Dreaming of the Garden in Winter

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It’s that time of year, when it’s cold and there’s snow on the ground, that I start dreaming of the garden.

There are months to go, but still, being cooped up inside leads my mind to wander. I always find joy in thinking back to past gardens and looking at the digital photos I have of them. And of course, dreaming of my next garden season.

With container gardens, you can choose plants and flowers that prefer the same amount of sun or shade and put them together. I like to pair light green shades with darker greens and variegated leaves.

And as I age, it is my preferred way of gardening. It’s easier to sit and tend plants in pots, since it’s gentler on the joints!

In my first apartment, I had a large patio that got full sun. Then I moved to an apartment that was pretty much all shade. And now I live in this century-old house with the big porch and a northern exposure. I also have east- and west-facing exposure for my container plants below.

Last year, my first summer here, I arranged big pots on the ground just below the porch. And on the concrete walls erected around the perimeter of the porch. This gives me a bit of privacy from the street and is a perfect foundation for container plants.

Growing Vegetables in Containers:

More and more these days, our dollars buy less. It’s too expensive to even buy a pound of ground beef, much less other kinds of meat. I live mainly on beans and eggs for my protein. It’s still cheap enough, and really, I prefer that over meat.

So I’ve decided to grow vegetables in containers this year. I’ve had luck with peppers, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes before. I love to grow herbs. And maybe I’ll try some new veggies.

It’s nice to step outside and bring in produce instead of relying on store-bought. Homegrown vegetables always taste much better.

I’ve had pretty good luck with cucumbers, and they taste delightful in a salad. Once upon a time, many years ago, I used to make this cucumber onion salad that you marinate in vinegar.

Gardening for Color:

Below are coleus, coral bells, hostas, columbine, petunias, and golden pennies that will spill over the edges of containers. The lovely sedum with the serrated shape is an additional accent in the blue container.

I’ve used galvanized containers for my garden plants for years. The metal gray color ages beautifully in the landscape.

Shades of Yellow

Do you like to choose a few colors for your flower garden, or go hog-wild and throw caution to the wind? I used to just choose every color in the rainbow. But these days I tend to choose three colors. Last year, it was yellow, pink, and purple.

I must have shades of purple in my garden! Because nothing is more beautiful than lavender, deep purple, and lilac flowers against the green leaves. Couple that with the blue of the sky, and you’ve got a soothing garden space.

Shades of Purple

I don’t know quite what it is, but the purple flowers are somehow calming to the senses.

Petunias, with their scalloped, showy flowers, are an excellent choice. Pink or white geraniums, those perky flowers on stalks that hover over the geranium plant, are quite lovely in this setting.

I also like white or purple alyssum. Not only are the delicate little flowers pretty, but their perfume is wonderful!

If you want to step outside and be greeted by scented flowers and plants, you might look to roses, alyssum, and herbs. I had a beautiful yellow rose plant in a big pot at my first apartment in Tulsa.

That yellow rose gave me several summers of lovely, shaped blooms and fragrance before a disease killed it. I mourned that rose plant!

Maybe I will try another rose appropriate for a container this coming summer.

Speaking of scent, nothing beats adding aromatic herbs to your garden space. You can create a beautiful herb garden in containers, as I do every year.

You can’t go wrong with lavender, mints, thyme, rosemary, lemon verbena, pineapple sage, etc. These are all lovely herbs that, with proper exposure and encouragement, will truly reward you.

Growing Fragrant Herbs in Containers

Lavender

Lavender is a pollinator magnet and a low-maintenance plant that, once established, is drought-resistant. You can dry lavender for various uses, such as sachets and potpourri, which make wonderful gifts.

When planting a lavender plant in a container, choose the right variety for the pot. Hidcote is a good compact cultivar. Use a large pot with good drainage (a hole in the bottom) and plant in a well-drained mix.

Lavender does not like wet feet, so water sparingly. Put the pot in a sunny spot and water deeply, but infrequently.

mint

Growing mint in a container is a wise choice, as mint plants can take over the garden. The runners stretch across the dirt, sending out new plants.

I’ve found various mint plants over the years: spearmint, chocolate mint (I had this last year), pineapple mint (I had this last year), and others.

Mint will grow quickly once the roots are established. Keep soil consistently moist, and water when the top inch of soil is dry.

thyme

Thyme is a perfect container plant. Thyme prefers dry, well-drained, rocky soil since it is drought-tolerant.

rosemary

Rosemary has evergreen, aromatic leaves. It prefers warmth and well-drained soil, and thrives in containers. Allow the soil to dry before watering again.

Lemon balm, so lush and lemony scented, grew out of a crack in the cement at my first apartment. In the blue container is lemon verbena. They are two of the loveliest scents I’ve ever had in my garden.

The scent of lemon acts as a natural repellent for insects like mosquitoes and flies. So, placing containers of lemon-scented plants near sitting areas gives you a bit more protection from pesky flying insects.

Lemon balm, lemon verbena, and lemongrass are all good choices in containers.

lemon verbena

As many of you already know, I grow lemon verbena, as well as pineapple sage, every year. To grow lemon verbena, choose a container with ample drainage holes and fill the pot with a soil mix.

This herb yields the most intense flavor when grown in full sun.

pineapple sage

Plants in containers will need rich soil, full sun, and more frequent watering. Water daily or when the top couple of inches of soil are dry.

Gardening for Pollinators:

There are many plants you can place in your garden that attract pollinators. They love zinnias and coneflowers, as seen above.

Pollinators are essential to the reproduction of 75 percent of the world’s flowering plants.

There are four major groups of insect pollinators: bees and wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths, and flies. Hummingbirds are a delight to see in your garden as they fly from flower to flower.

Below is a list of pollinators and what attracts them to your garden in terms of flower color, shape, and scent:

• Bees prefer purple, blue, orange, or yellow flowers with short tubes or no tubes that are easily accessible.
• Butterflies favor white, pink, red, yellow, or purple flowers with a perch for them to sip nectar.
• Hummingbirds love flowers in vivid shades of red, yellow, and purple with a tubular shape that they can access with their long, narrow beaks.

During the winter months, I always find it fun to think about what I might want to plant in the spring and summer. I thumb through seed catalogs that come in the mail, and scroll through plant companies I’ve ordered from online.

Planning and thinking about your garden is half of the fun!

Time for Coffee:

But now, I think it’s time to get my cup of coffee and a snack. Then I’ll sit here and take a look at those plant companies online I’ve ordered from before. I’ll think about what plants I want to try and which containers I’ll put them in. It’s always fun to try something new.

I remember I once ordered from Great Garden Plants. I’ll see what they have while I sip my coffee.

It’s so nice to order plants and have them arrive at your door when it’s time to plant them.

“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.” – Janet Kilburn Phillips