This one has been a favorite all this year. It sits under the deck where I can see it all the time.

It had to have a streaked hosta "Yellow Splash" (a gift from a hosta friend) in it. But the poor little thing is just about to be engulfed by the coleus & the wonderful Ursula Red fern. I am loving that fern. I plan to put it & the hosta in the ground in October & try to keep them alive. I might try taking cuttings from the coleus & see if I can get them to survive over winter in my new lighted plant grow rack Ron gave me for Christmas last year.

A very special person gave me this little potty chair several years ago. It was so thoughtful of her. Every time I see it I think of her. I put it out every year under the deck where I can see it all the time. I put a pretty pink Cyclamen in it this year. I can't grow them in the house but it has done well outdoors in the shade.

All flowers were created to be enjoyed, if only for a season. So have fun when planting your very own containers. If your flowers bring you joy, they will have served you well. And remember -- "springtime always follows winter, just as darkness slinks away when the morning sun breaks through." quote: Naomi Mathews from "Audubon Workshop"

Hosta: "Summer Fragrance" (A gift from my friend Connie)
Large / Fragrant / vigorous plant

Japanese Painted Fern
New Guinea Impatiens
Hosta: "Neat Splash"

Baby Coleus Cutting in its very own little pot

My potty chair with its Cyclamen (persicum primulanceae)
Also known as Florist's Cyclamen Primrose

Caladium: Brandy Wine

I kept this over in the house last winter. It was looking pretty shabby by spring. But look at it now. It's been a favorite thing in the garden.

You can take cuttings of coleus & have as many as you like. I just stick 'em in a pot of good potting soil. And away they go!

This was a fun container with tropical hibiscus, pink petunia, & blue sedum. You gotta love tropical hibiscus. It's one tropical that's well worth the effort. Usually if it isn't Iowa winter hardy; it isn't in my gardens.

I've grown this fun bronze grass in large pots the past couple years. I really love it! The finely textured coppery blonde blades create an 1-2' arching mound that dances in sunlight & waltzes in a breeze. It has become a "must have" plant for me. I just wish it was hardy in my zone. It grows well in partial shade & likes to be well watered.

Last spring I had thought I was up to the challenge of attempting to grow a Gunnera manicata as a bog plant . But in the end I couldn't find an appropriate planting spot anywhere in our yard for such a large monster-plant. So I went to visit neighbor, Trudy to see if she would give the big bulb a try. She had a perfect spot by her little pond and was agreeable to planting the bulb there even tho I told her it gets spikes. We thought maybe, the deer would leave it alone then. You have to plant defensively near-deer!

The next thing I know, here's Trudy with a potted plant in her hand to repay me (or pay me back) for the Gunnera. Like a good neighbor, Trudy is there! She brought me a plant I had always admired by her pond. I had nowhere appropriate to grow it either. Trudy suggested I stick it in a big pot as it gets to be a big plant. So I did.

I didn't know the name but the large leaves are variegated - soft green / lots of yellow (white) streaked-splotches and it requires constant moisture. It wilted in the late afternoon heat much like the famous 'fainting plant" ligularia. They must be cousins. It's fun! I had to email Trudy (yes, she's only across the street) to find the name, then research the internet to learn about, what Japanese children call the Umbrella Plant.

"Gunnera is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants, some of them gigantic. The genus is the only member of the family Gunneraceae.

The 40-50 species vary enormously in leaf size. Gunnera manicata, native to the Serra do Mar mountains of southeastern Brazil, is perhaps the largest species, with leaves typically 5-6 ft wide, but exceptionally (as at Narrow-water Park, County Cork, Republic of Ireland in 1903) up to 11 ft in width, borne on thick, succulent (edible) leaf stalks (petioles) up to 8 ft long. It germinates best in very moist, but not wet, conditions and temperatures of 22 to 29 °C.

This genus was named after the Norwegian botanist Johann Ernst Gunnerus."

For ages, Connie & I had been searching for old clay tiles to use as planters in our gardens. A couple years ago while out on one of our now-famous, spring 'Hosta Hunting' adventures we noticed a really lovely garden pond in a farmhouse yard as we were flying down the highway. We pulled a U-turn & drove back to talk with the folks sitting out on their back porch. After introductions; they showed off the garden pond. Then the old farmer guy asks if we would like to see his personally owned campgrounds. He proudly told us stories of how it came to be & how weddings had even been held there. Of course, we had to be polite & we were curious. So he directed us to drive down the dirt lane to see what we could see.

It was a bumpy, slow drive along the corn field's edge to the green grass spaces for campers, complete with a small farm pond for fishing, along with an old sandpit type water hole. Indeed, there was a shelter house of sorts, and a swing-set for kids. It would be a peaceful place to camp away from crowds.

As we were journeying back up the lane we approached, what every farm has to have, the junk pile! And lo & behold, there lay several old clay tiles, right in plain site. We were so excited but didn't dare to show it as about that time the old boy jumped off his tractor & came over to ask what we thought of his camp grounds.

Finally, we nonchalantly asked if he had any use for the old tiles. In the end we gave him 5 bucks & loaded 8 or 9 tiles in the back of my Escape. We were giggling like excited school girls as we drove away. It was just so funny and so "us"! We still laugh about that adventure. However, it may be one of those, you had to be there, things.

I know the rule for containers is 3 things; one for height, one for fullness, one for trailing over the side of the container BUT I like this old galvanized tub (drainage holes drilled in the bottom) stuffed full with these five plants that I didn't have space for in the garden.

I often combine perennials with annuals in containers. Sometimes I find a winter home for the perennials in the ground, sometimes I leave them in the container (protected from too much wet & cold). Sometimes they live, sometimes they don't. I do try to go by the rule of potting plants together that have the same needs for light and moisture. It definitely works better that way.