Ideas for LARGE planter

[Chrysanthamamma]

Hi, I was given a lovely big planter for my birthday recently. However it's bigger than I was expecting at 70cm high and 45cm diameter. Any suggestions of what to plant in it? Anything small will look ridiculous but I don't have much of a budget for anything big.

How much are you looking to spend? I'd be tempted to get something like a shrub or perennials + decent compost (slightly more expensive in the short term but good value long term) rather than short lived annuals.

What sort of look do you prefer (e.g. cottagey, modern, etc.)?

You could try a hydrangea or grass(es), plus trailing ivy or similar.

Thanks Poppins. Generally prefer cottagey to modern. Probably shouldn't spend more than around £30 at the mo.

Where will it be placed? Full sun, shade?
I would go for a shrub as well. What shrub would depend on where it was to be placed.

I have even thought that through dontsweat so I guess I could be flexible. Do shrubs tend to like sun?

Salvias. Loads of different varieties and colours. They grow very quickly so even if you buy quite a small plant it will fill outwards and upwards in no time. Very attractive to butterflies and fairly easy to take care of, you just prune them back in the winter.

Maybe I could combine trailing ivy with a shrub? A bit like this (re the ivy not the shrub)

Depends on the shrub. A hydrangea will want a semi shady spot but a patio rose would want full sun.

In a pot that large and to reduce the cost of compost (and if you are putting it in the front garden) I would file the lower third of the pot with pebbles and stones to act as drainage( all the extra weight means it is less likely for someone to walk off with it if it is a front garden)and either plant a patio or standard rose but I am on a serious rose addiction at the moment.

Hydrangea in a tall thin pot

Clematis and a bit of trellis

Patio rose and something that has self seeded in another large pot

Thanks for all the ideas! And especially dontsweat for the suggestion to partially fill with pebbles etc! I do love hydrangeas! What other shrubs might work?

www.rhs.org.uk/plants/articles/graham-rice/shrubs-and-climbers/10-agm-shrubs-for-containers

Will give you a few ideas

I have a cordyline surrounding by trailing bedding plants. I swap them over to pansies/viola/cyclamen/gaultheria/jerusalem cherry for the winter.

I've given up using ivy in my planters as it takes over.

I've heard of people using broken up polystyrene chunks and plastic containers as drainage/lightweight filling for large planters. A bit of garden soil added to the compost is great for introducing micro-organisms. I tend to apply a decorative mulch to keep moisture in.

I've got one with sweetpeas training up an obelisk.

I got this palm from amazon, Twenty pounds, nearly four feet tall and in rude health it will fill it nicely. They need very little care.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CPPT09A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

Then pop to your garden centre and buy some potting compost and soil, and you're within your budget and have a palm tree in your garden to boot.

Thr other one you could buy is a David Austin repeat flowering rose, they grow really quickly from the second year on. But that would also be within budget and would fill iT.

www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/popular-searches/repeat-flowering

You could get something like a bay tree for £20 and it’s evergreen so will look good all year round. Or a miniature Fuji cherry tree?

Thanks for all the suggestions! Will have a think!

Ooh yes, Bluntness is onto something with the rose... that would look lovely.

I favour a cottage garden look and have rosemary, a cherry tree (Stella) and an olive tree in containers. I've tried lavender but it never works out for me (the only knack I have with lavender is killing it... ).

Have been looking at that link bluntness, the idea is really growing on me! The site doesn't say when they flower though, or do they vary?

My David Austin is blooming now, and will repeat bloom, Ie through the summer, you can search repeat bloomers on the site,,,

I've just got a fuschia pink one, and I filled it 1/3 with pebbles (after drilling a hole in the bottom), and I've got a cordyline which has got pink edges on the leaves.

I have stag horn sumac trees in pots. they look stunning.
ALso roses, I plant cottage garden plants around them.

Different option would be alpine plants, garden centres often have 5 tiny plants for £12 or 3 slightly larger ones for £10 near me - would take a couple of years to establish but would look nice all year round

Could also do something similar with herbs, creeping thyme, creeping rosemary, chives and add in the supermarket parsley /basil for the summer (coffee grinds over the top to stop the slugs)

I love roses so would go for a repeat flowering rose but probably a standard rose (with a stake for support) if you can stretch to one. Then in summer shove in a Geranium rozanne under it plus some Mexican fleabane, then put in a couple of cyclamen in autumn winter plus some iris reticulata and narcissus bulbs at the same time for spring.