I've gardened in 3 very different climates over the years, from Northern Michigan where we got 20 FEET of snow in the winter to subtropical Key Largo, Florida, where chunks of limestone took the place of garden soil. Here in the mountains of Western North Carolina, I've found a mild year-round climate that allows an endless variety of plants to flourish.
Over the weekend, I decided to try a new combination in one of the decorative pots on my deck. I wanted something that would give me a splash of color even as frost approaches, stay green all winter, and look good in early spring too. My favorite pot was looking pretty sad when I began, with a tired yellow mum, some dead foliage and a couple of begonias that managed to survive my neglect over the last couple of months.
Here's my favorite pot BEFORE
THe first thing I did was dig out eveything in the pot. The mum can be cut back and planted in the garden for next year and the begonias found a new home in another pot for a few weeks. They won't survive the first frost here. My new plants included an ornamental kale, some King Alfred daffodil bulbs, a couple of miniature evergreens for winter color and pansies and violas in bloom.
First I put in 5 large daffodil bulbs, clustered together on one side. They will be in bloom by the end of February here. Next came the kale, which will stay green all winter along with the other evergreens. I filled in the empty spots with apricot pansies and orange and yellow violas, both of which will bloom here through December and start up again in February. I've learned that planting them in the fall allows the roots to get a head start and the plants are much larger and flower better than those planted in the spring.
I added some sprigs of evergreen ivy from another pot on the deck and my fall container is complete. In the spring, I can transplant the violas into the garden and give the daffodils room to come up. I'll take a midwinter photo and one when the daffodils bloom and post them in the spring.
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