Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Show me your containers, 1 by HollyAnnS

HollyAnnS wrote:
Not sure if you are early or I am late. Well I know I'm running late, I usually have my boxes and pots planted by Mothers Day and some things like the Caladiums are usually started much earlier than that. This year I just didn't have house space for all the plants I like to start earl and with the strange weather we had this spring I couldn't put them outside when I usually do.
This is how I did my wreaths.
You buy a special wire or plastic frame that comes with a liner. Some have a fabric liner and some have a sphagnum moss liner. You sit it upside down and put in your liner I like the moss liner best. If you have a moss liner soak it till it is soft enough to bend into the frame then soak it for a bit longer in the fame molding it to the shape but not too long that it will fall apart. Then fill it with potting soil use damp soil and pack it in really tight. You want it very full. Then hook the back of the frame in place, flip it over and then cut through the liner,if your liner is sphagnum moss you can just stick a finger or a thick screwdriver to make a nice hole. Then push small plants in the holes. Keep the wreath laying flat for a week or two so the plants get well rooted and then you can hang it or use it lying flat like a center piece. The special wreath frames are a bit pricey and hard to find. You can make your own using chicken wire but I have been told it's a bit of an effort. You can use all kinds of different plants to make them. Ivy's work well as do the sedums but don't limit yourself. I have seen some very nice ones done with herbs and hanging near a back kitchen door. I am hoping that one day when the GH is up and working that I could try one using orchids and bromilads.
This is one of the few pots that are coming along, I have two of these one on each side of my front entrance. They have impatiens, vinca major, blue lobelia and maybe some bacopa.