Watering

If you plant in the spring and the weather is mild, you can probably get away with watering about once a week. As the summer continues, plants need more water. Not only is the warm weather evaporating the moisture before the plant can use it, the plants need more water as they grow larger. Hanging plants and small pots may need watering twice a day (best times are morning and evening); once a day is enough for large pots.

Water your plants until the water comes out of the drainage holes. That way you know the soil is getting moisture all the way to the bottom.

Water the soil, not the leaves and flowers. Wetting the foliage can lead to fungal diseases and sometimes scorched spots on leaves.

Don’t worry if plants and flowers look wilted in the hottest time of the day. As long as the top of the soil is moist, you probably don’t need to water. Wilting is a self-protective mechanism to prevent too much moisture loss from the root area. Wait and see if the plants perk up after the sun goes down.

Don’t let pots sit in water; this can cause root rot and death. If you are using saucers, empty them after you water and after it rains.

Feeding

Plants growing in containers need more fertilizing than those in the ground. The more you water, the more quickly you flush the nutrients out of the soil. It’s good to use a time-release fertilizer when planting (see Step 2 on the previous page), but it’s the bare minimum. If you want really healthy and happy plants, feed them a liquid or water-soluble fertilizer every couple of weeks according to package directions.

Deadheading

Pinching or cutting off faded blooms, known as deadheading, is essential. It encourages a plant to keep producing more flowers.

Some plants have so many tiny flowers and stems, it would be too time-consuming to snip or pick off individual flower heads. For those types, it’s best to shear the whole plant back to about one-third of its size. It will look “whacked” for about a week, but you will soon be rewarded with a flush of new buds and blooms.

Some flowering plants are “self-cleaning,” meaning they don’t generally require deadheading or shearing. These are usually prolific bloomers covered in smallish flowers, which just shrivel up and almost disappear on their own. Some examples are impatiens, mini petunias, diascia, and browalia. If they start to flag late in the summer, cut back the plant by one-third to rejuvenate blooming.

Good Container Flowers for Sun

Angelonia
African daisy (Arctotis)
Dahlia
Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’)
Lantana
Verbena
Zinnia

Good Container Flowers for Shade

Tuberous Begonia
Fuchsia
Impatiens
Browallia
Torenia

Good Colorful Foliage Plants for Sun and Shade

Caladium (shade)
Coleus (sun and shade, depending on variety)
Phormium (full sun to part shade)
Canna (full sun to part shade)
Ferns (various types, filtered sun to shade)
Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus, full sun/part shade)
Ornamental sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas, full sun/part shade)
Ornamental grass (various types, full sun)

Good Container Flowers for Sun and Shade

Twinspur (Diascia, full sun/part shade)
Mini petunia (Calibrachoa, full sun/part shade)
Nemesia (full sun/part shade)
Scaevola (full sun/part shade)
Salvia (Salvia guaranitica, full sun/part shade)

Note: Where only one name is listed, the botanical and common names are the same.