bulk colour needed to last spring and summer in pots

[thislittlesisterlola]

I have a pot garden as it were. Am pregnant and would like some easy bulk of interesting colour to brighten up the patio. I have some deep pots and two planters with fixed trelis.
Any ideas?

I was thinking some b&q bulk mixed trays.

Something lovely to grow up the trelis. I'd love jasmine or honeysuckle- something that trails and smells nice but doesnt go take over. I suspect both jasmine and honeysuckle would do this

I just want a pretty garden to sit in while I either am a beached whale or have a wee babby.

Many Thanks in Advance

Lola

Resist the temptation to plant Japanese Knotweed

:D

Summer bulbs are good, dependent on what flowers you like - tulips, gladioli, nerine ( autumn ) etc. They are also good value as will last you many years.

Or you could just go normal bedding. I've just bought 84 plug plants of Laurentia Blue Star because I love it for £13.99 from Thompson and Morgan. This is a very cheap way to buy plants in bulk, as long as you have somewhere frost free to keep them for 8 to 10 weeks til the frosts are over.

How about Dahlias? You can get the cheap enough from garden centres / Home Bargains / Asda / The Range etc (can get them for about £1 each).

They grow well in pots, go quite high (about 70cm - 1.2m) and have beautiful flowers. If you want to save them for next year, then before the first frosts, empty the tubers out of the pots and keep them somewhere cool (but not freezing) and dark over winter, then plant them out again next year.

If you want fragrance, how about sweet peas? Dead easy to grow.

Clematises are great for growing up trellises - they're generally a bit more robust than jasmine or honeysuckle, and have so many different varieties that you can really pick and choose your colours. J Parkers have a good range. Clematis montana grows very fast and produces MASSES of flowers, but it can take over a little if not regularly (i.e. every year) cut back.

Have you thought about wandering over to a garden centre to have a look at what they've got?

summer bulbs sound a good option. Excuse my naivity- when do i need to plant them and when will they flower? Also liking the clematis- do some have a fragrance? I like the idea of scent and trailing and lots of colour in the pots. Am off to a couple of garden centres in the next month or so to have a look but im never sure what goes together or whether it can be potted. Sorry im a bit new at this. Thank you all. the knotweed made me chuckle

Personally I'm not keen on bulbs in pots as they don't last that long - each kind typically only lasts 3 weeks or so.

Spring into summer is tricky. If you can wait till mid-May you can go for summer bedding which will flower all the way through till autumn (loads of choice - marigolds, geraniums, petunias, ageratum, busy lizzies, etc. etc, just see what's available in your local suppliers).

True enough that bulbs don't last as long as bedding - but they do add something a bit spectacular, so maybe a few pots of bulbs amongst some bedding type?

Most summer bulbs and tubers, incl Dahlias you can pot up now. Read the instruction for how deep in the pot they need to go. Again the packet will tell you when they flower, but Dahlias and Lilies typically July/August. Nerines are much later, Oct/Nov.

Spring into Summer you need biennials, which are my absolute favourites. Look out at the garden centre in the next few months for plants of:

Sweet William
Sweet Rocket
Anchusa azurea

Sweet Williams grow well in pots and there are a big variety of pinks and whites as well as mixed ones. They last a long time - appearing sometimes as early as end May and lasting well into July.

In terms of what goes with what, thats so personal, I would just say try to get a mix of stuff that will last you through, so a mix of biennials ( from end May ) , bedding ( eg Laurentia, Verbena, Lobelia etc ) - flowers from end June normally, and summer bulbs and tubers - from July.

If you have some soil to plant in by your trellis, as opposed to a pot, for a scented climber its very hard to beat a rose. The David Austin website has roses to die for. You can plant them up until the end of this month.

If you look for ones that repeat flower.

sorry to jump in... I want to ask more information about jasmine / clematis that have been mentioned. I have been thinking about putting a jasmine in a corner of my garden and trailing it up a trellis. However, we are in a new-build property and the garden is basically covered over clay. I'm going to dig over a space first and try to mix in some compost from hubs' vege patch but wondering whether I should try a clematis instead since Naetha said they are more robust?

I've never tried clematis or jasmine in pots - my gut feeling is that (1) you tend not to get much in way of growth and flower in first year anyway and (2) some could be fine in pots for 2-3 years but then outgrow the pot. Same with roses I think

There are some climbing annuals - you could plant sweet pea seeds (then you'll have a very scented summer)?

grunge - the op does want to plant in pots. My question is about planting in soil... albeit clay soil below the turf. Just how robust is clematis? Could I plant jasmine which I had in mind for its scent?

Kiwi - I have got heavy clay, and have got clematis and the 'evergreen' jasmine - both doing very well (mixed lots of compost in when planting). Main problem for us is shade and being norht -facing - took a couple of years to get established but v good now

Clematis likes roots in shade but head in sun,if that makes sense!

thanks Grunge... I might give the jasmine a go then? We are also north facing but seem to get a lot of sun in the garden. Have you had to protect your plants in the winter?

Hello Kiwi - nope, no protection needed. Forgot to say a couple of my neighbours have the 'ordinary' jasmine and it gets really rampant in summer but very easy to hack back.

If you go for the 'evergreen' broad-leaf jasmine, a good tip is to water it with Iron Sulphate solution during the summer season as that stimulates growth (we've got very poor soil of clay on top of chalk, mixed with a fair amount of building rubble!)