April ’25 Container Garden Tour! Enhance Your Small Spaces With Containers Full of Flowers!

Hi! I’m Shannon with Grow Roots, and I love to enhance my small garden spaces with containers full of flowers! It enlarges my garden spaces, and adds a lot more spaces where I can grow the plants I’ve been dying to grow but didn’t have the space for! I have lots of containers (maybe 30 or more?!), all over my front and backyard- in full sun to full shade, and everything in between! Come along for some April Container Garden Inspiration!

Hello, welcome to Grow Roots. This is Shannon and this is my April 2025 container garden tour. Well, happy Easter weekend everybody. Uh, today is the day before Easter that I’m filming this, but I think um the time that I’m that you guys are going to see it, it’s the day after Easter. So, I hope all of you had a very special and blessed Easter. And here I am in my backyard in North Texas. I’m on the border of zone 8A, zone 8b, and this is my backyard. I’ll also show you my front yard containers as well. And I really believe this season of containers is going to be a really great one. I don’t have a whole lot blooming in my containers, especially in the backyard right now. Uh I have more in the front yard, but it’s going to be amazing. So, let me just start at one of the things that’s super blooming right now, and that is my blue bonnets. So, blue bonnets, uh, they are the Texas state flower, and I have always loved them, and, um, they are just absolutely fabulous. These blue bonnets, uh, I grew from seed. I in the fall I do have a video that I made and it was um uh how to grow blue bonnets from seed. And then let’s not ignore here is Chloe, my backyard garden cat. So you’re going to see her trying to get my attention here throughout this video. But back to the blue bonnets. I started these from seed back last fall. Um in the video I I didn’t do anything to the seeds. I basically threw them out into my garden in October um and in hopes that this cold stratification of the winter would get them to germinate. Um and I did get some to germinate. They they are further behind than these. These seeds were treated a little bit differently. I put them in the freezer for 48 hours and I think this was even in December. And then after being in the freezer, I uh put them in boiling water and that cracked the shells open. You could actually hear some cracks. And then I planted them in this container to see what was the best method. And to be honest, these had a higher germination rate and they were first to come up. They’ve been coming up kind of all season long and they have been blooming for a little while. So, what you can see is these bottom portions of the leaves, they have been pollinated and so they are creating some seed pods there. So, that’s super exciting. I should have lots of blue bonnet seeds coming. I do have some blue bonnets coming up in my backyard garden as well. Just um I don’t know, maybe three or four of them. And again, they’re further behind. They’re just now starting to look like this, which is a newer bloom. But they are gorgeous. They’re a type of lupine, I believe. Um, and I absolutely love them. But what’s really in this container, y’all, is a hearty hibiscus. So, this is summer carnival hibiscus, and it has a variegated leaf. And it’s kind of looking funky cuz they’re just coming up. And they always look funky when they just come up, but they are variegated with a beautiful like cream color, light green color, and a pink color. And then the hibiscus um flower color is like this hot pink. And this plant to be quite honest, it has struggled um both years that I’ve had it. It just hasn’t been super super happy. But hoping I mean it’s coming back earlier this year than ever before. I’m hoping it’s happier and that we have a good year for it. But in the meantime, we get to enjoy these blue bonnets. So, let me come over this way to start over here. This is my container shade garden. So, this is a north facing wall. And when I began putting things here, I basically just began in containers because I didn’t quite know if hostas would go well in our Texas clay soil or not. And so I wanted to keep them in containers and see if I could even grow them first. So, um, anyway, they are doing amazing. This first one that you see right here, I think is Elegon’s blue hosta. It is gosh, so gorgeous. Huge, huge leaves. This is This hosta wants to get really really big and is filling out this very large container really really well. This next one that I have is elerroic hosta and it has these like beautiful like little variegations on the edges of the leaf like a lime color and again nice big leaves. This again wants to get pretty big as well and it’s doing fantastic. I want to say that I have put down a snail bait called Corey’s. It’s like a non-toxic to people and pets. I think it really works, but you do have to reapply it every couple of weeks. I’ve applied it twice so far. So, so far so good on these beautiful hosta leaves. And then this one is actually a proven winners brand. And it is uh what is it? Shadowland Woola. Yes, ma’am. Shadowland Woo La is this one. And again, just absolutely gorgeous. If you’re seeing like a lot of these little things, this is uh a you know, we’re coming towards late April. This is thunderstorm season here in Texas. And we had quite a few thunderstorms roll in late last night, early this morning. We have a little bit of a break right now, except uh we’re we’re going to get I don’t know, it’s even supposed to start raining here in a couple minutes. We’ll see if I can get this tour in. But anyway, um that’s why you’re seeing things kind of look a little bit of a mess and that’s why cuz we had some pretty big storms. But uh and this last container is another Proven Winners variety and it is Shadowland Diamond Lake. So this has kind of roughly edges the edges of these leaves. This is more of a greenish blue color. Doesn’t have any variegation in it, but uh wow, it’s getting huge. Um, they are just looking absolutely spectacular. And this I’m not really talking about things that are in the garden, but if you want to check out and see what plants those are, check out my April backyard garden tour and I’ll talk all about all of the things that are growing that are not in the containers. But let’s move on over here on my patio. The first container that we are coming up on is going to be so super fun. Um, I’m going to say this about all of them. This is going to be my favorite one. No, it’s I’m really anxious to see how these turn out. Um, because I really thought hard about the design and creation of these and trying to coordinate the colors and all of this. So, these are all grown by seed, winter sewed. Um, and that is why they are not blooming yet. So, uh, I actually saved a lot of money this year, y’all, by winter sewing things from seed. Um it it was nothing in comparison to the price that I would have paid to put all of these, you know, plants that were already flowering and uh doing things in all of these containers. So, I highly recommend it. It works really, really well and I had a ton of plants left over for sharing as well. So, I still do and I’m going to show them to you. But what’s in this container is uh the there’s four plants on the outside and they look just like this. And this is a type of Zenia. Actually, it looks a little bit different in the leaf shape. I know, but this is Zenia Chippendale daisy. And these are going to be these beautiful yellowish orang-ish reddish uh it’s like yellow on the outside with a reddish or orang-ish center. And they are budding up. I think this one is getting fairly close. So, I’m really anxious to see these blooms. I’ve never grown this one before. And so there are four of those on the outside and then on the inside is a variegated soloia. And this one I actually got from a friend, my friend Kendall. She has a YouTube channel called Joyful Farmer. Uh go ahead and check out her channel. I’ll try and provide the link in the upper right corner or in the description below. She has a great channel, y’all, and a lot more property than I do, so she has a lot more uh space. But anyway, we traded plants and I gave her some of my Billy Buttons and she gave me a couple of hers. Closia is the one that I chose as the centerpiece of this. And I think this is going to be a nice little yellowish orang-ish flower. And this should be pretty big. So, this should be kind of the thriller for this container. Excited about that. Over here, um, this is a container that I used to have a blue agave in, if you remember. And Miss Chloe, you see her? She kind of ruined it. She uses it as a scratching post because it has nice thick uh needles that she actually really likes to scratch her chin on. Don’t you? Yes. And she has kind of ruined it. So, I have taken it out. I will find a new home for it. Well, it will be happier and not abused by a garden kitty. So, I have popped in a summer pastels yarao in here because I have I was able to fit I think two of them in in this landscape and that’s all I could fit and it’s so overcrowded and I’m not sure if all of them will survive and I I really really want extras. So, I decided to plant it in a container all on its own. I have one in the front yard as well. I’ll show you. um so that if anything dies here, if I end up getting any spaces, I’m gonna pop this uh summer pastel jiaro in there. And that’s the great thing about um planting perennials in containers is that you get to enjoy them um even when you don’t have room in your landscape. And who knows if something dies or if you get unexpected space that you didn’t expect um you can just pop it in uh to the landscape. So I love that. And it’s perennial. So, it comes back year after year. It can stay in that pot if it wants to as well. Coming over here, this is my herb garden, or shall I call it my mint garden now because this had several varieties of herbs in it last year and now it is just being kind of taken over by the mint, which is okay. I’m totally fine with this. Uh, in here you’ll find a strawberry that is, you know, it’s trying. It’s What is that? an ever sweet, everbearing strawberry in there. Uh competing with peppermint, which is this one, and apple mint, which is this one. So, I had one peppermint and one apple mint in here. I don’t remember where they were. I think the apple mint actually was in that where it’s all dead, but um they kind of overtook and got in there and just came up everywhere that they possibly could. So, eventually this is just going to be a mint container cuz I think it’s going to overcompete with everything. But for now, I also have lemon thyme in there. It came back from last year. So, oh, if y’all ever have a chance to to get a lemon thyme plant, get it. Put it in a container. Do something. It’s the most amazing herb. It’s probably my favorite herb, to be honest. It smells so good. It has a lemony scent to it. It has variegated leaves. So, I said that I was going to pop these in containers this year as like just an accent, and I totally forgot to do that, but I also haven’t seen them in stores this year. So, that would be another reason. But yeah, you could just pop them in a container and enjoy them, and they would, you know, provide interest, but also an herb that you can pick and if you cook it with chicken, it’s so good. Um, other things as well. So, anything you would use thyme in or lemon in, you can go ahead and use that and it’s a great herb. And then another one that came back was this oregano. Um, oregano is super super tough as well. Out competes the mint. Well, for now it’s out competing the mint. Um, just oregano and that time are probably the only ones I had. Dylan fennel, they did not come back. And then I had ariccolor sage last year that did not come back as well. So, it’s okay though. I enjoy seeing this full of mint. It smells so so good. And uh loving that container already. This one is empty. It will get something. Just don’t know what yet. And then here is my desert rose. She is not the best that she has ever looked right now. She was overwintered in my home because she cannot take our winters. Um, but down here, I mean, she always gives you the best show because I mean, it’s just so gorgeous to look at this big trunk. And then this is the codex. That’s what that’s called. That big bulbous root. And so, uh, yeah, she’s not taking off yet. And I think it’s because it’s just not hot enough yet. Um, so she’ll be really, really pretty when she gets full of flowers, too. And she has given me a couple of babies from her seed pods which I will show you coming over here. This one is Mr. Goodbud sedum. So a lot like autumn joy. They’re very similar but the leaf structure is a little bit different. Um and then the flowers in fall are like this bright bright pink. Um I chose this one over Autumn Joy because I saw them both right next to each other in the nursery. And this one, the color just popped and a little bit way more actually than the Autumn Joy. So, it’s like a hot hot pink color. It’s so pretty. But this guy is um a result of transplanting my big one, which is planted over there in the garden. I had to transplant it to a different location and when I did, a little piece of it broke off and it had roots and so I popped it in the container and it’s as easy as that. So, now I have two Mr. good buds eat them and I will keep having them if I get more of those uh divisions happening. All right, so this container is my largest container in the backyard. Well, no, except the hostas. The hostas are pretty large. Uh but right here in my patio, it is the largest and I’m really really excited about it. So, in the center as the thriller, I have verbina bonerences. Again, all of these grown from seed, which is why they are not flowering yet. I just can’t wait though to see them. They’re going to be amazing. But, verbina, verbina banerensis gets really tall. Um, these tall stocks of purple blooms. And so, I think this is going to be really great for the thriller part of this. And then I have three bunny tail grasses in here. And if you guys have not encountered bunny tail grass, it is the softest grass you will ever touch. This is going to get way bigger than this. And then it will also put on these blooms that look like little bunny tails. And the bunny tails are so so soft. I do have a video uh from 2 years ago actually. Um, so you can check that out in the upper right hand corner all about growing bunny tails and you can see it in bloom as well. It’s just it’s really really awesome to grow and it’s super easy to grow from seed. As a matter of fact, these bunny tail grasses were grown from seeds that are 2 years old from, you know, the time that I made that video. That’s how old those seeds were. I thought, well, I might just try growing that again. And I did, and they germinated just fine. So, super easy, tough, heat tolerant plant. And uh the rest in here, well, there’s two other still types uh that I’m growing. This one is a Grina globosa. And I have one more Grina globosa here. And those could be white, they could be pink, or they could be purple. It’s a mix. And then I have three Zenia cupcakes mix as well. And um I pinched these off to encourage some you know bushing. I don’t know what you call that branching. And so that is why they seem like oh there’s no buds at all on these. But uh never fear. They will be they will be flowering pretty pretty soon. But this this is going to be a pink flower. Um and then you know purple in the center, some bunny tail grass for nice texture and then either white pink or purple confront. I think this container is going to be amazing. I’m just a little bit afraid about the competition cuz each one of these can get pretty big. So, we will see how that one looks. Coming over here, this is my strawberry planter. So, this container is just full of different types of strawberries. And lookie there, we have strawberries growing. I probably could pick that one. Actually, I think that one’s ready now. That one might almost No, it’s not. It’s not ready yet. I like to pick them up off the ground and lay them on top of other leaves. I’ve got another one in there. They’re just like really taking off. Oh my goodness. Look at that. I was literally here two days ago and didn’t see all of this. Wow. They are really doing well. Okay. Um, so strawberries do great here in North Texas. They overwinter really beautifully. They give you babies that you can uh create new plants from. They are just I really like them. I love having them in that in this container. And then planted here in the center. This is not strawberries. This is actually balloon flower. And I got this one from Callaways last year and put it in the center here just as kind of an accent. And I really like the blue flowers with the strawberries down below. I think it looks really pretty that way. If you’re wondering what this is, this is a memorial to our dog Rosco. He was a 15year-old shepherd and he passed away last year. And my wonderful niece got this for us as a little memorial for me to put in my garden for him because he really was just the best dog ever. So Rosco will always be with us there. Always remembered. Here is just a little pot. A the flowers closed. They were open this morning, but that’s kind of what this does. Uh this is Blue Days Evolvus and uh these were totally open this morning, but are not currently. It’s okay. It’s getting ready to flower a lot. I see. Actually, I overwintered this plant in my home. Um a lot of North Texans say that they are able to overwinter blue days of ovulus in the ground here. Um, I’m somewhat north of the DFW Metroplex, closer to zone 8A than I am to zone 8b. I’m right there on the border, but pretty much zone 8A. And I have found that I tried to overwinter this plant. Um, there are quite a few of them that died last winter, the winter of 2023, 2024, they died. So, I didn’t take that chance this year. I overwintered this one in my home and brought it back out and it’s doing really great. We already talked about this container, the lovely blue bonnets. And then here is a a baby crepe myrtle that I grew from just a little seedling. He started growing in my sideyard. Um we don’t own a crepe myrtle. It was, you know, a seedling from a different crepe myrtle. She has put on some purple flowers. So she’s a purple flowering one. And uh I realize eventually she’s going to get too big for that pot, but for now she’s doing just fine. And uh yeah, I really like having that there. And then over here, this one is another one that I’m so excited about. So this plant um out of all of this the winter sewn seeds that I grew this year, these might be my favorite so far. I mean, they’re the first ones to bloom, that’s for sure. This is Cosmos Apricotta. And look at that. Look at that color. Just there’s a little bit of variation. Like this bright pinkish purple. And then as the petals age, they get like this, I don’t know, more of a coraly or maybe even a yellow popping in which matches the center. They are just gorgeous. Really truly. and it’s just it’s putting on a show already. The first one to do so. So, Cosmo a picata super easy, really good germination from them and um and they started flowering really quickly. So, this is a great plant. I’ve never grown it before. I’ve grown the yellow cosmos before and I have tried to grow the um I forget what they’re called but it’s caused it’s like a burgundy deep deep burgundy color and I got zero germination from those. None of my seeds germinated from that seed pack. I don’t know why it was a new one but anyway I’ve had great luck with Cosmos Apricotta. So really happy with that. And then surrounding this cosmo apricotta is um buddy purple gumrina. And this is from Baker Creek. And when you read up on it, it is supposed to be kind of more of a dwarf gumrina. It’s not supposed to get nearly as big as regular gumrina. Now this back one just started flowering. And first of all, it got way bigger than its counterparts. Um, and now I see that it has a pink bloom. So, I think that this back one is a grrina glossa. I do not think it is a g um the buddy purple grina like it was supposed to be. And that’s either either I mislabeled it or Baker Creek mislabeled or put it in the wrong seed pack. I’m not really sure. But I do not think that’s buddy purple. I do think this is buddy purple. This is exactly how the picture portrays it. And it is more of a dwarf size for sure. And so anyway, that’s still going to be super fun though. This purple color mixed with a cosmos, this pink color mixed with that. I mean, it’s all going to be really great. So, moving on to these guys that I have here. This one um is really just a lot of denths or I’m sorry, sweet William seedlings. So this is um a double mix sweet William. The seeds are from botanical interests. I highly recommend them. I am growing them every single year. Um because they are a biionial plant. So this first year I will only see this. It will just focus on roots and foliage. Next year in the springtime they will put on a spectacular show. And you can check out my Sweet William video where you can see last year’s show of these same exact um seedlings that matured and they are just absolutely spectacular. One of my favorite plants hands down. Um and so I’m just growing these so that I have I can continue these in the garden because they don’t last forever. So, um, that’s what And if you’re wondering why why is there some kind of a cage over this, it is because Chloe, first of all, I didn’t when these guys were super super teeny and planted, she she and my puppy were just after these for whatever reason. So, I had this is actually a hanging basket that I’m not using. So, I turned it upside down and I pinned it. I staked it down and it’s really actually kind of cool. I like this. I am glad I thought of it and it kept Chloe and my puppy from getting in there. So happy I did that. This container is mammoth dill and this I am growing 100% for the swallowtail butterflies. This is a a host plant for the swallow tails. I would imagine that I will get caterpillars, maybe even hatching soon because I’ve already seen the tight the swallow tails in my backyard. Um, and so I know they’re here, they’re out, and this is where they lay their eggs so that their caterpillars can eat this plant. And so that’s why I’m growing it. Um, interestingly enough, these seeds again are 2 or 3 years old at least. And I just thought, well, I’m just going to try it. Let’s see what germinates. And I did get a really good germination from these as well. So, um I love the texture of this plant, too. It’s so fun. It’s really kind of a a good sensory garden plant, just like the bunny tail grass. Oh, I love to feel that. So cool. So, right next to that, I have a container that uh pretty again pretty excited about this combination. Although, competition is a serious thing with this container. I can see already. Chloe. Oh my goodness. So, the center piece of this and it’s huge already. This is rudekia grown from seed. Um trying to grow right next to it is a lita. This is a really beautiful purple flower. These are not going to put on their flowers quite yet, but probably pretty soon. I have two, one in each side. And then I’m trying and I don’t think they’re going to work. I may transplant these guys. These are Billy Buttons or Crespedia there and there. And they just don’t have the vigor of the rud beckia or the azeratum. And so they are getting they are getting out competed. This is not going to get enough light, I don’t think. So um I may take these out and just grow them together in a separate container. I’m not sure. But they are beautiful and I don’t want to waste these, especially since I gave all of my leftovers to Miss Kendall. And coming over here, this is also a great companion planting. I think this is coropsis uh incredible swirl. And this coropsis plant is doing amazing right here in this pot. And then I have creeping jenny um right here. So it does the creeping jenny doesn’t look absolutely amazing right now. And the reason is because this came from a onegon uh container and I split it into four so that I could split it for four containers. It got mad at me. So um anyway, but it’s it’s surviving. It’s doing okay. There’s new growth and um I think it’s going to be just fine. It’s just that initial hit of being divided. It was not happy with me. And you’ll see that in our next container as well. Oh, hi Miss Chloe. I’m moving. Are you going to move with me? Oh, uh, cannot forget to talk about this. This is a container garden as well. What I have in these containers are hens and chicks. This is Pacific Blue Ice hens and chicks. I think that is as well. And then I have Ruby Hearts hens and chicks. And these I planted one year ago um in this cute little ferris wheel. And these survive pretty well. Like this one had a little bit of a hard time. Um, but for the most part, they’re doing really well. And the reason is because they can dry out, you know, almost completely and not have too much of a problem, which these containers are so small. They dry out super super super quick. So, I found something that would overwinter for me um and survive. And then I also found something that could dry out completely. And that is the solution to this kind of planner if you have the same problem as I do, which is um everything drying out too quickly and you know you want something to overwinter as well. So yeah, that’s a great choice. Okay, so coming over here, I don’t have anything in that container yet either. Still kind of waiting to see what to put in there. But in this one, it’s really taking off. Um, this is amaranthis love lies bleeding. And look how tall this is already. What? It’s probably good 12 in tall. I do I do need to treat this and I’m going to do so tonight. It’s got aphids I just found. So, these leaves are kind of curling and bumpy and all of that. You look under there and there are some aphid issues. Um, I also could go get ladybugs or order ladybugs, but um I think and honestly I may just spray them off. Look at that. Oh dear. Yeah, that’s becoming a problem. So I have some insecttoidal soap I could use. I could just spray them off with water. I haven’t really really decided yet, but I do need to take care of that problem. And then down here again is that creeping jenny that uh wasn’t doing amazing but has a lot of new growth now. It’s kind of coming over that transplant shock of being divided. Right here is just a little pot that I have of variegated vinka major. I have this growing in my front garden and it can be a little bit invasive and it popped up in a few places that I do not want it and so I just pulled it up and it roots itself in individual little plants. So I pulled those up and I potted them. I think they’re really good little spillers. So this is going to be like my spiller pot. um when I want when I do a new container and I think this might go with it, then I’m gonna take some of this out and use it in other locations and see how that goes. But look at that variegated leaf. That is so pretty. And it has purple flowers in the spring. But yes, if you plant it in the landscape, y’all just know that this can be um a very fast uh spreading plant that will try and take over. So, this container right here, this is my Limelight hydrangeanger propagation station for three years in a row. Oh, I have um basically put my limelight hydranger cutings in here and let them just do their thing all season long and then those that root themselves become new hydrangeanger plants, which is exactly what this one is. That one is actually a little lime hydrangeanger that I propagated last year. So these are the cutings from my limelight hydrangeanger. And I let them after I cut it’s like late winter, early spring when I do these cutings um when I prune them back. And I leave them out for about two weeks just right here. And then at the end of two weeks, I stick the sticks into the soil and then I let them be for the entire season. I don’t pull them up. I don’t do anything. I just make sure that the soil stays somewhat consistently moist. Hopefully not wet, which right now it’s wet because of our rain, but can’t help that. But you can see that these things are still alive, right? They’ve got growth. However, that doesn’t mean they have roots. So, don’t touch them. Don’t pull them out. Don’t do anything until like an entire growing season has passed. In the fall, I will come back here and I will see which of these has rooted and which of these has not. And it will be quite obvious who whichever has leaves at the end of the season most likely has the roots to support that through our hot summer. You got to have the roots. Um, and so that’s how I create all of the new baby plants in case my big ones die. And that has happened. They are not the easiest plant to grow here in North Texas. It is difficult to see where they um where they thrive the best. And so propagating them, no big deal, because I have new ones almost every year. So that’s always fun. I love limelight hydrangeas, y’all. So I like to have an endless supply just in case. So, yeah, this is a little lime. Like I said, I propagated uh last season, and I’m looking Oh, that’s a little a little spider dude that was in there. But I’m looking to see if it’s putting on buds yet, and it is not, but that is totally fine. It will fairly soon. Coming over here, um I have this pot next to my fabulous garden hose. By the way, I love this thing because it’s a retractable hose. one of the best investments. Well, I’m sorry. I actually didn’t make that investment, but Teimu actually sent this to me. Um, and I did a a video on Teimu. And so, if you’re looking to see how this is lasting, it is the um the Giraffe Tools brand and it is valid. Like, it really is the Draft Tools brand and I got it for like a hundred. Well, Teimu offers it for $100 cheaper uh than actually getting it on the Draft Tools website, and it is amazing. It’s fabulous. But, oh, by the way, there’s Gummy. That’s the puppy I’m talking about that ruins all the things. Yes. Hi, sweet girl. Okay, so this container. So beautiful. This is foxtail fern. I got this on clearance at HB in their um I think it’s called Texas Outdoor Garden. Again, here is that variegated Vinka Major I told you about that’s kind of becoming a thriller/spiller. And then in here is Confederate star Jasmine. And it is growing up this pole. And the vine actually survived this year. Um, a lot of times this vine actually dies back in the winter time. And what that means is it’s still alive at the roots. It’ll grow. It’ll grow the vine back. But what it means is in the springtime when it’s supposed to flower, the vine is dead. So, you don’t see any flowers. Well, I’ve got flowers coming. Not completely prolifically full of blooms, but I at least will see some. I’ve got some along my back fence as well that I’m really, really excited about cuz they’re mixing in with my clatus. So, I will have jasmine blooms with clatus blooms and oh, it’s just gorgeous. But love this pot. I have one more planted right there. And this one is beonas. These where did I get these beonas? At Callaways. Um, and so they’re doing pretty good. And then again mixed with that variegated vinka major. And I keep forgetting to do this, but I want to plant a tethonia, which is a blackeyed susan vine right here and have it climb up this little trellis and maybe onto uh that pole. I want to see if it will grow in these conditions. It’s much more shaded. Last year I grew my um did I say Tonia? It should have been. Um last year I grew my sunburia in um full sun locations and it does great but I also hear it can do part sun. This is more shade and I want to just kind of test it and I have a berseria to put there. I just haven’t done it yet. So there we go. And turning back around. These are all of the extra plants that I have from winter sewing. It’s insane, y’all. Um, I grew 49 different types of seeds. Some of them I only had room for one or two of the actual plants and now like what am I going to do with all the rest of the 30 of them? So, it’s been interesting. I’m giving them away. Um, and things like that. But I have, you know, dreamland zenyas, an unknown one that I forgot to label, some extra bunny tail grass, verbina vanerensis, um, lots of varieties of zenia. Let’s see. State fair zenas. Um, I don’t have any more cupcakes mixed left. There’s more verbina bananariansis Chinese. Oh, this is the first one to flower. So, I planted these all over my landscape, but none of them have these buds in them. And I’m just noticing this one has a bud. I should look at the rest of them. Actually, I haven’t looked. So, that’s Chinese forget me knot. This is Tthonia or Mexican sunflower. Uh, yep. And then this is Amorillis Love Lies Bleeding. I’ve got fiery sunrise. And then Mexican uh sunflower again. Some azerate and lita. Some thunburia. Let’s see what are which ones are those? Oh, some extra chip and dale daisies. Coming over here. These are dwarf zenyas and I am saving those for my front flower bed. I have quite a few out there but I think I might need more and I haven’t planted them out yet. And so these are Zahara. Not this one, but these are Zahara mix mostly. Some of them might be pin wheel mix and some of them might be Profusion mix, but that’s all Zahara mix. I think this one just started coming up where it wasn’t supposed to mixed in. And I’m pretty sure it’s a gumrina, but it is unknown. Here’s a fox glove. The only one that I had to germinate in that one. And this is a delinium grandlorum. Again, the only one to germinate in that container. This is catnip for Chloe. Again, I haven’t potted it up. And then I have baby blue eucalyptus that I got from Kendall. Um, and then so one of these is a bee bomb and one of these is I forget what the other one is supposed to be, but that’s also from Kendall. And then I have two coral honeysuckles that rooted themselves from my coral honeysuckle vine that’s in the backyard. And so I potted these up and I don’t it looks like it’s gonna survive. It’s looking okay. That one’s smaller and doing excellent, but my neighbor is supposed to take those anyway. Um and then these are two Gina seedlings and I don’t remember what variety it is because they were just baby baby babies when I divided and um started potting things up and so I put them there and then I forgot to put what kind it is. So anyway, that’s all of the extras. Oh, these are the babies uh desert rose plants. And this guy, I think it’s just getting too much water. Um we’ve had rain and things like that and so I don’t know. I also think it’s got either spiders or spider mites. So I may need to spray this now that I’m looking at it. Um, and then I’ve got two, this is a 2-year-old baby, and these are one-year-old babies as well. So, that’s what those are. I also have a verbina that I overwintered, and I don’t remember what type of verbena it is. It’s starting to flower, and it’s almost looking like the verbina peachy keen. The superbina peachy keen. So, if it is, that’s going to be exciting. Oh, and look, this one, this love lies bleeding, is starting to bloom. So, that’s really fun. So, this is the backyard containers. Let me show you the front. Okay, so just outside my front door is a three tier planter that I am just so proud of. I think it looks so pretty and so beautiful for spring. But the top, these are bagonas from Callaways. I got them on clearance. Like it was a late winter clearance thing and they were $3 a piece. And look just how gorgeous. Especially that one. Oh, I love it so much. I purchased these little banner things on Amazon. It came together as like a happy spring kind of thing. So, I thought that would be pretty to put on there. But again, another beonia that was clearanced. Oh, that leaf um needed to get taken out. But anyway, beonia. This is a foxtail fern that was clearanced. And then this is a foxtail fern that was clearanced at HV. Let’s see. This is what was this called? A lace a lace wing fern. Something like that. This new growth is doing good. But otherwise, this fern is not doing great. Again, this was a clearance plant. It was clearanced at Lowe’s. I think I paid like 250 for it. Another clearance. Spagonia from Callaways. And this one is a um endless summer hydrangeanger that I propagated myself last year. I plan to put it in this container. And then this pot is beautiful and I want it there, but it doesn’t have drainage. So, it’s like on top of some rocks and stuff. So, it’s going to be a pot inside of there cuz I don’t want it to sit in water. And then this is a um an auga. Not really labeled as a specific variety. It was clearanced at Lowe’s. Again, these are all clearance plants, y’all. If I have a lot to fill, then I’m going to look for clearance pants plants to fill it. And I’m so happy with how it looked, how it turned out, honestly. But these Ajuga were blooming. They are coming out of bloom. I think I paid like $2 for these. But there are two Auga plants in here. And then another Oh, another of this peach type of beonia that’s so beautiful. And then another auga is over there kind of in the dark, but it was flowering. It’s coming out of flower, but let me step back so you guys can see. I just love that as the entryway to my home. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous. Then coming next to it, this is something I am so extremely excited about. This is a variegated lace cap hydrangeanger. This is my fifth year, I think, with it, and I’ve never seen it bloom. But it’s stunning just for the foliage alone. I told myself, and I’ve said this in my videos, even if I never see a bloom on this, I’m always keeping this plant as long as it stays alive because it just has the most amazing foliage. Look at that. It’s so beautiful. But look what I see. And they are everywhere. This thing is going to be bursting with blooms and they will be a lace cap bloom. So, I’ve never had a lace cap hydrangeanger before. I’ve never had a lace cap bloom. I have seen them and always wanted them. I don’t know if it’s going to be blue. I don’t know if it’s going to be pink, but we will wait and we will find out. And I’m so excited to see it. Another thing that I’m kind of curious and excited for is to see what this turns out to be. So, this is not variegated. It is part of the same plant and I bought it that way. This was found at Odell’s nursery and uh one of the last ones that it had, but it was the nicest one that it had and so that’s why I picked it up. But I I did notice that it had part of it that wasn’t variegated. I didn’t really care because I loved this so much. And so I’m curious if this is a lace cap um and it’s just not a variegated leaf or is this like um an endless summer kind of hydrangeanger where it just accidentally was growing with um a lace cap in the nursery. I don’t know, but we will find out. And so far compared to I’m going to compare it to my endless summer hydranger right next door cuz I do have an endless summer hydranger right next door. Comparing it to how these buds look. It doesn’t look the same. It does like these buds are tighter. You see? and they don’t have any frilliness to where these buds have these little like I don’t know how you on the edges they kind of pop out whereas this does not there it’s like tightly formed buds if you guys can see that. Um so we’ll see. I think that’s a lace cat bloom. I just think there’s a part of that plant that’s not variegated. So very excited about that. And then coming on to this big guy. So, this hydrangeanger I have had since May 2011. So, this year being 2025, I’ve had it for uh 14 years this year. And it’s just a rockstar plant. Um I have a video on how to care for these types of hydrangeas in our super super hot climates. So, check that out. I will provide the link in the upper right hand corner because I’m here to tell you that it can be done. So many people and gardeners here in North Texas try to tell you that you cannot grow these. They are just too difficult. They do not like our heat and they just do not thrive here. Well, if this is not a plant that’s thriving, then show me a plant that’s thriving because last year I got 60 6 blooms in this one plant. So, it can be done. It has been in a container this entire time, but I have other um endless summer hydrangeas planted in the landscape that are doing just as great as well. Um maybe not blooming as much, but they’re also not as old. So um they are fantastic. There’s a certain way that you can take care of them and make sure that they are happy. And that video provides all that information for you if you are curious. But um this is a fun time of year because I’m finding out what color blooms these are going to have. And so far it looks like they’re neutral. They’re purple. So not acidic, meaning uh if the soil was acidic, they would be blue and not um the other end of the spectrum, which means they would be pink. They’re somewhat in the middle. I think I want them to be more blue, so I will hit it with some soil acidifier. I keep saying that in my videos and I still have not done it, but I will do that today if I have time. Um so it’s just going to be a fabulous display. a beautiful hydrangeanger flowers. And coming over here, this container is full of variegated English ivy. And it’s just um you know, I have some bamboo sticks to provide it something to grow on. And it’s like a little topiary. And I just absolutely love this plant. It looks exactly like this all through the winter as well. So it provides evergreen interest on my porch. I love the leaves. If you can’t tell already, I love variegated leaves and uh it’s just really really full this year for sure. Right next to it is an aelia. It is an encore aelia. I believe it is autumn sunset and it’s just kind of coming out of bloom, but let me show you. These guys are fairly new blooms and they are these beautiful coraly colors. I love them so much. Um this one is really, really pretty over here. just gorgeous. I’ve never been able to keep an an Aelia alive before. And um this is really just from October that I’ve had it. And I potted it potted it in this container here because it is very much a morning sun, afternoon shade location, which I think Aelas will do pretty well with. And I can control the soil acidity and um the food that it’s getting a little bit better when it’s in a container to try and keep it alive. I’ve also popped some variegated Vinka Major in there. Again, just growing in the landscape where it’s not supposed to. So, I pull it out and put it somewhere else. And I think it looks good there. This container is absolutely gorgeous. This is a Gerberette daisy. And this specific variety, if you guys are curious, is uh Garvina Sweet Sparkle. It’s unbelievable. This was an itty bitty thing last spring and by the end of the growing season, you couldn’t even see the edges of the container. It was grown completely out. Um, it has 1 2 3 4 5 almost six blooms in there right now. Just absolutely beautiful. And I love that hot pink color. It loves the part sun on my porch for sure. It gets lots of morning sun there and then it’s shaded in the afternoon. So, here in North Texas, that’s what Gerber daisies prefer. And then this container coming down my steps. Uh, it’s turning out really, really good, actually, too. Uh, this is a creeping jenny. Again, you see the dead because it’s the other piece of um the other ones. You know, it was grown in a gallon and and divided. So, but it’s got lots of new growth coming in and it’s doing really really well. Um, this one right here is Billy Buttons. So, you can see this one is doing this Billy Buttons is doing a lot better because it’s not being out competed by a rudekia. It’s about to be out competed by a blanket flower or galardia for sure. Let me see if this gu is going to put on any blooms yet. Maybe. It’s getting there. That’s cool. Uh, so yeah, this is blanket flower. It’s doing really well. And again, I’ve got some variegated Vinka manger just popped in there for fun. So, this container. Wow, she’s gorgeous. This is the only container that I’ve actually paid for the flowers that are in there because I did want to see something instantaneous. I wanted something blooming right away. And it it does not disappoint. I love it. Look at that. So, this is a patunia and this is from Callaways and it was one of their like $1.99 and there’s two of them in there by the way, but they are just taking off. And I was drawn to this one in particular because it looks a lot like one of the new Proven Winners Super Tunias this year called uh Superunia Tiara Pink. This is not Tiara Pink, but it does look very similar. And honestly, I think the growth habit is very similar. Like these guys are overtaking this container. They’re growing really big really quickly. I also have two more popped in the landscape to see how they’ll do there as well. But they look striking with this leilia, which is almost a neon color in and of itself. And then this creeping jenny was just a uh a what a 3-in container that I purchased. And so it was it’s done really really really well this whole time in like a bright yellow color. So those three plants together look unbelievable. There is a fourth plant in here but you cannot see it because the patunias have taken it over. Let’s see if we can find it. It is a white salvia. And poor white salvia. There it is. It’s not really in bloom. We’ll see what it does. It has gotten taller, but again, that that patunia is taller than it is. And so, it’s still getting a little bit of sunlight. It’s just kind of overtaken. But that’s a gorgeous combination. I hope that it lasts pretty long, but I have a feeling once we get real real hot, it’s going to the patunias in particular and the liilia will probably peter out a little bit. And then this one, uh, so beautiful. This creeping jenny again, this one was just a little 3-in one that I bought and so it’s doing better and filling in and the beautiful color. There is an azeratum lita here. There’s two of them. Yeah, there’s two azured lita and there’s one summer pastels yarao which is this guy is taking off. He’s doing really really well. So really excited to grow this plant. Um hopefully it flowers this year. I’m not 100% certain that I will see flowers in that, but the foliage interest is really cool. I think it has a really striking um it looks really striking with the creeping jenny. And then I do believe this azeratuma is a uh annual azeratum. So it should be flowering here pretty soon. So that’ll be really pretty even if the summer pastels yarao doesn’t bloom this year. So we’ll see. Coming over here to this pot. This is a three ball topiary, but it is a Carolina sapphire cyprus and this is an evergreen, which I was really looking for some more evergreen interest. And this has provided just that. It’s really quite beautiful. I’m getting ready to prune it a little bit. As you can see, it’s getting it’s growing. And uh yeah, I it was a little bit bare on this side, so I was going to wait to prune this second ball. I want some growth coming out here. Um but otherwise, like it’s it’s fabulous. I love this color. I think it’s a great texture and it smells really good. Some people might not agree with me, but I believe it has a lemony smell to it, a lemony herby smell, and I love the smell of that. So, Carolina, Sapphire, Cyprus, it’s rated down to zone 7, but because I am zone 8, I did cover that when we had zone 8 temperatures because the temperatures that they experience in a container are two zones lower than what your current um zone is. So, you got to cover those if uh if you get really really cold. Coming to the last two containers in this container garden tour. These are my curbside containers. And oh, the storm kind of Oh, man. That is a big bummer. How did this happen? Let me see. I’m just now seeing this. Something maybe did this. I don’t I don’t see the storm breaking this off from right there. And that’s been done for a little while. I did not see that this had happened. This is not cool. Somebody came in here and broke those off. What on earth? Okay. Well, that is so sad. Okay. What this is is Mist Expires Blue Salvia. I shouldn’t be too too sad because even if it is broken, it will fill in really quickly and look normal in no time. There we go. There’s a big old hole right there, but that’s okay. Um it is starting to come into flower which is fantastic. Um last year this plant was just an absolute rock rock star in the heat. Bloomed all season long until even past our first frost and it was just a a pollinator magnet. Um it’s mixed in with some matrix pansies and eventually those guys will die off. I’ll just let them die off naturally. But I’m really sad. Like half of it got broken. It’s the weirdest thing. Either that or half of it rotted. But why? I don’t get it. Okay. Well, anyway, coming on to the other container. It looks slightly different um for a number of different reasons, but wow. Actually, uh the the Mystic Spires Blue Salvia is here. There’s only Oh, it is starting to flower. This part of the mystic expires blue salvia kind of died off and so only this black part is growing which it’s going to grow so big and tall that I don’t think we’re even going to be able to tell by the end of the season. But one thing that is different about this container is that it has one super beena sparkling amethyst. And I just popped it in there because I found it at Walmart. I was so excited to find it and then I didn’t know where to plant it. I planted one in the front uh garden but didn’t have room for anything else and so I put it here because it was a space and then now it overwintered and it’s going all over the place and it’s beautiful. It’s absolutely stunning. And then with these matrix pansies, um I absolutely love that combination and it’s crazy how much this superb sparkling amethyst is blooming right now. It’s just insane. It’s probably my absolute favorite verbena that I’ve ever grown. And I’ve grown a lot of them. I grew a lot of verbina last year. This one outperformed all of them by far. Okay. So, there you go. Oh, one more y’all. I didn’t show you this front container. Okay. So, in this front container, this is a limelight hydrangeanger and it is trained into a standard. It is a tree form. I did it myself, so it is not perfect, y’all. It was my very first one that I trained. I kind of self-taught myself watching YouTube videos. I do have a video on how to do that. So, you can watch that video and then look at this cuz this is how it’s it’s really taken shape since that video. And it’s just absolutely beautiful. It is not full of any buds yet, but potted down below is one of my favorite combinations that I’ve ever done in a container. And this was done in the fall. So, I have a pink denths here. I have yellow violas, which are so so sweet. Another pink denths. Another yellow viola. And another pink denths. And another yellow viola. So I have I think it’s four either three or four yellow violas and four of the pink denths and they’re just coming all into each other and they’re almost coming out of bloom now the dianthis are but they still look absolutely stunning from every angle and I will remember this for plantings in the fall for years and years to come because it is absolutely stunning. So, I love love love that. But there you go. Those are my containers for this year and how they’re looking so far in April. Um, if you like what you saw, please subscribe to my channel. I do monthly garden tours. I just have a modest home here in North Texas, fairly small garden spaces in an HOA. And so, um, yeah, I mean, I don’t have a whole lot of space, but I feel like I make use of all the space, especially with all of the containers that I have. Um, my porch especially. I missed one more as well. One more. Hang on. Good grief. I have so many that I missed them. Um, this is a two-tiered container and on the top is u Tradiscantia Zabrina. Now, I overwintered her in my house, and she does not like being a house plant at all for me. So, she’s just kind of starting to get used to life, starting to uh come back, and by the end of this season, she will be amazing. But that’s why you see some of this dead there. She’s just um yeah, it she does not like being an indoor house plant in my home anyway. But underneath that is uh variegated English ivy and dianths. So the dianths is planted in there. And how I get this to be a two-tier is I put a plant stand. I got a plant stand for free. You can barely even see it anymore. It’s overtaken by the English h ivy. And I just plopped it down into this container and it becomes a two-tier container. So this pot is potted on top of a plant stand. And there you go. So, as I was saying before I realized that I forgot about this container is uh please subscribe to my channel and see how these containers do all season long as well as the garden. And I also do um garden maintenance videos and my favorite plant videos and all of those things. So, check that out. It would help me out tremendously as does just you watching this video today. I thank you all so much for watching. I can’t even tell you how much this helps. Um, and uh, how appreciative I am of all of you that do watch. Um, let me know down below. What are you growing in your containers? What is your favorite container recipe that you’re growing? I’d love to know because I’m always looking for new ideas and I’d love to hear from you. Uh, well, that’s about it. I hope you all had a fantastic Easter, everybody. Goodbye.