It takes less than an hour to create a showy wall planter that will bloom throughout the summer. The secret is good design and clever use of materials.
This container garden was designed by Shana McCormick, director of grounds and gardens for Cambria Pines Lodge on California’s central coast, but it is equally hardy in metro Denver’s Zone 5 climate.
McCormick uses a wire hanging-basket as the frame and then lines it with moss and potting soil. By burying plants between layers of soil, she creates cascades of colorful flowers down the container’s front and sides. It’s finished with an extra layer of flowers planted upright on top.
By mixing Soil Moist and time-release fertilizer into the soil, McCormick ensures that the garden stays moist and well fed, even during the driest months.
What you’ll need
Wire wall basket
Soil Moist
Osmocote
1 cubic foot potting soil
1 cubic foot Green Moss (basket moss sphagnum)
2-3 six-packs of flowers, including lobelia, alyssum, dwarf snapdragons, violas, dwarf stock, pansies
6-8 freesia bulbs
3-4 4-inch plants for top layer, including baby’s breath, nemesia (deep blue), “Frosty kiss” gazanias, English primrose, Mexican boy, dwarf snapdragons
What to do
Mix Soil Moist and Osmocote with potting soil the night before planting and water it thoroughly. (It will swell; be sure to do this step before planting the garden.)
Soil Moist is a plastic polymer with granules that can absorb 100 times their weight in water. They serve as a reservoir when added to soil, extending the length of time your container garden can survive between waterings. Plants wrap their roots around the granules and slowly suck the water as needed.
Fill a bucket with green moss, then cover it with water and let it soak. When you’re ready to plant, take handfuls of the wet moss and mold them into the bottom and a few inches up the sides of the basket. Hollow out the middle so it can hold soil.
Fill the hollow with potting soil mix, then place lobelia and alyssum plants on top of it. Lay them on their sides, and gently ease their blossoms out through the sides of the basket. As the flowers grow, they will cascade down the walls of the container.
Build another several inches onto the moss wall and add another layer of potting soil mix. Place dwarf snapdragons and violas on the soil, lay them on their sides, and pull the snapdragon blossoms through the slats. They will follow the sun, growing up the side of the container. Put violas in between them and pull through the slats. They will cascade downward. Add freesia bulbs, with tips pointed out toward the front of the container.
Build up another few inches of moss wall; fill it with potting soil mix and in similar fashion plant dwarf stock (very fragrant), violas, pansies and baby’s breath (gypsophila), which will grow into dainty cascades.
Build one last layer onto the moss wall, add potting soil, and plant it as you would any garden. Put snapdragons in back, as they will grow tall and straight. Around them, mix Nemesia (deep blue), freesia bulbs (tips pointed up), “frosty kiss” gazanias, English primrose and, in front, Mexican Boy.
Sprinkle additional Osmocote on the soil and top dress it with Green Moss to act as mulch and prevent rapid evaporation. You can also wrap moss around any of the basket wire that is still visible.
The Cambria Pines Lodge, in Cambria, Calif., offers workshops as well as a “Gathering of Gardeners Festival and Symposium” for hard-core horticulturists. This year’s event is Oct. 22-23. Call 805-927-4747 or visit moonstonehotels.com/CPLgathering.htm.
Staff writer Linda Castrone can be reached at 303-820-1452 or lcastrone@denverpost.com.
