Tell me, a useless gardener paralysed by choice, what to put in my summer pots

[Itsalloutofwhack]

I have some nice pots for planting but whenever I think I might plant some bulbs, or bedding plants or whatever, I find myself so utterly confounded by the choice available that I end up doing nothing. For years now. I don’t know what combinations work well, how many plants to put in each pot, how to look after the plants over the months. The only thing I can be trusted to do is water them, and admire them!

Could you wise gardeners tell me what I should buy this weekend so that I will have something pretty to look at at some point in the future?! Or some principles that I should apply?

I have six round pots, each about 40 cm in diameter.

I’m very boring and tend to put a red geranium in the middle surrounded by trailing lobelia.

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/low-maintenance-summer-containers/

I always go to Gardeners world for the best ideas , have a look

I'm assuming you're talking about bedding plants? For a 40cm pot the absolute minimum is one centre feature surrounded by six 'thrillers' and three 'fillers' (ie. six things round the edge, to trail down or go up, and three things that fill the middle space between them and the centre plant). This will look bare, though it will grow into itself. The maximum, I think, would be one centre with 5-6 'fillers' and 8-10 'thrillers'. This will look good more quickly.

You want to plant with a good handful of slow-release fertiliser (eg. osmocote) and a good handful of water-retention granules. Feed with a liquid feed (not too strong - little and often is best) once they're starting to flower well. If the plants start getting leggy/mostly over, cut back. I find the best way to do this is to do it on rotation - choose one sacrificial lamb, cut it hard back, then two weeks later, choose another. That way you should have a nice staggered display.

Two nice (or I think nice) combinations:

Pale, airy, blue-lilac-white:

An upright fuschia (say white king) or a scented geranium such as Attar of Roses, surrounded by trailing geraniums such as Viletta white, surfinias (white, or blue vein or the pale lime green), bit of bacopa snowflake or variegated ivy. A couple of nemesia and maybe white and blue/violet violas (I know violas aren't summer bedding but they'd work). Maybe a trailing begonia such as Santa Barbara (though begonias won't thrive until it's definitely warm).

Bold, complementary colours (colours nicked off Sarah Raven circa 2018, but nice):

Burgundy surfinias, lime surfinias, oreganum vulgare 'aureum' (golden oregano), bidens bee dance, nemesia lyric orange, fuchsia millennium. I wouldn't use classic 'fillers' here; I'd use the bidens and nemesia.

Not sure if that's what you meant?!

You could make this super easy for yourself and go to the crocus website and search for easyplanters

In fact I’ve done it for you!
https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/bedding-plants/easyplanters/plcid.431/plcid.1524/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfbDtctsd1cyc3vvzkbuVBAwiUGUeI9UrduRKgDUYK92ye9kpz-g2PIaAkXzEALw_wcB

Or just go to the garden centre in about two weeks and just pick up what you like and stick it in. You’ll learn by doing and next year you might pick the samr
or something else…. Feed, water and deadhead and whatever it is will look fine.

Thank you @SarahAndQuack that’s exactly what I was after. And thanks for the link @Mangoflimtastic - ready made is probably a bit expensive for me but there are some good ideas there. Also, thanks for the tip about going in 2 weeks. Can I ask why? There are loads of bedding plants at our local shops already - I’m in the SW if that makes a difference?

The cynic in me says the shops have loads of bedding plants in already so that when they die people will buy more…!

I always put my bedding plants in at may half term. That’s what my mum told me to do and it works. Any earlier and it’s too cold at night.

I have put mine out this early before now, but you have to keep your eye on the overnight temperature and bring them in if it’s getting anywhere near freezing.

Trailing geraniums. Second the slow release fertiliser and the water retaining granules. Much more resilient to lack of water and won’t be eaten by slugs/snails. Think of those wonderful balconies in Europe.

I've heard of "thrillers, fillers and spillers" before but would describe them differently from S&Q.
The point of the 'thriller' is that it is a wow! plant. A single, central, statement; an upright; a firework of excitement.
Then you infill with - unsurprisingly - 'fillers'. Choose plants with long flowering periods.
Then have 'spillers' cascading over the sides. This doesn't have to be a flower, it could be an interesting leaf. It should be a smaller and dainty; more delicate.

You want the ratio of plant to pot to be 2 to 1. It doesn't matter which way round: either the pot is 2/3 of the total height or the planting is.

I have six round pots, each about 40 cm in diameter.
Are you planting them all the same? In which case, I would go for something quite formal. You will need a lot of plants to fill all that. It might be an idea to buy lots of small (cheap!) plants now on the proviso that you put the pots somewhere sheltered. By the time it is safe to put the pots out the little plants will have grown to fill the pot.

I put Gaura in everything. Beds and pots.

I love it. I'd be happy with a summer garden full of Gaura and poppies.

I think that pick a colour theme and buy plants in that - I love trailing lobelia myself and it lasts really well. The deep blue is my favourite, but it also comes in pretty pastel shades.
Some shops will sell a pre selected mix of plants that go well together.
I generally go for a few taller or upright varieties and then plant trailers around the edge.
If you don't have slugs - nemisia and petunias are a riot of summer colours. Petunias also in trailing varieties. Geraniums and pelargoniums are pretty slug resistant. Ditto verbena.
Personally not a fan of marigolds or pansies but violas are lovely.
Bellis daisy's look great in pots, either just by themselves or with trailing plants. I sometimes use ivy as the trailing element if you want more green.
I think adding slightly more plants than you think the pot needs usually works - leave a bit of growing room but not too much. The more plants though, the more they will need watering. So to not use too much water over the summer I also have pots with lavender and rosemary in and some with tough little plants like alpines and houseleeks.

I've tried dozens of different bedding plants and many sadly don't flourish or are demolished by slugs! The ones that seem immune to slugs and flower well in to autumn (often until November) are geraniums, begonias, snap dragons, lobelia. The double begonias have lovely big flowers that just keep on coming, I much prefer these to the standard, rather puny begonias. Also some of the daisy looking flowers usually do well. I think they're called osteospermums. Occasionally they have died but often they have an abundance of flowers throughout summer and autumn. Happy planting!

@Moredarkchocolateplease does your Gaura in pots come back each year or do you treat it as ana annual?

Cosmos also very easy in pots, just check every few days for aphids and snip off any aphid stems. Nicotiana we had really good results last year too, easy to grow.
Don’t be afraid to just grow one thing per pot, that can often have more of an impact.

Added to what’s already been said , a cheap “filler” is buy a pack of nasturtium seeds and pop a few in each pot ( they self seed , so keep going year after year )

This time of year Aldi have mixed packs of around six bedding plants that go well together, usually a nice mix of flowers like fuschia or geraniums, greenery and some lobelia. Use one pack per pot and add some feed to the compost like miracle grow granules and they'll soon fill out.

The nasturtiums tip above is a good one too, I've done this this year. I've also planted some mixed seeds labelled as bee/butterfly/moth friendly that I bought from Amazon. This is a perfect time to sow them.

@Mangoflimtastic i leave them till the bitter end in November/December and then trim them right down and about 70% of the time I get regrowth the following year. Same for those I plant in the ground.

They are so pretty! Just added to my ever expanding garden folder😬

Also very easy to grow from seed.

A gardener at my local nursery suggested planting the seeds in groups of 5 and then once a crown is established planting 5 crowns together in a border.

They really do flower for months and months.

I love trailing Lobelias, and sweet peas.

Very excited this year as we've moved recently and I've now got a beautiful garden with beds, raised areas. The previous owners obviously loved their gardening, so I'm haunting this gardening section daily for new tips..

If it was me I’d go for a salvia caradonna with a white geranium, blue bacopa and white verbena. That would see you through from last frost to September.

It is definitely too cold for things to be happy outside yet. I think garden centres have bedding in at this time for the real keen people who like to make theirs, keep it in the greenhouse, and whip it out when it's properly grown into itself and looks lovely. And for trade who sell hanging baskets. If a garden centre sells their own hanging baskets they may as well have bedding available now, as they'll have someone in the back making them up and keeping them in a polytunnel at the moment.

@senua - your description is probably more conventionally accepted than mine! I just love seeing the top of a basket looking really lovely. I tend to keep my interesting leaf type plants for the bottom bit. But I've seen people make lovely things your way, for sure.

Pelargoniums (summer bedding geraniums) and cram them in.

They are easy to look after, flower all summer long if you keep cutting the dead flowers off, and can cope if you forget to water them. Some of them have lovely brightly-coloured horseshoe patterns on the leaves too.

Get some garden ready begonia. They are beautiful ad come up flowering lovely

This year I am having nesturgeons that's not how you spell them i don't know how in baskets. They grow very long in baskets and are easy to maintain.

Other baskets / planters with begonias and trailing lobelia