What to grow outside house, south facing containers?

[Bryonyshcmyony]

Hi! I really want to grow something in a container outside my house. It's an old stone cottage with gravel outside so things would have to be in a pot. South facing. I also live in the world's most nosy village where everyone comments on my garden, so preferably something fool proof.

Lavender and rosemary

I've never had much luck with lavender but not tried it in that position thanks

How big is your container, and are you looking for just one thing (evergreen?) or a few things, and would you replace seasonally top are you looking for something for all year round?

I don't have the container uet
Probably 50 x 50? Two of them

Would ideally like something for all year round but don't mind planting a few bulbs

I'm a bit clueless

Well it’s not the most original but if you are south facing you could have a pair of small lollipop bay trees in pots. Underplant them with bulbs for spring and anything else you like for summer. That way the trees always look nice for the neighbours and you can experiment with different annuals for the underplanting until you find what you love .

I did think of that then thought I'd like something softer

I wouldn't mind white hydrangeas actually with lavender

White hydrangeas are lovely but they need shade and moisture to thrive. In a south facing pot I'm afraid they would just wilt and die.

Lavender would be perfect as it thrives in hot dry conditions. Also Agapanthus love the sun and look great in pots.

Hydrangeas won’t cope with the sun, Even if you really commit to watering them, it won’t be enough. I’ve learnt this the hard way.

The bigger the pot, the better, allowing for the space you have

Or an escallonia pink elle (flowering shrub) would work too

Or a small conifer (the lime ones are lovely) or a lollipop shape flowering shrub (ceanothus would work) and you could plant seasonally around that - snowdrops, daffodils, dwarf tulips, then you have the bedding plants for summer and then things like violas and cyclamen and winter pansies (violas are the longest flowering, I’ve found)?

Maybe a ceonaothus

Don't want anything too suburban looking as we are a cottage in the country

Point taken about hydrangeas! Thank you

I have a massive pot by my front door (south facing), and I’ve done lots of things in the past. But the prettiest I think has been a small lime conifer, and then (for summer) salvia caradonna, white geranium and blue bacopa. I replace the salvia (perennial, so it goes in the bed or another pot and I give it shelter by the shed) and Chuck the geranium and bacopa, and replace with violas in autumn. And at the same time I plant snowdrops, muscari and tete a tete daffodil bulbs for spring.

I currently have two pots of agapanthus in my south facing garden and they are thriving. You’ll need to rotate with something else for spring if you want year round coverage.

Cottage garden would suit a lovely rose, but you’d need a good size pot and also wouldn’t look good all year round, but would look lovely in flower

These sound beautiful
I wish I was a gardener

I'd love roses
Will it not be too hot for them

I think you need to decide whether you want something that looks good all year round, or something which would only look good for a short period.

You could absolutely have a rose in a south facing garden in a pot, if that’s what you like, as long as it is well watered and deadheaded/pruned.

How about an olive tree?

You could consider a rock rose or a convulvulus cneorum. Both are evergreen shrubs which flower all summer, they love sun and will tolerate drying out sometimes. Will work with a cottage garden look.

You could plant around the edges with Erigeron (mexican fleabane) or bulbs

I have two huge terracotta pots outside my cottage with a Holly topiary ball in each. In the winter I plant viola and primulas around the edge. In the summer a variety of plants that would usually go in a hanging basket, so they drape down over the pots.
The topiary is not too difficult to keep in shape.

We have something similar and have a combination of:

• a ton of spring tulips and daffodils for early year
• over planted with loads of lavendar (Hidcote), this tends to put on growth just when the bulbs are dying back and looking a bit messy; the lav then hides them nicely as they do so
• pots with agapanthus in them, these flower just as the lav flowers are done which is when we trim them back to look neater; the agap. then has interesting seed heads
• typically, after trimming the lavendar grow a bit more and put on a few more flowers though not as much as the first rush

It works really well. The lavendar is the star of the show. Hidcote is beautiful, flowers prolifically, attracts loads of pollinators and looks the part. Everyone who comes to the house during lavendar season comments on it.

But the bulbs kick start the season and the agap. give a final firework burst. The lav bushes then keep some green for over winter.

That sounds lovely @limberlostlark

What kind of pots do you have

We have 2 x square 50cm x 50cm planters.

Not these, but kinda similar and painted

www.wayfair.co.uk/Sol-72-Outdoor--Wooden-Planter-Box-EOPS8818-L349-K~DNOR7707.html?refid=GX433692087816-DNOR7707&device=c&ptid=901924036774&targetid=aud-388180976294:pla-901924036774&network=g&ireid=36382447&device=c&gclid=CjwKCAjwgviIBhBkEiwA10D2j9LIh4SB_dKIDN5NrNZtCu-G3HdjC09F3iYAYpk_Q5N0CasmUoOonBoCUD8QAvD_BwE

Exactly the size I was thinking of. I might copy yours exactly 😉

We kept to a loose colour palette for the bulbs so all our daffodils and tulips are somewhere from cream - yellow - lilac - dark purple.

However, I did also see Monty do a tulip bed of burnt oranges and purples and was rather jealous...