Hi from chilly Edmonton.....I am soooo glad I stumbled upon this excellent website. We have moved from a home with a lovely back yard with various perennials, shrubs and trees to a covered flagstone patio on the ground floor of our condo. The patio is L shaped with a south west exposure. We also get some wind in this corner of the complex. I want to have a little oasis out there if possible.... I am planning on planting some tomatoes in pots, perhaps have a potted herb garden. We also have a 3 foot retaining wall of blocks surrounding the patio, so I was thinking of perhaps taking off the tops of the walls and putting small pots of annuals in the holes of every other block to surround the patio. Here is my main question.....Does anyone have any ideas to add some height and possible screening with a vine or other climbing plant. Of course I am limited to potting the plant and due to condo restrictions, I can't attach anything permanent to the walls of the patio. I would also like to plant a climbing plant in a pot that will climb up a stake or something. I would really appreciate some suggestions, especially the types of annuals, vines, perennials, evergreens perhaps that will work within the constraints of the zone, sun exposure, wind and lack of soil.
Hello, I am not exactly sure what Zones you are dealing with in Edmonton? Zones 2-4? We do not get as cold a winter, most times and not as long a period as you. If you could erect a small trellis out of cedar, this would create a screen if you had a deciduous climber to grow on it in the summer. The Clematis are fast to cover a trellis. Many are good to Zone 4, possibly if you had a cultivar that grew each year and flower on new growth would work. I know that they do grow in tubs/planters quite well. Only concern would be with it above ground in cold climate? The Actinidia kolomikta (Kiwi Vine, not for fruit) has beautiful pink, white and silver marked on the leaves and can take heavy pruning to keep to size. Paeony can be grown in pots also. The trellis or evergreen in a large pot would give some wind protection where needed. I wish I could be of more help, things popping into my head, but questioning the severity of the cold and combination of being planted above ground level?
Charles, Edmonton has a range of microclimates, but it's nominally in Zone 3a. I was always able to zone bend to Z4b, but I think that was my location. JG, I always had tremendous luck with the clematis that I bought at the Revy on Calgary Trail (or Gretzky Drive or Gateway Boulevard or whatever they're calling it these days) - they were fast, vigorous, and hardy hardy hardy. They do very well in pots. I have a friend in Edmonton with a huge hardy clematis that climbs up the front wall of her house; it looks all dead through the winter, and then POOF. In the spring it's all over green leaves. I don't know which cultivar it is, but it has pale purple double flowers and smells like vanilla. You can also look into Concorde grapes from McFayden's Catalogue; I had these in containers in my first house in Edmonton and they did fantastically; they even gave me grapes after a couple of years. If you're going for a kiwi, you need to get the variety Kiwi 'Issai' because all of the others will die over the winter. I speak from experience here. If I were you, though, I'd go out to St. Albert and take a boo around Hole's. I always used to find that it gave me good ideas.
Were you planning to winter your plants over ( perennials) or just use annuals? It makes a difference as per your choices. Bob
Thank you all for your suggestions...and Bob, I love your comment about fools vs wise. LOL so true....And thank you Lorax, guess I'm in 3A!! I could bring some of the potted vines or evergreen?? in the house over the winter but would prefer to overwinter them if possible, so any suggestions for those would be ever so helpful. Someone from Home Depot said a neighbour had a potted palm on her balcony that did very well.....????really. If that worked, I would love to have a couple of them. Any suggestions concerning annuals would help as well. I will go to Holes, thanks...
I've never met a palm that will survive a winter outdoors in 3a; mine used to live outdoors in the summertime and did great, though. If you're OK with bringing them inside for the winter, it's more than possible (and Holes will most likely carry them.) If you look for hardy clematis or climbing roses you can overwinter outside using mulch and burlap, and evergreens sold in Edmonton are hardy to Edmonton.
Another question, this time about whether or not a hibiscus might work over the summer, and brought inside of course over the winter. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Also, I know that because of the SW location and wind that watering is vital...Is there some types of potting soil that are made especially for dry conditions?? Thanks so much!!
There are many premixed potting soils available. The ones available with polymer crystals in them, I would stay away from. Many people tend to over water with these types of soils (usually sold as water saver). The crystals expand to a jelly like substance, holding water and releasing it as soils dry out. I think it would be easier to manage the watering in the winter with regular potting soil and mixing a 'little bit' of compost with it. One thought, not sure if it would work for you. We over-winter our Brugmansia's in the house and they go out end of May - beginning of June. They are beautiful and put on new growth so quickly and flower for us all summer. The flowers and fragrance, especially in the evening is quite something. They over winter and take next to no watering until they go out the next spring. They lose their leaves in the winter and can be pruned back quite hard. Just a thought
I appreciate all of the advice I have received on this site....more on help with condo pation....This is our first year in our condo and now that spring has arrived, I have noticed our condo is in a "wind tunnel". I am worried that this is going to severely limit my options for potted plants in my southwest facing ground floor patio in Edmonton (3A). Any ideas for annuals, perennials, evergreens or vines or whatever LIMITED TO POTS that can withstand considerable wind...(my wicker chair went flying yesterday).
Is there any way you could "trellis off your area" for the 3 months of summer without upsetting your neighbours? ( attractively) Nothing I know about likes it in the wind but grasses. Somehow I don't think that's going to cut it for you. Bob
Thanks Bob, I don't want to live among the grasses of the sub Saharan....lol... with a flagstone patio. I love the idea of the screen, but here is a dumb question..We are on the main floor sheltered a little bit on the east, and wide open on the south and west. The only places to put a screen of any kind would be the east or west and the wind blows quite a bit toward the east portion of the patio. Which direction would be the best to screen and what would you suggest as a screen. Any other suggestions would be really appreciated. It seems that my options are so limited...and I'd love to have some green out there. Thanks again.
Off the top of my head I think I might go with a 1 foot square effect using cedar on some sort of a base that could be anchored with sand bags or the like. You could set your plants along the lower base and let them grow up the lattice. by removing your weights in the fall you could move the windbreak on to your patio and out of the weather. This is the style but with a lot of lattice. http://www.panix.com/~brooklyn/boxes2.jpg p.s. if you want a plant to grown really fast take a look at Panaculata (Clematis terniafolium) http://www.anniesannuals.com/signs/b - c/clematis_ternifolia_sac.htm Bob
