you're outthere gardening with kids at a
certain point the fruit is goingto be beautiful and ready to
harvest, and what a nice, simpleand easy way that is to
incorporate fruit into yourgarden.
And so the coronet apple is asuper example of that.
(05:39):
Another example of that, ofcourse, is strawberry plants so,
so easy to grow and againyou'll have sort of beauty and
interest and food from it.
So you have, when you get the,the lush green leaves of the
strawberry plant, again that canbe planted around the base of
your, of your coronet apple, forexample, and they're going to
(06:02):
produce white flowers.
Those white flowers are goingto turn into your fruit, and
again that's going to be reallyinteresting.
And again you know, if you'regardening with children, it's
going to be lovely to be able togo out there and pick fruit,
and it's a real win-win.
Depending on what you knowvariety you go for.
For example, if you wanted tohave continuous fruit, you're
going to choose an ever-bearingvariety that's going to have
(06:23):
fruit within its first year andit will continue to fruit over
time for years to come.
You're going to get at leastthree to four really really good
years out of those strawberriesand then at that stage you can
save your runners and pot upagain, but again more than one
period of interest.
You'll have the lush, the lushgreen leaves of the early part
(06:43):
of the spring.
You'll have the flowersfollowing it on and then,
obviously, the beautiful fruit.
So a nice addition, interestingaddition to to your, your patio
or decking.
And, again, as I say, you canpair that with the coronet, the
coronet apple tree.
You can also have the likes ofespalier trees trained onto you
(07:06):
know, some sort, some form of atrellis that can be planted in a
pot up against the wall.
So again, you're getting thoseperiods of interest and, of
course, you have the benefit ofbeing able to harvest, harvest
your fruit from there.
So the likes of pears and so on.
So so you know, there's lots ofopportunities there.
Another good one, and a listenerof the podcast showed me, or
(07:30):
sent me, a picture of abrilliant example during the
week of raspberries.
That had been.
She had been growing in potsfor a while and had struggled a
little bit, but after, you know,giving her some advice on what
to do, she's now grownsuccessfully, really
successfully, with fruit everyyear, raspberries in a pot, and
(07:50):
the pot was a lovely decorativepot and that looks extremely
well on your again, on your,your patio or your entertaining
area and again you have thesefresh strawberries ready to pick
, fresh raspberries ready topick whenever they're ripe.
So you're adding sort ofinterest and different functions
(08:11):
to to these plants, as opposedto it being just the aesthetic
or the beauty of, you know, whatwe know as bedding plants.
So fruit is a good option.
Another really good option is isrock planters or alpine style
plants, and I spoke about thesebefore on the podcast.
These are, again, really,really good.
(08:32):
You can do them into hangingbaskets, window boxes, small
pots containers and anything.
They're going to be happy inthere for a long, long period of
time and with the correct mixof small plants.
So alpine plants are, generallyspeaking, they grow in rocky or
clay-siled or typically theones that you would see creeping
(08:56):
into the gaps in stone wallsand that type of thing.
Or you'd see them on coastalareas.
You'll see likes of trift incoastal areas and you get the
cultivated versions of thosethat are suitable for your, your
alpine or rock plantings.
But the beauty of these is thatyou're planting them now.
They're going to be, they'regoing to be low maintenance,
(09:17):
which is big thing with pots, alot of pots can be, you know,
can require quite a bit ofmaintenance, as I mentioned with
bedding plants, but the likesof alpine plants, they're going
to be quite low maintenance.
So once you're starting withthe kind of correct growing
media at the start and for anyof these planters, actually a
really good sort of rule ofthumb for for your potting mixes
(09:38):
go with one third topsoil, onethird good quality compost,
that's composted plant materials, and one third farmyard manure
and mixing in a bit of seaweedinto that dried seaweed and
that's a superb mix forbasically any of these planters
that I'm going to talk about.
But the rock planters will bethat same mix but you're going
to mix through a little bit ofhorticultural grit or
(10:00):
horticultural sand through that.
So you're basically creating amore airy, free draining growing
media.
But those plants are going torequire very little maintenance.
They don't, you know they'renot.
They don't require high amountsof feed and they don't require
higher, high amounts of water.
But they will have flower, theywill have interest.
(10:22):
You know, in terms of the likesof the oparichas is going to
have spring interest.
Then you're going to havesaxifrage which is going to be
flowering now and you're goingto have sempervernums which are
going to be able to spread andsprout and you're going to see
new plants developing andspreading and they're adding
(10:42):
different layers of interest.
So you'll have color atdifferent times, you'll have
flower at different times,you'll have the multiplication
of the plant and the plantcreating basically new little
plants off the side of it, andthey're all interesting.
Aubreches is another one, andOxalis is a really nice one,
very, very continuous floweringfor a longish period of time and
(11:08):
really beautiful, and Luisia isanother one.
So, yeah, there's lots ofvarious rock plants.
So when you go into yourgardens and you're looking for
the alpines or the rock plants,they'll come in really, really
small pots and this can beplanted into a really small
container it doesn't have to bea big one at all and it's just
going to give you a really lowmaintenance planter that can
(11:34):
look well, can sit on your onyour patio, your decking, your
balcony, and and thrive overmany, many years with quite,
quite little input from yourself.
So it's always a good one toadd in and then going to look at
some sort of singular plantsthat can just steal the show on
their own, and I suppose we'rebetter placed to start them with
(11:58):
roses.
So again, roses and pots doextremely well.
In fact, sometimes they can doa lot better than they will do
out in the open ground,depending on the type of ground
that you do have.
But you'll remember back toepisode 244, I had Joseph from
David Aston Roses on and wespoke a lot about various types
of roses, the benefits of DavidAston Roses and so on and so
(12:23):
forth.
But we spoke a lot about pottedroses in that episode and it
was a really, really good one,if you ever want to go back and
check it out.
So episode 244.
But there's some fantasticroses for containers.
And again, when you talk aboutlongevity, so if you get, say,
some of the patio roses, theywill continually flower for
(12:44):
months and months on end.
A lot of roses are juststarting now, so you'll see a
lot of people this week with thefirst rose flower popping out,
but over the months of June,july, august, september, even up
into October, some of theseroses will have flowers for that
length of time and they'llrequire, again, very, very
little input from yourself oncethey're established.
So you're looking for a littlebit of watering and a little bit
(13:07):
of feeding, especially,especially on the patio ones
that are continuously um pushingout flower, just they're.
They're quite hungry and typeof plant.
But again, if you're startingwith that mix of one third, one
third, one third with theseaweed in it, that would be
superb to to give them a coupleof years and then you will need
to be feeding them after that to, I suppose, allow them to be,
(13:30):
to remain strong and to push outthose flowers.
Some good examples there,particularly from the david
astin range, are things like umgertrude jekyll, which is a
really beautiful sort of deeppink color, fantastic smell on
it.
That's quite tall now, sothat's going to be a shrub rose,
(13:50):
an old English shrub rose, butfragrant, strong plant, so quite
big, will have loads of flower,abundance of flower on it, and
that's a brilliant, brilliantexample.
Gabriel Oak is another one.
So there's's you know there'slots of really good examples of
roses that will be perfect incontainers or planters and it's
(14:16):
going to give you, when you havea rose, a really good rose
that's grown really well, that'sflowering, then the high impact
from that is going to beequally as good as the best
possible you know display thatyou'll have from your bedding
plants.
So really good alternative.
And again, if you get some ofthese shrub roses that will be
quite tall and upright.
You'll have a lot of flower uphigh.
(14:37):
There is always the potentialto add some more color just
around the base, especially ifyou're into something like an
oak tub, which can be quite big.
You'll have the space to getsome flower in around the
outside.
So double the impact by bydoing this.
But again, as you, as you know,as you'll see everything I've
mentioned so far if at somepoint in time it gets, you know
(14:59):
it basically has outgrown thepot, it's quite comfortable at
that point going out into yourgarden beds.
So, again, you're gettinglongevity out of it, real long
time out of it, and that's, Ithink, what we're kind of aiming
for with these typerecommendations.
Then we're going to kind of moveon to sort of foliage plants,
(15:23):
and there's so many here.
These are plants that arecapable of holding a centerpiece
or holding a pot and lookingextremely well pretty much for
12 months of the year.
Obviously there might be timeswhere they'll look a little bit
better or grow be growing alittle bit better, but there is,
there is these plants that willlook well all year round in a,
(15:45):
you know, in a pot or a planter,and some of them actually that
I'm going to mention have beendeveloped by an Irish breeder
called Pat Fitzgerald, and Pathas some varieties of plants
that you know that are reallydesigned to be in pots or
planters, really designed to bein pots or planters, and he has,
(16:12):
he has a, he has a website onthem.
You can't buy from them, butit's just kind of for research,
for research purposes it's.
I think it's my plant dot, ie,I think and basically he just
highlights some plants that aresuitable for your garden border
but also really, reallycomfortable in your containers
and pots and so on, and yeah,there's some superb ones in
(16:33):
there.
First one I'm going to mentionis an interesting one.
It's hostas and you know hostas.
There's so many, so manyvarieties of of hosta.
As we heard before on thepodcast, the young leaves are
actually edible on most hostas.
I've never actually tried themmyself, but yeah, they are.
(16:53):
But if you can get a hosta overa period of time to fill out a
pot so you might have a 30centimeter pot get a good size
hosta, plant it into it andallow it over three or four
years to continue to to grow andfill out that pot, obviously
for the winter time.
There's no leaves there thatthat planter can go away.
(17:15):
You know, behind the scenes,where it's not going to be seen,
but when the springtime comesand that's opening out and and
as they are now out into full,the full foliage has opened up.
There is so many beautifulhostas, you know, in a if you
get a dark terracotta pot andput a really nice hosta into it
(17:35):
that has filled out the pot,you'll struggle to find a better
display in a pot than somethinglike a hosta.
It's, it's very basic.
There is no flower of note.
I know they do flower but noflower of note on it.
But that foliage and the way itsort of frames the pot or sort
(17:57):
of creates a canopy over the potis just fantastic.
And, as I say you'll do, youknow it will look fantastic on
any border or in any decking,you know, on any seating area,
balcony, any of those things.
The beauty of it as well isthat it's really, really happy
(18:18):
in shade, but it also does wellin full sun.
So they are a shade plant,typically speaking, but hostas
will do well more or lessanywhere.
So if you're on a shadedbalcony, for example, it'll do
fine, but if you're on a balconythat's getting loads of sun,
it'll also do fine same for, youknow, your, your patio areas,
or whatever.
It's a fantastic plant and theydo when filled out.
(18:41):
So don't go for a pot that'sreally big.
On this you're going to go for,sort of a 30 centimeter pot or
something like that nicedecorative pot.
Get a good, a good size hostathat you, you know you really
like the foliage of, and allowit to fill out over a couple
years and you will find acontainer that just looks superb
for several months of the year.
As I say, it'll die off in thewinter time.
(19:02):
You just put that away where itcan't be seen and then up it
goes.
It comes again next year andagain it's a really high impact
but low effort container on yourbehalf, which is, I think, what
we're all looking for.
Another one that's, you know,loved and hated by a lot of
gardeners.
Some gardeners consider them tobe weeds.
I am not one of those.
(19:24):
I think they look fantastic forat certain times of the year
and that's agapanthus.
So there's so many agapanthusthere and again it will need a
little bit of time to just fillout a pot, but if you and again,
it's only for sort of sixmonths of the of the summer, but
if you can get a again a potthat's not too big, get a really
nice colored agapanthus intothat, allow it to fill out over
(19:47):
a period of a couple of yearsand that will be a display that
can be just popped in and outover the next years to come.
Dies back in the winter time.
Nothing to look at in thewinter time, obviously, but then
summertime, a little bit likethe hosta, it comes out
beautiful flowers on it,typically your reds like or
sorry blues, dark blues, lightblues and even some whites.
(20:10):
But my favorite is the reallyreally dark, deep blue flower
that you can get.
The foliage itself, you know iscan be quite uh, shiny, just
looks fresh and if they're grownreally, really well, it's a
nice, a really nice plant forfor pots.
(20:30):
So that's agapanthus, and again, there's loads of different
varieties there.
The next one is can look with.
It will look exactly the sameall year round and this is why
it's.
It's a really brilliant one forpots.
And that's astelius, and againmentioned pat forster.
So some of these varieties arehave been bred by him and you
know a couple of them areastelia silver shadow, and
(20:52):
that's a really silvery leaf umplant.
It's looks a little bit likeyour cord line leaf, a little
bit like that.
So it's that style of a leafand they kind of fall over.
But again, a bit like what Iwas saying with the hosta, when,
when they start to grow andfill out that pot, they really
frame the pot and you can havethat lovely contrast of this
(21:15):
gray foliage up on top and thisnice pot on the bottom, nice
decorative pot on the bottom,and the silver foliage is
fantastic.
That planter, that plant, then,you know, in a couple years
time, if it outgrows that pot,you can, you have the option to
pot it on into a bigger pot.
Alternatively, if you're on a,you know, small patio area or
(21:36):
whatever, it can comfortably goout into the garden and will
grow away happily there foryears and years.
So again, there's longevity ineverything that we're doing here
.
Another really good astelia isson of a red devil and that's,
as the name suggests, a redleafed one.
It's a beautiful one as welland that's, you know, along the
same lines of silver shadow.
It's going to be a long-termplant.
(21:58):
A beautiful, beautiful color onit and and really good then
other ones, the cord line, whichyou know was.
It's a sort of a sort of aplant from the past.
Every garden from a house thatwas built 30 or 40 years ago has
a big, tall card line somewhereat the front and probably
(22:20):
standing 10 foot tall at thisstage.
But there is so much more tocard lines than that, the the
beautiful ones that are therenow, again suitable for for
planters and again suitable togo into gardens afterwards.
There's one particular onethat's fantastic colors.
Sorry, fantasticallyinteresting colors.
Personally, I don't love thecolors of them.
(22:42):
I think they're.
They're.
Yeah, I just don't love thecolors of them.
They're.
It's charlie boy.
Charlie boy is a fantasticplant.
Personally, the colors don't doit for me, but there's a
beautiful kind of pinky, gray,gray, greeny color to it.
There's kind of three tones toit and it's a lovely, lovely mix
of colors.
There's some other good ones,like Tar Bay Dazzler.
(23:04):
It's another really good one.
Again, you'll see those on myplant that I eat and there
that's a brilliant, a brilliantplant to go, as I say, forget
about the one that's, you know,10 feet tall at the front of
your, your granny's house orwhatever, and card lines are so
much more than that.
These days they are a littlebit overlooked.
(23:25):
They are a little bit, you know, people kind of don't like them
as much as they used to.
They're a little bit out of outof fashion, I think I would say
.
But certainly there's somefantastic ones there and again
it's a plant that can go to thegarden or go into a bigger
planter after.
Another good one is Carex.
So Carex, evergold, carex,everillo, different like the
(23:47):
evergold, is a really bright,fluorescent, greeny, yellow type
color.
The everillo has a silvery, youknow a silvery kind of a or
again a greeny kind of a shadeto it, um, luminous kind of
color, for want of a better word.
And they're superb, they'rereally.
(24:09):
They have really abundantfoliage, so lots of foliage that
again will hang down over a potand it looks like it's hanging
over the edge of the pot like ashaggy dog hanging over the hair
of the shaggy dog hanging overthe head.
It's kind of a reallyinteresting contrast between the
pot if you get a nice pot to gointo it.
(24:30):
So carex, a really really goodone as well, and some other ones
that kind of get overlooked alot nadinia, and again, some
nice ones there.
Yuccas don't like thempersonally, but they're
brilliant.
They are brilliant for forplant, for planters and
containers.
And then some of the othergrasses, the likes of miscantus
(24:53):
that can give you just on apatio, can give you just such a
tall, flowy type foliage that'sreally really good for screening
areas and that sort of thing.
And bamboo will also do thesame thing.
So bamboos do really well incontainers and like.
The thing about bamboos is thatthey'll they'll be quite hungry
(25:15):
, they'll be quite thirsty inthere, so you will need a bit of
maintenance on them, but butthey are superb in planters and
containers and ideal forscreening, you know.
So if it is in a patio areathat you'd like a bit of privacy
on, you can create for want ofa better word a hedge of bamboo.
That is not completely blockingthe view, but it certainly
(25:36):
gives you a layer of privacythat adds to it.
Another good one is chysia.
So chysia, again, probably aplant that's a little bit out of
fashion at the moment andcertainly one that gets
overlooked a little bit, butchysia thornatus sundance is a
super one.
Choisea ternatus sundance is asuper one and that's um, you
(25:57):
know that's, that's a.
A plant that is perfect in acontainer will look well, will
look exactly the same for 12months of the year.
You know it's, it's one that isgoing to look the same all the
time and then eventually can goout into the garden or can go
onto a bigger pot.
So, again, we're getting thislongevity out of it and that's.
You know, that's what you'rekind of aiming for on these
(26:19):
things.
Another option is a herb planter.
So these are, these are goingto be superb and obviously you
have the functionality of havingfresh herbs for your cooking,
fresh herbs for your herbal teaspossibly, and medicinal herbs
and so on.
But there is also so much moreto herbs in terms of the look.
(26:43):
So, for example, you can get abeautiful bronze sage, so it
gives you that same taste thatyou get from a standard sage,
but it has a bronze leaf on itand looks really well.
So it's ornamental.
And if you're able to mix aplanter together, possibly with
a bay laurel in the center so,for example, if this was an oak
barrel bay laurel in the center,you know around it then you
(27:05):
have your, your bronze sage,variegated thyme, there's a
variegated lemon balm, beautifulfor teas but also really,
really attractive in look.
There's the likes of fennel,and again you can get bronze
fennel.
So, again, beautiful, look,your parsley, your chives and
(27:25):
all of those.
You can mix all those togetherand create a really, really
beautiful display of herbs thatwill sit comfortably on your
patio and all the time they areto be harvested, to be used in
your cooking, to be used in yourherbal teas and so on.
So, again, more functionality,more longevity in the planters.
(27:46):
That's not to say that beddingplants don't have their place.
That's not to say that I don'tlike bedding plants.
I love them, but I just thinkwe should.
I don't like bedding plants, Ilove them, but I just think we
should view things in in aslightly longer term maybe as
well, and look at notalternatives but complementary
plantings that we can do.
That maybe means that all yourcontainers if you have 10 pots,
(28:08):
then you have two or three ofthem that are bedding plants and
the rest are more long-term,which for you means that you
have less, less work you'regoing to, you know, do the
planting once and then you'llhave a little bit of maintenance
on them, I guess you know, interms of watering and feeding,
but typically they're going tobe a lot easier to mind and bed
and they're certainly going togive you a lot more longevity.
So complementary, complementaryideas rather than replacing the
(28:34):
replacement of bedding plants.
So that's kind of what I wantedto cover in this week's episode.
There's obviously bloom wascoming up and I've just this
week got the irish garden on theon the back page actually, or
the second page from the backpage 88 I'm in there this week
and my inspiration piece.
So a little little bit aboutabout me and what has inspired
(28:57):
me in gardening.
So check out the Irish garden.
It's, it's a great read at thebest of times and, as I say, I
have a little piece on the backpage of this, of this episode
which is brilliant.
But also in this episode is anextensive Bloom preview.
I guess Bloom's coming up in acouple of weeks time, in a
(29:18):
week's time, the 29th, startingThursday the 29th and runs right
through the Bank Holidayweekend until the 2nd of May,
and there's some on the gardenstage.
There's some fantastic speakersWon't go through this full
schedule but just to give you anidea of some of the speakers
that are, on thursday it'semceed by fiona nulon, who's the
(29:40):
holistic gardener, former guestof the podcast, really super
guest of the podcast.
But on the stage on thursdayyou have dear mcgavin, you have
adam frost of bbc gardenersworld fame he's on the main
stage.
Leonie carnelius, a formerguest.
Jimmy blake of hunting brookgardens, talking about
(30:01):
propagation.
Mary keenan from the irishgarden and gash gardens that's
fantastic garden for anyone that, um, that hasn't been.
And mary's wealth of plantknowledge.
So mary's on the stage onseveral days, which is
definitely there on the thursday, and then there's a panel
discussion at the end.
Friday you have any differentspeakers mary reynolds is on,
(30:21):
adam frost, again there.
Mcgavin, mick kelly, founder ofgiy, is on.
So paul smith is actually onfriday as well.
Another fantastic gardener,saturday.
We've Colin O'Driscoll andKitty Scully kicking off the day
Saturday morning.
So again two brilliant,brilliant gardeners Doreena
(30:43):
Allen, mary Reynolds again.
Niall McAuley is on in theafternoon.
Niall, again a former guest ofthe podcast.
So loads on.
And that continues throughsunday and monday as well.
And niall hatch, talking aboutattracting birds into your
garden, is on monday.
And you know many, many more uh,brilliant speakers on the
(31:07):
garden stage over a couple ofdays of bloom.
So yeah, definitely it's a,it's a brilliant, it's a
brilliant day out for a family.
Actually, there's loads to doLoads of, you know, from a food
perspective.
There's loads of food halls andvariety of foods and different
things to look at.
So it's fantastic.
Lots of good speakers this yearas well.
(31:36):
And then that's just one stage.
That's the garden stage.
There's the.
There's the Irish garden planthealth clinic, so you can bring
your, your pictures of yourplants or your leaves, your
plants, and if you have someissue or other, and show them
and they'll give you solutionsfor that or tell you what it is
and tell you how to sort ofremedy it.
So there's lots of, lots ofgood things on.
There's a sustainability stage,I think as well, so there's
some you know good speakers onthere.
(31:56):
There's the flower rangers havea brilliant marquee there, so
there's lots of different flowerarranging events and talks goes
on there.
Yes, there's loads going on atbloom and the fact that it's
over five days on a bank holidaygives people a great chance to
go and, as I say, it's a goodfamily event.
Following week after that, then,is buds and blossoms leash
(32:18):
garden festival.
I'm speaking at that myself andso hope to talk a little bit
more about that on the podcastnext week, and you know there is
just some really good speakersand some great stories there.
Some great, great stories thereto be told.
Looking forward to speaking atagain.
I found it was my first kind ofevent to talk at in in that way
(32:39):
and but I really enjoyed itlast year and, yeah, nice to get
back again this year.
So, loads coming up.
That's um, that's pretty muchthis week's episode.
As I say, alternatives arecombinations to the sort of
standard bed and plantcontainers that you might see
there.
Some ideas to you know, maybeget some longevity, more
(33:02):
longevity, to have less work onyourself, to pot these planters
once and not have to do it againfor maybe a number of years,
but while also getting thebenefit, or the longer term
benefit than maybe you wouldfrom something like a summer
bedding container.
As I say, both have their place, both can complement each other
, but there are some alternativeideas, alternative ideas to you
(33:25):
know, to to fill your pots andyour containers this summer.
And that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening.
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