Things You'll Need:
- Containers that are large enough for shrubs but fit comfortably in your space
- Sturdy shrubs that suit your light requirements and compliment your home
- A small shovel
- Garden soil or topsoil
- Mulch
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Step 1
This paver driveway and garage area get a needed jolt of greenery from 2 cointainer grown shrubsAssess Your NEEDS
Is your walkway too narrow for a shrub border? Do you have long areas of driveway that are crying out for some greenery but no room for plantings? Would you like to screen your deck from the neighbor's kitchen window? These are all good reasons to grow shrubs in containers. With containers you also gain portability and you can even rotate your portable landscaping from season to season. -
Step 2
Choose the Containers FIRST
Size Matters:
You have to start somewhere. You probably already know that you might like boxwoods to match your other landscaping or perhaps certain varieties of juniper or spruce. However, it is a mistake to buy the plants first. The size of your space may limit your container size so measure now and buy the containers that fit.
Buy to Suit your Climate:
Since these shrubs will be an all season investment, it is important to get frost resistant containers in northern climates. Cedar boxes, molded fiber cement and plastic based resins will all survive seasonal temperature changes in garden zones 7 and lower. In frost free areas, you can be confident in using terra cotta and other pottery choices. Make sure to drill large holes in each container bottom to provide good drainage.
Consider the Style of your Home:
A Tudor may be at home with the look of huge Urns or formal paneled box containers, but a contemporary home may be complimented by more color and sleek shapes. A desert adobe should have natural colors or perhaps Spanish inspired container designs.
Buy the Plants that Fit:
Once you measure for your container and buy it, then buy the plants that will fit allowing room for the roots to develop and grow. -
Step 3
This topiary style evergreen can take full sun in the summer and cold windy winters. Best of all, it fits easliy into a very narrow space between the garage doors.Select Shrubs for your Light Exposure, Moisture & ZONE
Light:
Will your container stand in sun, part sun or shade? Blue spruce and Atlas cedar have different requirements than euonymus and holly. Make sure that you buy the right shrubs for your sun and shade needs. It can be fun to have a topiary or shaped look with container shrubs. Try boxwood, holly, junipers if that is something that will work in your homescape.
Moisture:
A dry or arid climate and succulent or cacti plantings will need a fast draining soil mix and a gravel mulch. For the average evergreen, a bark mulch will help conserve moisture.
Gardening Zone:
Containers near a wall are afforded some protection from the elements but all containers are vulnerable to cold and windy conditions. Be sure to choose plants that are well within your zone' s frost limits. You can grow beautiful Camellias in Charleston, South Carolina, but in Virginia you may have one successful year followed by another year with weather that kills the plant. Choose extremely hardy plants that won't push the zone limits.
