I was looking at Fine Gardening's latest Containers magazine last night and just sighed over the lovely ideas that they had. But I can never get the spillers in my containers to do what I see in the magazine pictures. What are your favorites for a lush covering of the containers' sides? And are there secrets to getting that lushness that might help? Mine never grow fast enough.
Favorite "spillers"?
Gotta say, I agree! Mine never look picture perfect. The only one that has ever been to spilling school is the chartreuse potato vine... and a little of that goes a long way. pod
I just put up a thread full of containers that I just planted, and I used a lot of what I call "danglies" but spillers is a much more dignified word lol. There are tons of plants you can use for that function:
creeping jenny, trailing lavendar or white lantana, trailing coleus such as rose trailing, I really love the purslanes-they look great trailing over the container, all the wave petunias, scaevola ( its in the big pot with the alocasia)
I used silver falls in a few spots on 2 of my containers last Summer...I wasnt trying to cover the entire pot but it gave a nice look to break up everything going on in the pot.
podster, I agree with you on the sweet potato vine. It started to take over a stair railing it was planted next to last year. The shades I've seen for sale aren't geared toward the more subtle colors I'm leaning toward this year. Maybe next year, I'll have to start with choosing the spiller first. :)
tigerlily, I'll have to look up some of your suggestions as I've not heard of them. I got a 6-pack of wave petunias last year and they were spectacular. The color was almost fluorescent, but I haven't been able to find them again this year. I starterd some from seed and still have great hopes for them; but they are waaaaay smaller now than what I would have been able to buy from someone with a greenhouse at this time of year.
Gardening, do you know the Latin name for silver falls? I think that may be the thing in Fine Gardening that I was most drawn to. It had very small leaves and grew almost like a veil of leaf cover coming over the side of the pot.
I can answer this one..if I'm not stepping on any toes..
Dichondra argentea Silver Falls
and there is also Emeral Falls..
Mom planted both last year and has the silver falls cascading from a window box this year
crazy4vines, that's it! I thought it started with a "D". I'm going to search for it. Is it perennial for your mom? That would be an added bonus since I have mostly perennials potted up.
I have not heard of Silver Falls and will look forward to shopping for it. The search for the unusual is a big part of my fun. I love the looks of licorice vine (helichrysum petiolare). Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to like me... or maybe it is our heat/humidity. I have tried it unsucessfully for two years and we haven't seen our first 100 degree day yet. It looks anquished already. Wonder why they sell it here?
How about wire vine. Keeps growing and roots pretty easily.
BEAUTIFUL POT Aguane! I have not heard of wire vine. It looks like a miniature vinca? Do you know the proper name? This is like throwing down the gauntlet for me. I love searching for the unusual. pod
I have a lemon thyme and a silver thyme spilling from two large planters. They are a bit bushy, but they have such dainty little leaves and smell so nice when I "groom" them. Also, they seem to be hardy little perennials.
pod
Try this site at Dave's
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58078/index.html
The emerald green leaves are no more than 1/2 inch on a blackish stiff stem. Creeps and crawls wide and travels through a planter/pot showing up on all sides of the pot then while spilling. I LOVE IT.
Thanks for the compliment on the pot....all sizes at my nursery - not sure I can say it but its a Monrovia Nursery here in Phoenix.
Hi All
I like the silver falls too and the super" tunias" when well fed go nuts.I've done the lamium for pots and overwintered it in the ground then just put it back in the pot.
I like lobeilia"regatta" and it comes in a few colors it seems to trail the best of all of them.
Also bacopa can look great but these things that work well for me in zone 3 may not take the heat for you in the warmer zones.
Ann
mickgene - The window box is hanging outside my bedroom window. I asked her if it is the same from last year and she said that she didn't over winter it and treated it as an annual. BUT, she's going to try and over winter it this year because it grew from 4 inches to about 4 feet last season
Here's this year's picture..she just put it out ..
crazy4vines, that window box should be a beaut in a few weeks. 3 different spillers! Nice! Looking at the 'Silver Falls' in the PF, it gets greatc omments, so I definitely want some.
Aguane, the creeping wire vine leaves are some of the shiniest I've ever seen. And it's really hardy, another plus. I hope I can find some at the nursery this morning.
artemiss, I had thought of the thymes, bu they grow so slowly here. However, now that I see these many annuals, too, I may go ahead and use the thyme with one for a year or two until it gets some length. I just got 6 different creeping thymes last week and haven't planted them anywhere yet...
annabell2, thank you for those ideas. I see other people using Bacopa around here, but it never does much for me. How much and what do you feed it?
I actually just started some 'Silver Falls' in peat pots. I sure hope they germinate (bought them here: ! Also, tried a new combo this year...it's a hanging basket with 3 ornamental oregano 'Kent Beauty' and 3 licorice plant 'Limelight'. I'll post a pic if it looks good when it fills out. Tamara
Sounds like a nice grouping of colors, zone5girl. Look forward to seeing it.
I havent checked back on here so thanks for answering the question that was directed to me SORRY~~
I was very pleased with the silver falls when I had it in my container.....it has such a nice color to it (which actually rubs off if you touch it!!!) I had moved my pots around a few times last year and I just noticed a little piece of silver falls growing on the ground under my big oak tree!!!
I have no idea how....I ripped everything out of the pots thinking they were all dead and not something to come back...must of been wrong and I could of kept that silver falls for this year UGH!
I like to use million bells, sweet allyssum, lobelia is a little bit "spilly". I use sedum sarmentosum, blue spruce sedum and the obvious sweet potato vine. I am moving away from petunias for the spill effect and over to the million bells. I don't like the sticky leaves of petunias anymore.
A photo of ornamental oregano ( dittany of Crete), spilling. This is my first year with this guy so I didn't combine it with anything else, just wanted to see if I could make it grow...It smells wonderful and I am anxiously awaiting its' purple blooms.
I like that very much Podster. Its new to me.
I originally found it in a book on herbs. Searched and bought my start on ebay. It is new to me too but I think I will like it. Thanks... Pod
Wow that looks so much like Kent Beauty Oregano I had to go look it up. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58220/index.html
I grow Kent every year - Thanks for a new idea!
-Kim
My favorites are the bronze and gold oxallis, the various bacopas, the silver dichondra, and the gold and black sweet potoato vines. . I was at a nursery yesterday, getting some inspirations from their pot combo displays.
Someone help me out here with the gold trailer, can't remember the name.
**
the golden trailer in your first picture is creeping jenny-Lysimachia nummularia
In the second picture, I think its a type of oxalis
Wow! What a lovely basket. I hate to say the first thing that crossed my mind is how much water that would take in this climate. What is the blue bloom?
Bluecat76 ~ I believe the dittany of Crete is Kents Beauty ~ wouldn't you like something that pretty named after you... It is nice. pod
The blueish lavender is a bacopa.
Here was a stunning combo they had last year, only three plants yet each distinct on their own.
This message was edited Jun 4, 2006 1:26 PM
Everyone's pots are so terrific - applause all around. My favorite annual spillers are bacopa (I never have any trouble, and I NEVER fertilized mine, lobelia (which has an upright form and a trailing form now), oh I could go on and on. Perennial spiillers for you, Michelle, might include creeping phlox, alyssum saxatile, thymes and maybe even the low-growing ground covers like sedum and of course vinca.
I might supplement my perennial container with a few annuals the first year, assuming what comes back next year will come back in force!
xxxxx,
Carrie
Calif_Sue, your nursery must be better than mine at selling the components of their gorgeous containers. I have continually seen things there I wanted, only to be told they have no more. I can understand that they'd rather sell the $75 container already planted up; but it's maddening. that 3 plant container is a stunner. I'm happy to see that blue bacopa, too. I've never seen a blue one around here.
carrie, thanks for those ideas. I hadn't thought of creeping phlox. The size of the leaves would make it a nice "waterfall" type of plant, I think. And I didn't know there was a perennial alyssum. I'll have to look that one up.
mvespa, I did find a lovely dark pink million bells that's in my largest raised planted; but only one of them. So I hope it really thrives to give loads of that pink.
podster, is that oregano a non-bully that I can pot up with other plants? I've started putting all of my oregano in its own pot because it takes over so decidedly.
I've no experience with the ornamental oregano yet. Have been told in some climates, even in the ground it can be agressive. With my luck, I'll be the agressor and it won't make it... we'll see.
pod
Podster..............FYI.."Kent Beauty" ornamental Oregano is not invasive here in zone 5,
Wisconsin. I experimented with a few plants last year and they were just georgeous!
They have Semi-prostrate,trailing stems smothered with lavendar-pink, bract-like and blooms for a long time over summer.
The plant is no longer available in our area as the nursery we purchased them at last year
went out of the plant business and made landscaping their primary business.
We were able to buy them Online at Big Dipper Farm. The plants were a bit pricey
when you include the shipping but they were worth it! Big dipper Farm sends out
nice healthy Plants and their packing is superb. We ordered 10 plants and not one
had so much as a broken leaf.
I am on my first year with ornamental oregano. I love the fragrance and mine is just beginning to bloom. I really am impatient to see it in full bloom.
Why is it so many nurseries have closed recently? I will have to check out the Big Dipper Farm, I don't mind buying online and ordered my start of this plant off of ebay. Thanks pod
This one's a good one for the heat down here....the flowers resemble miniature orchids and are a beutiful purple/white combo. The leaves are alo an unusual dark purple;
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/57891/index.html
Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender'
Debbie
The Mona Lavender I have is more upright than willing to "spill". Are there other varieties?
mine spills--why the metal thing keeping it from spilling?
Actually, it is a pot holder thingy to hold the pot off the ground. Keeping pots off the ground at my house prevent the resident dog from assisting in the plant watering.... pod
lol...pets...gotta love 'em.