I’m not sure how I ended up with so many pots. Like all collections, this one sneaked up on me. A couple of half whiskey barrels left behind by the previous owner of my home have morphed into 100 or so containers that now crowd every surface in the garden. Baskets hang from tree limbs, walls and arbors. Benches and chairs intended for sitting have been repurposed into plant stands. The patio is a riot of pots, with just enough room for wheelbarrow access.
Even though I save dahlias, rain lilies, callas, cannas, lilies, agapanthus, begonias, several varieties of plectranthus, various colors of tradescantia and nearly 100 cacti and succulents to reuse from one season to the next, it takes a lot of annuals to fill up so many pots.
To keep costs down I try to economize when purchasing plants. Small ones, while unquestionably inexpensive, may or may not be good value. Annual flowers grow rapidly and in another month you won’t know the difference between those that started out big and those that were little. Tiny plants, however, require greater vigilance. One hot or windy day might be their demise.
I bring home in small four-packs only things like portulaca and gazanias that can take a lot of abuse. Gallon-sized portulaca are not worth the tenfold increase in price.
If it has had trouble surviving transplanting in the past I instead look for a larger container with several beefy individuals in it. While shopping for something blue and trailing to complete baskets and pots for the shaded front porch I discovered a hanging basket planted exclusively with what appeared to be at least five or six torenia. When I got home and teased the plants apart that one $12 basket netted seven good-sized starts that would have retailed for several dollars each.
Mixed baskets and containers are popular sellers and often bargains as well, when you add up the cost of container, potting soil and a half a dozen plants. The trouble is I’ve already got containers aplenty and too seldom are the color combinations suited to my taste. Also, if the flowers are mundane white alyssum, blue lobelia and red geraniums, you can make your own basket for a fraction of the cost.
But the other day I found a metal hanging basket planted with three black petunias, three pink verbenas and a variegated vinca for $18. I have never before seen a truly black petunia. Figuring at least $6 a pop for this “designer” color and $3 each for the others, this was a steal. Such distinctive petunias deserve to be unlumped — three is unnecessarily redundant — and paired with more complementary companions. I plan to tear this basket apart and get more mileage by divvying up the contents into other arrangements.
Annual flowers don’t mind this rough treatment. In fact, tearing their roots stimulates strong new growth. For best value, always check for multiple plants in a pot and scrutinize every container you buy as potential for plunder.
Marcia Tatroe’s most recent book is “Cutting Edge Gardening in the Intermountain West,” ($29.95, Johnson Books). E-mail her at mtatroe@q.com.
