May is always the time when I make up my summer pots and hanging baskets. Out go last season's pansies that have now finished and it's time to renew the baskets with annuals that will keep on growing and flowering right through the summer.
I like to have an array of baskets and pots by the front door and around any seating areas in the garden. When I'm sitting out, I like the feeling of being hemmed in by a jumble of colourful pots, brimming with colour and being surrounding by scented pots and climbers.
It is always tempting when you visit garden centres or markets to start buying the bedding plants early, especially as it may be nice weather. They often start putting them out in April. I have been caught out in the past in my early gardening days and how ever tempted I feel, I resist and wait until near the Spring Bank Holiday. There is always that risk of frost, which may harm or kill the new delicate plants.
I tend to stick to a few tried and trusted plants that do well in the areas where I have my pots. I always buy begonias, as they grow easily, don't need much fuss and they enjoy the shade too, so can brighten a shady spot. They can give an instant impact with their assortment of pink and white colours. I also love bright red and pink pelargoniums, which I enjoy as they tend to come at their best right through mid summer to late autumn and can brighten areas up when most plants have finished blooming. Again, as long as you dead head them now and again and keep them watered, then they are easy to grow. These are the main staple two plants I usually use.
I like marigolds and petunias, but my marigolds always get eaten by slugs and my petunias seem to get too leggy and burnt out by August, so I've stopped planting those now. I like things to be kept easy! This year we've planted up some diascia, cosmos and the old favourite lobelia to complement the begonias and pelargoniums.
I have some pots filled with perennials such as campanula and alpine pinks and I mix small evergreen plants, heathers, alpines and ivy amongst the bedding plants. The bedding plants and compost can be just changed over each season then, but there are some main plants that can be kept in the pots or baskets until they become too big. We have also taken to planting wallflowers in pots too as they always put on a good show and will flower for quite a few seasons.
We have planted some small pots of cherry tomatoes, we always do this, it's nice being able to pick your own fresh tomatoes in autumn and just bring them in straight from the garden. One last favourite of ours are sweet peas - we always have these on our patio at the end of the garden. When they are flowering you can see wafts of colour at the top of the garden from the kitchen or conservatory windows. It is always lovely on a hot summers evening to sit out at the top of the garden, catch the last of the day's sun and the scent of the sweet peas in the light breeze!
We will see how they all grow this year...
We've planted a variety of cosmos in pinks and white.
A view across the pots at the front of the house.
That's another one made up and hung back!
Cosmos and evergreen box plants.
A little bit of topiary and a newly planted manger.
Diascia and dianthus making a lovely show.
Alpine pinks, white dianthus, begonias and pelargoniums
White begonia and pale pink diascia
Terracotta pots with purple wallflowers, lobelia and alpines all ready to make a show!
Sweet peas on the top patio
Little tray of cosmos and begonias. I like to place spare terracotta bits around the filled pots as a bit of a display. I know where they are then if I need a spare pot or two!
Little wall display with alpines and begonias.
That was a busy couple of gardening weekends, pots all done and ready now to enjoy the summer. We just need be rain to stop...but then again, they are well watered at the moment!
