JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mother's Day typically prompts a rush to call the florist, pick out a card, and make diner reservations. Our partners in our Everything For Spring promotion, Ace Hardware, suggest flowers that will stick around at least through the end of the season this year instead. Container gardens add the beauty of a flower arrangement, without the dead leaves in a week.
The experts at Ace Hardware showed us where to start in building a container garden for Mother's Day. First, where will the container be and how much sun will it get? Different plants tolerate full on sunshine much better than others and making that determination will guide you in plant selection.
Next comes the fun part- designing your container garden. There are websites with inspiration, try clicking here to see some of the recipes. Once you have some inspiration, you can head into the garden center.
First pick out your container - the size of the container will determine the size of and number of plants you can fit in. You can play with different combinations of height. According to the Proven Winners website, optimal components for a container garden include plants that are filler, spillers, and thrillers. Thrillers are the centerpieces that attract attention, typically featuring height and colorful flowers. Spillers are planted along the edges of the container to spill or grow over the sides. Fillers fill the spaces between the spillers and thrillers with a beautiful backdrop of color.
The gardening expert at Hagan Ace Hardware in Orange Park recommend using a good base soil with fertilizer mixed in. Fill most of the pot with the soil. Next start removing the plants from their containers, gently squeezing the roots to loosen then up. Place them in the pot as close together as you can and nestle them in. When you finish, add a little more soil in between to fill the pot up. You may want to wait until you make it home to water so that it is not so heavy, or messy.