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Catherine Boeckmann
Choosing the Best Perennials and Annuals for Containers
Catherine Boeckmann
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Container gardening with flowers is a great way to instantly introduce color, fragrance, and beauty into our lives. It makes flowers part of any landscape—even on a deck, patio, porch, or balcony!See our tips for growing flowers incontainers.
The Best Flowers forContainers
Perennial Flowers
Perennials offer some of the most beautiful flowers out there—with the added bonus that they’ll come back every year! Here are some of our favorite perennials suitable for containers:
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- Astilbe
- Beebalm
- Bergenia
- Bleedingheart
- Coneflower
- Eveningprimrose
- Daylilyhybrids
- Hostas (dwarf or miniaturevarieties)
- Maltesecross
- Salvia
- Speedwell (Veronica)
AnnualFlowers
Annuals are stunning in their own right, and their benefit is that they are easy to mix and match. If you don’t like how they look one season, just try again with different annuals next year! Some of the best annuals for containersinclude:
- Begonia
- Browallia
- Coleus
- Coreopsis
- Dustymiller
- Fuchsia
- Lobelia
- Marigold
- Morningglory
- Nasturtiums
- Pansies
- Petunias
- Portulaca
- Snapdragon
- Statice
- Sweetalyssum
- Sweetpea
Photo: The flowers and plants in the flower container shown above!
Container GardeningTips
- Be sure that any container you use has drainageholes.
- Avoid small containers. They often can’t store enough water to get through hot days, so will need constant care. Large pots also insulate rootsbetter.
- Clay pots are usually more attractive than plastic ones, but plastic pots retain moisture better. Consider a plastic pot inside a larger clay pot to get the best of bothworlds!
- New, lightweight materials, such asfiberglass, plastic, or foam composites, makemoving potseasier.
- Use soil-free potting mix; not only is it light, but the fluffy blend provides roots with more oxygen andnutrients.
How to Plant inContainers
- To plant, place the container where you want your flower to grow. Be sure it receives enoughsun.
- Add a one-inch layer of fine gravel, horticultural charcoal, or clay pot shards to the bottom of the container so that water doesn’tcollect.
- Fill the container 2/3 full with soil-free pottingmix.
- With your hands, make a hole in the potting mix about the diameter of thepot.
- Knock the flower out of its pot, spread its roots slightly, and place it in thehole.
- Add more potting mix to bring the level up to 2 inches below the containertop.
- Water gently, press the mix to reduce air pockets, add more mix if necessary, than wateragain.
- Feed container plants at least twice a month with liquid fertilizer, following the instructions on thelabel.
- Keep the planting medium moist. The container plant is totally at your mercy forwater.
- As winter approaches in cold climates, you’ll need to store the container flowersinside.
See our library of Growing Guides for more information on growing and caring for the most common gardenflowers.
Container Gardening
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann
Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprise that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
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Perennial Flower Garden Design
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What is a Moon Garden? How to Design a Moon Garden of Your Own
Flower Gardening for Pollinators
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The Best Flowers for Bees
How to Make a Pollinator Garden
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Best Flower Bulbs to Plant in the Fall
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Protect Bulbs from Rodents and Fixes to Other Bulb Problems
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Caring for Perennial Flowers
How to Cut Back Perennials in Fall
How to Overwinter Plants: Geranium, Begonia, and More!
How and When to Divide Perennials
Harvesting Flowers
Making a Beautiful Bouquet of Flowers
How to Press Flowers and Leaves
The 30 Best Flowers for Drying and Preserving
How to Save Flower Seeds for Next Year
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Comments
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Have a potted rose plant in Southern California. It’s been pruned but now I’m not sure how to care for it during the winter months. Does it need to be watered regularly, etc.?
- Reply
Can you give tips for growing Dahlias in pots! mine is alive but barely...... thanks
- Reply
For pots, make sure dahlias are placed in a place that gets plenty of light. That is usually the reason for dahlias.Also, if you’re potting, make sure you’re not adding too much nitrogenousfertilizer.
- Reply
Respected sir
I am Biswanath, I’m living in mumbai, india. I have purchase sum “Calla Lily Seed”
But I do not success to germination it over one and half month.
Please give me some suggestion about calla lily seed germination.
- Reply
I Have 5 large clay pots and want to plant flowers on my patio which is shaded only get 2 hours of sun each days what would be the best flowers. I live in San Antonio Texas.
- Reply
Caladium, bee balm, lenten rose, and astillbe are good plants forshade.
- Reply
I have a beautiful flowering bush by my swimming pool. It is covered with orange "trumpets" all summer. I don't know the name of this plant, we just call it a trumpet vine. People ask me for something to grow this plant at their home. I collected some seed from the now dried pods and put them in small glasses with water. Now they have begun to sprout. My question is, now what? Do I transplant them in potting soil in plastic pots? Do I keep them indoors all winter? My wife says that since new ones have sprouted in the spring, obviously from seeds spread from the original big plant, should I put the pots outdoors in the winter? I live at 2300 feet up in the Sierras, and it very rarely gets below freezing here, but does sometimes go down as low as 28 degrees. Should I water them if they are indoors? Should I put them in sunlight or is normal indoor light in the winter okay?
- Reply
There are several varieties of trumpet vines and many are invasive. These are best grown in pots to keep them from spreading. One is called trumpet creeper (Campsis Radicans). It can grow 30-40 feet in a season, with a trunk several inches across. A close relative is the cross vine (Bignonia Capriolata). It is also called trumpet flower, or trumpet vine. The vines are shorter and the flowers are smaller. Plant some of the seedlings in pots outside and keep some in pots indoors. If you have seeds left you can plant the seeds outdoors in the spring.
- Reply
Very good tips for container gardening with flowers...........Thanks.
- Reply
I planted flowers in containers and now they are all greenery and no flowers. what should i do?
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