Summer Container Recipes for Full Sun

TODAY’S VIDEO: Let the gardening begin! Here are 3 recipe ideas with some great tips and techniques for full sun containers.

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ABOUT ME: Hello, my name is Michelle and I own a garden center and floral store called The Landscape Connection. I am a volunteer Master Gardener with the University of Illinois Extension. I am also a home gardener and a retired landscape designer and installer.
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hello everyone I am back Michelle here from Gardening TLC and look at all these beauties that I’ve got We are going to do three different recipes for three summer containers I’m so excited to get my hands in the dirt Are you guys looking for some recipes and some things to do in your containers Well come along today We’re going to do three different ones and we’ll talk about some tips and techniques and things that you can do so that you will have fabulous pots all summer long Come on you guys Let’s go plant something [Music] So I am out in my hoop house today It’s a little bit windy outside and I thought that this would be a good place to get some of my pots put together I am so excited The 10day forecast the nighttime temperatures are all in the 40s We have 50s 60s and 70s for 10 days Not a lot of rain We got some wind coming but oh I am so stoked to get my hands in the dirt So I thought I would get some of the pots done around the garden center first We do a lot of pots around here I do a lot of them at my house I also have corporate pots that I do And I’m sorry if you hear flapping It’s just it’s just the hoop house with the wind And if I go anywhere else it’s going to be even windier So we’re going to start today with some really good recipes I am going to be planting up this container first This is one that I put out by my propane tank We fill propane tanks It’s one of the things that we do at the garden center but this is one that I like to put out there just to add a little pretty something something out there next to my you know ugly propane tank So we’re going to do this recipe first Then we’re going to do a great big pot that sits outside my greenhouse door And then we’ve got two other that flank my faux fire Yeah I guess you’d call it a faux fireplace outside So three different recipes All of these are going to be for full sun So how you guys been You’ve been good I’m good So I know I took a week off Sorry about that Had to take care of some things But I’m back and now we are going to dig into the dirt I have three really great recipes that we’re going to do today And this is how much of a plant geek I am you guys So I have a folder like right there See how it says orders So not only am I like thinking about all of the plants that I want to do for my orders this is me scribbling and I have all these different recipes that I put together of all these pots that I want to do I know this is what I do in my spare time I don’t watch TV All right but I’m really excited to put these together and we’re going to do three of them today Now one of the things that I am using this year that’s new is I got in some Proven Winner premium potting soil And I love this stuff I love the consistency of it I was using um a little bit of the Espoma organic blend but I started getting a lot of bark mulch in the mix and I’m like I don’t like that I didn’t like the feel of it It just had too much filler in it So I got a palette of this in this year and I thought I would try it and I’m loving it Let me show you what the bag looks like Oh my god this thing is heavy Okay So this is this is the bag right here of the dirt that we’re going to be using But what I did was I opened it up and I I put it in a wheelbarrow because it’s just easier to scoop out of the wheelbarrow than it is to try to lift all these bags up And we are doing some fairly not I wouldn’t call them giant pots but they’re decent size And I’ll give you the measurements of those in just a second But this is the dirt that you’re going to see me use pretty much all season long Um I think I’m gonna love it So this is the one So if you want my number one tip it is to use a good potting soil Now a good potting soil doesn’t have to be the most expensive potting soil out there but you do want a potting soil that you can run your hands through and it’s kind of lofty and it’s got air in it and it’s got that paralite And really what you’re looking for is that soil to be airy enough that your roots can grow through it water can flow through it but it’s thick enough that it can anchor what’s going on in there and then hold on to any of the nutrients that you’re adding like fertilizer and things like that to the pot Plus if you’re doing anything tall you want it to be able to anchor whatever is tall So the first windstorm we get that thing that’s tall isn’t going plunk and it’s you know over there across the yard So I think I’m going to really love this soil And here’s kind of the consistency of it right here It’s really got a nice feel to it and it doesn’t have a lot of that barky fill in which I’m finding more and more potting soils as I’m bringing them into the garden center and we try out different ones They either don’t have a lot of perilite in it and they’re really heavy or they’re throwing that bark in there and I’m just like “Stop putting that in there I hate that stuff.” You get slivers in your hands and I think I have to water more often when it’s got that bark in there because the bark is absorbing the water and I think it’s taking some of the nutrients too So I love it when I can find soil like this Super happy with the Proven Winners potting soil And let’s put together our first recipe So we are going to be putting it in a tall square pot Let me give you the measurements All right Here’s our pot right here And I’m just going to do this so that you can kind of see I’ve got it up on a wagon right there But that pot is 28 in high And then across the top this way the inside measure of it is 12 in So not a very big pot but it looks really cool Over at the propane tank we did it in red white and blue last year So this year we’re going to do something different And let me show you the plants that we’re going to put in it Now as I said all of these planters are going to be in full sun Stay tuned later Don’t worry I’ll do some shade ones too But we’re going to start with the full sun ones These guys are getting definitely probably 12 hours of sun or more because they’re out in the open Now I’m going to use a mahogany Splendor hibiscus This one you’re really growing for the beautiful foliage that’s on this plant In the ground this guy can get 36 to 60 inches tall Now in a pot it probably won’t get that big This is a deeper pot so it’s going to have room for the roots to grow And I can always pinch it back if I feel like it’s getting misproportioned in the pot And I probably will do some pinchings That way I can get it to bush out a little bit faster But look at the leaf on that Isn’t that great I love this thing This is supposed to be deer resistant It needs six plus hours of light And if you’re going to plant them in the ground and you’re going to plant more than one they say to space them anywhere from 2 to 3 feet apart It’s got an upright habit and it wants to be well watered And here it says to fertilize it monthly but this will be part of our weekly fertilizer that we do every week And in just a minute I’ll show you what we’re fertilizing with So we are going to put this plunk right there in the center of the pot And then we’re going to put everything else that’s all beautiful around it Not a great big pot but we’re going to put three other plants in it One of them being the jewel frosted patunia This one is called Sapphire Isn’t that great I talked about this one when I did my favorite um top 10 annuals that I’m going to use in 2025 and this was one of them Look at that It is a double patunia It’s got that beautiful white edge all the way around And so we’re going to be using this in the pot We’re going to use a dwarf potato vine because I want the draping over there And this is a nice chartreuse color And the two of them they’ll go good together I think you can pretty much put a potato vine with anything But then my other flower I’m going to use the luscious royal lemon tart lantana from Proven Winners This is a butterfly magnet And I want to use the yellow so that I’m doing contrast And you’re going to see a lot of contrast in my pots this year But I think that this is going to be fabulous together See And then let me put this with it All right See all three of those together So I’m going to be planting four of these two of these two of these and one of the hibiscus All right Let’s get them in the pot But before we do that let’s talk about a little trick that you need to do with your pots especially when they’re this big One of the things that I get asked all the time is can I use my dirt over again And yeah I think you can Now what I’m doing is I’m digging out as much as I can or I’m dumping the whole pot out onto a tarp and pulling those root balls and all those roots that are mixed in there out of there And then I’m refreshing with new soil and filling my pot back up Now this pot here is fresh We’re starting with no soil We had this pot and we used it for probably six years with the same dirt This last year I decided to totally refresh the whole pot which I will do every once in a while but it can get expensive you know buying all the dirt for all these deep pots all the time Now the other thing I get asked is do I put fillers on the bottom I don’t I put my dirt all the way to the bottom Now the one thing I did do with this pot is it’s got one of those inserts that came with it you know that allowed this much space that doesn’t get dirt And what I did was I put rocks there because I needed some weight on this It can get windy out there by the propane tank and I don’t want this thing on the ground So I added some weight to it That way I don’t have to worry about it falling over Now the one thing that you do need to make sure you do when you buy a new container is you absolutely need to make sure that there are drainage holes in the bottom of it And if it doesn’t have drainage holes you got to get the drill out and you got to add the drainage holes in So with this pot when I first did it I had to put drainage holes in it And I did like four and that wasn’t enough I ended up adding more drainage holes to it because it just wasn’t enough The deeper the pot is the more drainage holes I feel like they need And so I ended up like drilling nine different drainage holes in the bottom of this Now this is a half inch bit You could get a 1 in or 3/4 in I like the half inch I think that size works pretty good And so I just attach it to my drill and then I use the drill to drill the holes Now the one thing to remember is when you’re drilling holes in plastic don’t be pushing so hard on the drill let the drill do the work or you can actually crack your plastic and then you’re like “Oh once you crack it you can’t uncrack it.” So take your time and let the drill do the work for you My next tip is if you are doing a new pot with new dirt or even a pot that you drug into the garage or dirt that you refreshed and you added new dirt to it I highly recommend that you do this And that is to pre-oak your dirt So what I do is I fill this up about a third of the way and I’m going to get this dirt wet Now unless you’re going to have you know two days of steady rain where the rain will do it for you you could do it that way but we don’t have any rain in the 10day forecast And I need this dirt to be able to accept water not just right here Even though my roots are going to be up here eventually they’re going to go down here And I want this thing to accept water Not only that how many of you have ever done the watering with a new dirt and then the dirt kind of floats and then it sinks down and then it gets like on the edge of your pot and you do that like five six seven eight nine 10 times before you feel like the whole pot actually got saturated Well by doing this this gets the dirt saturated so that it will receive the water Now the one thing you don’t want to do is throw fertilizer down there Okay there’s no roots down here right now and I don’t want fertilizer down here If I put fertilizer down here where’s it going Out the bottom of the pot If I’m going to add fertilizer it’s going to be up here where the roots are If I add a slowrelease fertilizer which is my tip number three I would probably use something like this Now there are other ones out there besides Proven Winners Aio has one Miracle Grow has one Furlom has one Bear has one There’s lots of them You find the one that you like and you add it in But you want to put this where the roots are actually going to use it This is a slowrelease fertilizer But the more your plants grow the more they get watered the more it rains the more it’s going to use this up So this is not a oneandone I only use this to get my plants going And then I’ll fertilize it with something else once they get going So I’m going to get this wet let it soak in Then I’m going to add some more dirt get it wet let it soak in I’m going to repeat that until I get to the top Now when I get to the top and I’ve got about this far to go I’m going to put dry soil in that I can plant in And then I’ll water everything in at the end All right So let’s water Get some water in here And then I’m just going to let that soak in And it might take it you know 3 4 minutes to do that See I can already see the the dirt floating in there And that’s what I don’t want to have happen up here All right We’re going to let that soak in And while that’s soaking in let’s talk about Oh I threw my my hose in the dirt there All right While that’s soaking up let’s talk about recipe number two These are the next two pots that we’re going to do They’re going to actually flank the uh fireplace that I have out in my sales area And so these guys are shorter They’re about 20 in high and 11 in on the top from side to side That’s the inside measure I already drilled the holes in them I already premoistened the dirt down here And then about this much of it has the dry potting soil in it So these will be ready to go when we’re ready to plant For our centerpiece we’re going to keep it pretty simple Okay we’re going to use a spike Okay a spike is a Dina They’re a house plant And you can actually take this out of your pot at the end of the season and take it inside as a house plant But know that they get pretty big and they kind of get in the way and they can poke you in the eye when they’re in a small room I know this because I put one in my office and I poked myself in the eye like twice So anyways the Dina is going to be our centerpiece All right we are also going to be using one of the new Super Tunias from Proof and Wyinners and we are going to use Come here We’re going to use the Super Tuna tiara pink Look at this Isn’t that great Look at that center on there It’s got that nice kind of like that effervescent glow I love it We’re doing that And we are going to pair it up with a scabola or a fan flower And we’re going to be using the blue violet Look at that The two of those together That’s going to be so pretty Yep So both of those Those are kind of like my flowers But then I also want a little something something as far as greenery goes and some draping So I’m going to use a Glacier English ivy And we’re planting this in an area where this ivy can’t hit the ground it’s going to be on a PA patio But the caution I would give you if you’re going to use ivy as your filler plant just make sure that this doesn’t hit the ground Cuz as you can see if it does can you see right there how it’s producing roots If that hits the ground it will produce roots and then you could have a nightmare on your hands because English ivy can be very invasive So if you’re using it in a pot just know that you might have to trim it up or weave it back through your pot so that that doesn’t happen And then I’m going to be using a wire vine I really like the wire vine and I think it adds this really nice textural element into your pot So we’ll be putting that with this and our centerpiece So those are my green ones And then oh yeah look Uh-huh Uh-huh Oh yeah Look at Oh this is gonna be awesome We now have this pot that has accepted the water It dripped out the bottom I kind of stuck my hand down in there and it’s really saturated all the way through So now what we’re going to do is we’re going to add some more dirt which I put in a wheelbarrow so it would be easier I’m about to right there And now I’m gonna get this wet and have this accept water now too All right Now while we’re waiting for that to accept water let’s talk about our third recipe This is going to go in the pot outside the greenhouse door I usually use this as a centerpiece over there It always does so well I like this one because it’s like the perfect size for this pot It is a really big round pot And when we get over there we’ll measure it But I am going to use a cyprus called Cleopatra And I love the little tus that it gets on top Isn’t that great All right we are going to be doing a contrast in color on this one Again I said I’m going to do a lot of contrast this year All right we are going to be using the Super Tunia Royal Velvet that really dark purple And we’re going to use it with the 2025 Patunia of the Year for Proven Winners the Super Tunia Mini Vista Yellow I have grown both of these in the past and I love both of them This super tunia mini vista yellow I’m telling you what this thing will be so covered in yellow patunias the little mini vistas You won’t even be able to see the leaves It’s that awesome And I’m going to do the contrast with the purple and the yellow together I think it’s going to be fabulous And I think it’s going to catch your eye Now my filler or my draper is going to be a Swedish ivy or a plug Let’s see if I can say it Plug pl I can’t say it I don’t know See there it is right there you guys But that’s what I’m going to use as one of my plants It kind of fills and it’ll drape a little bit And I like the variegated foliage on this And it’s a very hearty plant And again this one can spread on the ground if you’re not careful And it does need six or more hours of direct sun 12 to 18 in high Space them 12 to 18 in if you put them in the ground and it does have a nice trailing habit So this will be our filler So yeah when we get over to the I can’t bring the pot back here That one’s too heavy too big But we’ll go over to the other side of the greenhouse and we’ll fill this one All right I think this is now absorbed all the water We’ll add the last of our dirt and then let’s start planting Before we plant one of the things that I want to do is I do want to add some slowrelease fertilizer to the plant That way everything has a chance to get going Usually on the back you can pull open the little paper tab and it’s going to tell you how much to use This is telling me that I need eight tablespoons for a 24in pot which is what I have I don’t have a tablespoon so we’re going to eyeball it Looks like eight tablespoons to me Then what I’m going to do is I’m going to mix that in All right first things first I always put my center piece in first So we’re going to do the hibiscus first I’m just going to squeeze the pot and pull it out Now a lot of people think that they got to break all these roots up I don’t do that I think that slows down the growth of your plant Now if it was the end of June and this had been sitting in the pot forever and this was so many roots that I couldn’t even see any dirt then I might take my cutters and clip it But otherwise I’m just putting this in the pot I want to plant it as deep as it is in the container in the pot So I’m going to put that in the center And then I’m going to put the rest of my plants in So I know that I’m going to be planting four of the jeweled frosted sapphire This is my double patunia And I’m going to put one in each corner So there’s [Music] one two three and then my fourth one Isn’t this going to look fabulous That wind has really picked up out there All right Now I want my Lantana And I’m going to put one lantana here And I’m going to put one here This is the royal lemon tart And then I’m gonna take my potato vines and I’m going to put those on the side See And then I’m going to have this nice full pot This is going to drape These are going to drape This is going to fill in This going to get big and tall Woo It’s going to look so good All right So now I’m going to get my lantana in there And again I’m just going to if the roots are down here at the bottom you can just loosen those up See they’ll pull right through In it goes Now the one thing I also don’t do is I don’t fill my dirt all the way to the tippy tippy top I feel like that just makes a mess when you go to water it I’m going to be anywhere from probably a half inch to an inch below the lip That way I know that I’m not going to have dirt and stuff running all over the outside of my pot Now the other thing is how many of you have made a pot where you loved it It was like the best pot you ever did and then you get to the end of the season and you’re like “Crap I don’t know what I put in the pot I can’t remember.” Well what I recommend you do is gather all the tags up of everything that you’ve planted in your pot So I’m going to get one of my jeweled sapphires I’m going to get my dwarf margarite potato vine my luscious royal lemon tart and then my hibiscus I’m going to stack them all up together like this And then I’m going to tuck them down in here in my pot along the edge And this way I know what I planted in this pot And then at the end of the season when I’m like “Oh my gosh I loved it I have to repeat that pot again.” I can pull those tags out throw them in an envelope or take a picture of them put them on my Pinterest page or put them in an envelope and throw them in a desk someplace and then I have those for future years to repeat the pot Now if I didn’t love it well then I can just throw the tags away The last thing I’m going to do is I’m going to finish watering in my pot That way I’m going to settle any of the dirt that’s left that I put at the top I’ve made this pot really heavy but we’re going to pull it over to where it goes on a cart That’s why I did it on the cart And I’m going to get two guys to help me get it off of here All right I am now done with this pot Isn’t that gorgeous I love it All right let’s get the next two Get them up on here cuz we’re going to have to wheel those in place too We’ll get those two done Wheel them all in place and then we’ll work on the one outside the greenhouse door [Music] [Music] We are now done planting all three of our recipes Remember these are for full sun and you do have to water them accordingly How do you know when to water them I kind of stick my finger in there and if they’re dry I water them The deeper the pot is the more it’s going to hold onto that reservoir of water The shallower the pot is you’re probably going to have to water them a little more often Now the last tip I have for you these are annuals you guys That means they grow once and they’re done And they have superpowers They just flower and flower and flower But to do that they need to be fed They need food So what kind of food do I use Well sometimes I use Miracle Grow Sometimes I’ll use the Proven Winner waters soluble fertilizer Fertilum has one as well You got to find the one that you like You dissolve it in your watering can and then you water these You know I do it weekly around here I assign it to somebody and they do it Sometimes at home I have every intention of doing it weekly Yeah I might hit it every other week but I do hit it at least every other week And then they’ll grow they’ll flower they’ll perform and they’ll be absolutely spectacular not just until July but all the way through the whole season which is what you’re looking for and what you’re going for All right so that’s all I’ve got for today Those are three great recipes that you can try Or maybe you just found one annual that you’ll love and you want to add to your pot Isn’t it fun to put the recipes together and try and figure out what you want to do I know I’m such a nerd I sit there and I doodle and I write all the recipes out and then I gather all the plants And so that’s a wrap for today Thanks so much for watching I hope you enjoyed the video and we will catch you next time I hope you get in your garden today or at least get your hands in some dirt I’m Michelle We’ll see you later Bye everyone [Music]