Advice re patio tubs for a novice?

[Eggsbutnobacon]

Disclaimer...I am not a gardener at all, although would love to be.

The recent lovely weather has spurred me on to have a patio laid which is being finished tomorrow.
With that in mind I have been to the garden centre and bought the following.. lupins ( which I love), fuschia, penstemon, geranium and a highly scented patio rose. ( reminds me of when I was young making rose petal "perfume").

My questions are

1. do I put each plant in a larger pot than I would think it needs?

2. none of the pots have holes in the bottom. The garden centre said I would need to drill holes in so am buying a drill later on.

3. have bought bags of John Innes no 3. Do I need to mix that with anything?

4. have bought separate rose and shrub compost for the rose.

Basically what I'm trying to say is please can someone talk me through each step. I really don't want to end up with dead and dying plants and completely wasting my money!

Hopeful bump?
Hoping I may get an answer while I have a friend visiting who can help me carry the bags of compost.

yes to getting the large containers.
I have roses and shrub hibiscus in containers and they do very well.

roses need at least a 20l container. preferably round.
yes to holes/drainage.
I use just ordinary multi purpose compost.

think about a watering system, pot plants need a lot of watering.

they also need feeding.

re-potting = changing the compost every 2-3 years (preferably in winter)

Yellow...thanks for that. Do I also have to put something in the bottom of the pots to help drain water away? The pots have 3 spiky sticky up points in the base. What are these for?

those sticky up bits are probably drains.

for plants that don't like 'wet feet' (pineapple, citrus for example) I would put a couple of incrs of shingles or pebbles at the bottom.

I would also put a layer of gravel etc at the bottom of each pot, otherwise the drain holes can get blocked if you just use soil or compost.
Don't know what the spikes are for - can you post a photo?

Good advice from pp, I put polystyrene from packaging in the bottom of my pots. It acts the same as gravel, but makes the pot much lighter to move. I also stand mine on bricks, old trivets or anything that lofts them from the ground. This avoids ants, woodlice and hopefully slugs making a home in the bottom of the planter.
The geranium and fuschia ( unless hardy) will need to overwinter somewhere light and frost free. The penstemon will die back in the winter and pop up again in the spring.
Another plant you might like to try is a Pink. They are beautifully scented and two or three varieties do well in a planter. In a sheltered spot, they are winter hardy.

Thanks all. Spurred on by your advice I went out and bought a hydrangea and a lavender. Seem to have a pink and purple theme going on.
Then realised I had nowhere enough john innes number 3 as the hydrangea had taken up a whole bag!
So back out tomorrow to replenish and also buy some pinks. Will post a photo when I've finished.

JT05 do you break the polystyrene up into little chunks? I have 3 new patio tubs and lots of polystyrene in the garage waiting to go to the dump, might as well make use of it!

Yes I break it up into fist size chunks, for large pots and egg size for smaller ones.

JT05 thanks! That's me sorted for what to do tomorrow!

From one beginner to another ... before you put your new plants into the containers, water them in their existing plastic pots, so that the plant is already well watered. And then water again straight after planting.

I got the gardening bug earlier on this year and I am loving it. I'd only ever done geraniums in pots, but I bought lots of things this year. I bought as long flowering plants as possible. And I've stuck to white, pink and purple. So I have one container of each of:

White geraniums with pink bacopa all around
Pink geraniums with white bacopa all around
White and pink veined geraniums with petunias
Mauve nemesia with white alyssum
Purple salvia with white alyssum
Hardy white fuschia
Pink kisses
White begonia
Purple and white osteospernum
The short type of campanula

Sweet peas in a wicker tripod
Garden peas in another wicker tripod
Strawberry plants in a massive terracotta pot
Mint
Rosemary
Thyme

Everything else I've bought has gone in the beds.

I had to buy all of the containers too, so I bought the same colour and finish container, but all in different shapes and heights and sizes. That has helped bring it all together, I think.

Another thing ... I feed (whenever I remember, but I should do it every couple of weeks I think) with tomato feed. Someone on here told me that the Wilkos tomato feed was basically the same as Tomorite, so I use that.

Well I've made a start and what a difference!
Definitely a pink and white theme going on. I bought more compost today plus a lovely pot of pinks and some livingstone daisies. These are the brightly coloured ones which open wide in the sun and the dc love them.
I know in the first photo the pots seem too rigid and regimented on top of the bark chipping, will try to rearrange them tomorrow although weather forecast says 99% chance of rain.
Towards the back of the second photo is a rhodendron which flowered beautifully a few weeks ago but has now died back. Also a lavender which I think has seen better days but I don't know what to do with it and a little piece of bamboo from when I dug up the monster which was taking over the garden!

Thank you so much everyone for your help.

Wel.. I had already planted before I read your advice on watering the plants before I repotted them, will remember next time. Off out tomorrow to get some more of your suggestions, thank you.

It looks lovely egg . They will all start putting on new growth soon and make a great display. I like the water feature in the corner. The pinks smell beautiful, don't they?
I'd leave the lavender for the moment and see if it picks up. A great start, keep going!

JT... I was looking forward to the sound of running water but when I switched it on ..nada.
It has been there a few years and was working last summer but when I investigated it would appear that where the cable runs through a tiny hole through the garage wall and into a socket it has worn away. Am not sure what to do. Assume I will need to get an electrician, will probably cost more than the water feature!

that looks very nice indeed!

egg we have a pond pump that runs off solar power, stored in a battery and a courtyard fountain that runs from a rechargeable lithium battery. These pumps are sold separately from the water feature, lots on the internet, it might be a solution.