Trends for 2022

Whether you want to overhaul your patio planters or just spruce things

up here are a few things to remember.

1.  Balcony Gardens - Small is beautiful as well as functional.

Bring in a collection of pots and plants herbs, bulbs, flowers,

or anything you are interested in.  You can use small colorful

pots for a stunning look, or stay with natural terracotta and

let the plant materials shine.

2.  Recycling products into garden planters.  You don’t always

need to go out and purchase planters for your patio or porch,

you can turn old boots, kitchen pots or colanders, tin cans,

a child's toy truck into garden planters that are both

decorative and functional.  This is really fun & creative.

3.  Garden Art.  Don’t just add chairs, and a few pots to your

patio.  Dress it up with decorative garden statues, garden

spheres, colorful wall animals, or pot feet.  All come in fun

and playful ideas.  WE love colorful carpets, candles, pillows

, and draped fabric.

4.  Supersized Planters - If you have limited space like a

balcony, use a large lightweight Poly Resin planter for a

stunning effect.  It’s huge, colorful, and adds very little weight.

If you have a ground-level patio, go with a few extra large

planters.  The pots themselves look like garden art, you can

display a mini palm or evergreen, surrounded by colorful

flowers or grasses.

Read more..... Cactus & Succulents in Garden Pottery

How to Prune Most Common Evergreens

We love potted Evergreens!

These planters add beauty to the simplicity of the plant and the plant stays green all year long which compliments the planter!  The best of both worlds!  The only thing we can’t stand is seeing a beautiful pot with an overgrown, scraggly, lopsided evergreen.  So, if you properly prune them on a regular basis they will look their best for years to come.

Here are some tips like what parts to trim, how much to take off, and when is the best time to trim.

Whether the plant is pine, spruce, rhododendron, or camellia, you need to know where the new growth will originate.  Then trim away any dead branches, cut back to live wood or the base of the plant.  Cut off broken or damaged branches and remove any crossing or rubbing branches.

Arborvitae – Fast growing, tolerates heavy pruning.   Prune in early spring, and reduce a branch by no more than one-quarter its length.  New growth will emerge from buds along the pruned branch.

Boxwood – Thinning is key to maintaining.  Dense growth in the interior of the shrub can cause disease.  Thin it out by cutting overgrown stems no more than one-third each year.  Lightly prune to the desired shape.

Camellia – Slow-growing rarely needs pruning.  If it gets lanky, encourage new growth by trimming each branch back by no more than one-quarter of its length.  Cut just above a node.  The best time to prune is after it flowers.

Pines – produce new growth at the branch tips in spring.  To keep it compact prune each new growth back by one-third to one-half its length.  Don’t prune into woody stems because new growth won’t develop there.

Spruce – Prune in Spring.  Reduce the length of branches by cutting each one back to a lateral branch or bud.  Bottom branches will die with age and can be removed.

All plants take care and upkeep.  The best way to showcase a healthy plant is with a stunning garden planter.