How To Choose The Best Perennials For Your Garden Planters

Have the best looking planters in your neighborhood! By knowing your climate zone and choosing the right planters, you can have beautiful flowers most of the year round.

Perennials plus planters equals beautiful flowers for all four seasons. Perennials are great for planters as they come back every year which reduces thecost of having to replant annuals every year. Perennials also multiply, so you don't need to continually add plants to your planters. In fact, you may have to thin out your plants rather than having to add to them.

Choosing the right perennials is important, particularly if you are short on space, money or time-this is because the plants will multiply and you may need larger pots at some point.

There are different perennials for shade and sun, and plenty that grow throughout the summer, spring, and fall-some examples include:

• Summer (shade): hostas, bellflower, astilbe
• Spring (shade): astilbe, lady's mantle, bergenia, bellflower
• Summer (sun) shasta daisy, phlox, spike speedwell, orange coneflower, liatris
• Spring (sun): delphinium
• All season (sun): marguerite
• Irises, tulips are great perennials, which the bulbs should be planted in the late summer/early fall for spring/summer blooms.

The best bet to figure out what will work in your area is to take a trip to your local nursery or gardening center. They will stock different types of perennials that are geared for the climatic zone you live in and can offer advice about when to plant and what grows best where.

If you like to order your perennials, make sure you do your research and ensure that you know the climatic zone you live in and the types of perennials that work best in your area. A little online research can often result in a wealth of information.

Of course you can always experiment with flowers that aren't native to your climatic zone and this can work especially in planters. Cactus is a great example-they're great in plastic planters and are not suitable for all zones/climates.

One of the keys to growing healthy beautiful perennials is to have quality soil for them to grow in. A great way to control the soil environment for your flowers is to grow them in a wooden planter with enriched soil. Make sure you buy potting soil and that you include some peat moss and potentially even some steer manure or other composting material.

It is best to have your soil in the container 2-6 weeks prior to planting to allow the soil to settle together. This is particularly true if you mix in composting material or steer manure as you want to make sure the mixture isn't too "hot" for the plants where it will over energize them or potentially burn them upon planting.

Garden urns are great for perennials plants and create focal points wherever you place them. You can decorate the front yard or back yard with garden urns, decorative plastic planters, or other types of containers that are very decorative and enhance the look of the perennials. You can even color coordinate your plants and pots for the ultimate outdoor dŽcor!

When planting perennials in planters make sure to plant the bigger plants behind the smaller plants-so you can see them. You also want to make sure to plant the perennials closer than you would when planting in the ground so cut the spacing requirements on the label of your plants in half.

Like any of your other plants, perennials will need regular water so ensure you have a regular source of water through your sprinkler system, or through daily or every other day hand watering. If you want large perennials you can fertilize monthly or even on an every other month schedule. Remember although water and fertilizer are important, you don't want to over water or over fertilize so heed the labels and watch for any signs of rotting or molding. A great way to tell is the speed at which the water runs through the container. Regardless of the type of container that you have, whether it is a plastic planter, ceramic, or wood, ensure that there is a way for the water to drain out as well. If the soil soaks up the water you are just right, if it runs straight through the chances are your soil is water logged.

Although perennials will live year round, some varieties may need to be housed in the wintertime, or at least covered and protected from the elements with some bark or other mulch product so be sure to study the care instructions of the varieties you choose to plant.

Perennials are great flowers that are especially successful in planters. You can raise them year round and they are fairly low maintenance even multiplying year after year. Remember to study the different varieties of perennials that grow best in your climatic zone, prepare the soil in your container, and plant away!

About the Author:
Scott Gray is a garden enthusiast who loves to relax taking care of his garden. For more information about garden planters and terra cotta planters be sure to visit his site allgardenplanters.com.