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We caught up with Assistant Plant Manager Graham to find out how he pots up colourful, long-lasting autumn baskets and containers.
Follow our 'How To Guide' to pot up your own stunning autumn container.
2) We chose a Corkscrew Rush and an Ellswood Gold Conifer for height. Our pot will be positioned against a wall, so we will plant at the back of the pot.
3) Choose a couple of lower lying plants like our Varigated Bugle. It is always a good idea to consider a trailing plant to soften the edge of your container, we chose White Wonder Ivy.
4) We used a vivid pink cyclamen and a pack of Orange Viola Duet to add colour to our container.
5) Collect your plants together along with your pot, some old crocks or stones for drainage and some good compost (we recommend our own Premium Garden Store compost).
6) Add crocks to the bottom of your pot to help with drainage. Broken polystyrene or rocks and stones would also work.
7) Fill your pots with Garden Store Premium compost, stopping about 5cm from the top of the pot.
8) Start by adding your taller plants by digging a small hole with your hands, removing the plant from its pot and placing in the hole. You can then press gently on the surrounding soil to firm it in. Our container is going against a wall so we placed our tall plants at the back of the arrangement, but you could also consider placing them in the centre.
9) Next you can add your shorter foliage plants using this same method. Make sure they are spaced out across the surface of the pot and not all planted together. This will create nice spaces to add colour. Also, be careful to position your trailing plant so that the long tendrils flow over the side of your container.
10) Now you can fill the gaps with your lovely colourful plants. Pansies and violas are great for filling smaller areas, and they will grow to fill a space.
11) Don't over fill your container. We packed our container for instant impact but this amount of plants would also work for a slightly larger container and the plants will grow to fill the space!
12) Now put your container in position and enjoy bright cheerful colour all the way through the colder months!
Click the link below to download a printable text version of this guide.
Pansies and Violas can be really tricky to remove from polystyrene containers. Pulling too hard can damage the plant. It is a good idea to use the holes in the underside of the packaging to gently push them up from the bottom. You can then get your fingers around the compost and roots and pull it out easily.
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