Planting the Troughs Outside My Winter House
It's always a joy to see beautiful potted plants displayed around the farm during the warm season.
Every year, I take out many of my outdoor ornamental urns and fill them with plants. They do so well outside in the summer months and look great arranged around my home. Last week, my gardeners filled the troughs and planters in front of my carport with various succulents - sedums, echeveria, crassulas, and others. These plants are among the first ones I see when I walk out of the house and some of the last when I return.
Enjoy these photos.
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- These concrete troughs are located on the stone wall outside my carport. I like to vary where the planters are placed during the warmer months. The plant arrangements are also always different. Each of these troughs measures 40-inches long by nine-inches tall and about eight inches wide.
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- After covering the holes of each trough with a broken pottery shard for good drainage, Ryan lines the planter with a piece of all-purpose garden fabric or weed cloth to protect the interior of the planter and to make it easier to empty after the season.
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- Next, Ryan fills the trough with medium. We always use a good quality potting soil. This one is mixed with a little sand for even better drainage, which succulents require. The right soil mix will help to promote faster root growth, and gives quick anchorage to young roots.
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- Ryan does this for all five of the troughs on the ledge. Doing this in a production line process is quick and efficient. It also helps to ensure there is an equal amount of soil medium in each vessel.
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- Next, Ryan adds the food – a very important part of gardening. I always say, “if you eat, so should your plants.” Each planter gets a sprinkling of Osmocote – small plant food particles known as prills.
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- These prills coat a core of nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The resin-coating is made from linseed oil and as the plant’s root system takes-up nutrition from the soil, it also takes up the needed nutrients from the Osmocote.
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- As each specimen is planted, Ryan tamps the soil down to prevent any air holes. Ryan is also using my Non-Slip All Purpose Gloves in slate – available from my collection at Amazon.
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- All the troughs are planted with some kind of succulent. If you like growing plants, but don’t really have a lot of time to care for them, I encourage you to consider growing succulents. With their fleshy leaves and interesting shapes, succulents are easy to maintain and make excellent container specimens – I have a large number of succulents in my collection.
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- Succulents can be planted closely together, so don’t worry if some of them touch each other.
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- Succulents are mostly native to arid regions, and store water in their fleshy leaves, stems, and roots, enabling them to resist drought.
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- Succulents also have relatively shallow root systems so they don’t need a lot of soil.
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- Succulents grow in so many different and interesting formations. I often bring succulents into my home when I entertain – guests love seeing and learning about the different varieties. In this trough – a combination of sedums. There are many, different varieties and species of sedum, also called “stonecrop.” Depending on their growth habit, sedums can be categorized as low-growing and upright.
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- Ryan also added some silver squill, Ledebouria socialis. Silver squill hails from the dry savannas of South Africa. This perennial has silvery leaves with green leopard spots, as well as unique teardrop-shaped bulbs that form above the ground. It stores moisture in its bulb-like stems during times of drought.
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- Brian helps to cut off any fabric that falls over the outside of the planter and then tucks the rest into the soil, so it cannot be seen.
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- Here’s one trough completely done – Ryan makes sure to fill in all the areas, so it looks full with varying heights to add more interest and texture.
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- Small wooden shims are used to lift the planters off the ledge. This is very important for good drainage. All the pots around the farm are always raised. We save any usable pieces of wood from year to year for this purpose.
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- Also planted nearby is this gardenia – one of two on the lower ledge of the wall. Gardenias are loved for their intoxicating fragrance and attractive, waxy, creamy white flowers mixed with their shiny, leathery dark green leaves. Plus, these plants are heat-loving. They are native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, southern Asia, and Oceania.
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- On another part of the wall are two alocasias with their bold dark burgundy arrowhead shaped leaves and tall stems. Alocasia are native to tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia and Australia and are in the family Araceae which is closely related to the Anthurium and Philodendron. These add such nice color to this collection of plants.
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- Finally, Ryan uses this a href=”https://www.stihlusa.com/products/blowers-and-shredder-vacs/battery-blowers/”>battery powered handheld blower from STIHL to clean the ledge of any dirt and soil. This blower is less noisy and perfect for around my Winter House.
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- I love how this ledge looks. These plants will thrive here all season long where they will get lots of sun and light shade from the catalpa tree. How beautiful.
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