Barry Fugatt: Top picks for perfect container grown shrubs | Home & Garden

The right shrub in the proper container will glow as brightly in the garden as nearly any potted annual. Moreover, there are container developed shrubs that supply backyard garden attractiveness calendar year soon after calendar year. A few of my all-time favorites are: Loropetalum, Sunshine Ligustrum, and Encore Azalea.

A key to increasing shrubs in a container boils-down to matching the correct shrub with the correct container. If I’m planting a reasonably experienced nursery developed shrub (a two-to-five-gallon shrub, for instance) I match it with a significant decorative pot that is fifteen to eighteen inches wide and deep. If, nevertheless, I’m starting with a scaled-down one particular-gallon plant, I use a smaller sized twelve-inch diameter pot and transfer it up to a larger sized pot when the plant becomes root-bound. As a rule, putting a small plant in an excess-huge pot may possibly complicate watering and lead to root-rot.

Choosing the greatest potting soil is also a important part when developing container crops, particularly shrubs. About my very long horticulture profession, I’ve tried out dozens of professional potting soils. I’ve been most amazed with a potting blend made and offered at Tulsa’s Southwood Nursery and Backyard Center. It is a long-lasting, around ground bark blend that is made up of a gradual-release fertilizer, moreover other critical elements. It does an outstanding career of keeping and bit by bit releasing drinking water and nutrients.

The pursuing shrubs, when thoroughly potted, watered and fertilized, provide yrs of yard pleasure:

If you have gardened for years, you no question are common with the “botanical alley cat” know as Privet. It is invasive, its bouquets stink and it’s unpleasant. Technically, Sunshine Ligustrum is a Privet. But this new cultivar is no everyday Privet. It is sterile, non-invasive and its yellow-gold foliage is stunning. It is also chilly hardy, insect and ailment resistant and it thrives for several years in a container. It is a breathtaking container plant for a sunny deck or patio. I also appreciate placing a pot of Sunshine Ligustrum out in the backyard and moving it all around as wished-for for ideal seasonal influence. A light shearing in early spring (March) will hold Sunshine in very good kind and shade.

Loropetalum is my most loved go-to shrub for introducing brilliant reddish-purple foliage into a backyard. All Lorapetalum cultivars appear great in containers, but I’m especially fond of the compact weeping cultivar: Loropetalum Purple Pixie. Match it with a white, tan, or grey container for utmost color contrast and impression. And for a certainly explosive colour effect, area Purple Pixie next to Sunshine Ligustrum. The yellow and purple foliage combination is past gorgeous!

There was a time, not as well extended in the past, when azaleas bloomed only at the time just about every 12 months in the spring. That all altered when Encore Azalea cultivars arrived on the scene. Encore Azaleas bloom spring, mid-summer months and late fall. Numerous potted Encore azaleas in my backyard were in hefty bloom Thanksgiving 7 days! Exhibit me an once-a-year that can match the shear beauty of the Encore pictured with this column.

A phrase to the smart. When wintertime temperatures drop down below twenty degrees, pull container grown Encore and Loropetalum cultivars into the garage and go away them there until the intense temperature passes.

Barry Fugatt is a landscape horticulturist and may be achieved by email: [email protected]

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