Hi, I have all my 35 maples in containers, and want to keep it that way since I do not want to leave my trees behind when I move. I have a small yard (about 30 x 35 feet) where I have a couple of trees (Bradford pears) that provide shade which is an absolute requirement for maples here in TX. Most of my trees are 3-5 feet tall. Other than maples, I have a few bamboo clumps(in containers), few hostas and a few ferns. My problem is coming up with a decent look for the yard with all these trees in containers. All my containers are placed at ground level, and the yard looks like a zoo. I want to come up some decent landscape design to incorporate these containers and to make things look a little organized. I have about 60+ containers in the small space all strewn about. I am looking for ideas and photos that will help me get started. So if you have a container garden, or have seen something cool please send me a link. I have seen some photos on the essenceofthetree website of the flower and garden show that looked nice. thanks, xman
Xman, I have the same predicament but I haven't got any grass/soil at all. Mine are also scattered about. In spring when everything is neat and green it looks great. It goes downhill from there. Moving the plants around and continuously sweeping and grooming helps. Also mixing in plants that offer good contrast adds interest. I have pots of hakonechloa, ophiopogon, dwarf conifers, osmanthus, and herbs mixed among the maple pots. It looks just OK to me but................I did win a PHS award for container gardening this year Picking up pots of different shapes and sizes definitely made my 'garden' look more interesting. If this thread is still cranking next spring I'll post a pic.
Although you have probably thought of this already, using google image search for "container garden" brought up several interesting designs. When do you anticipate moving? http://images.google.com/images?nds..._enUS256US256&q=container+garden&start=0&sa=N
paxi, thanks for the reply. I do not anticipate moving anytime in the next 2 - 4 years, but you never know. We have bad clay soil so I cannot even do a pot in pot and bury them or something. I will have get some cement blocks or something and place them at different levels. xman
Hello xman, I don't know if these pics would help any, but I've always thought they looked excellent. It's from the Iseli Nursery website. Although is says "Patio Gardens", the pictures are of some Japanese maples and dwarf conifers in containers. http://www.iseli-nursery.com/articles/PatioGardens2006.htm Elle
I wandered off topic the other day. This is just my own personal experience with the container situation. Hope you can laugh at and learn from my mistakes! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ones (only two so far) I put in pots were really tiny in comparison to the pot in which they were potted. I planted them with rocks in the bottom of the pot and then with a mixture of compost and sand (and etc.) and made sure to leave room at the top for a layer of mulch (which I changed yearly). I watched them carefully for years (was it five years, six, maybe seven?) and when the first one potted's growth started to slow I watched it even more carefully. Would have put it in the ground then, but we were moving. Then I babied it for the next growing season because I didn't know the sun patterns at the new house. Good thing, too, because where I originally put the tree it was not happy. By fall the rate of water absorption had dramatically dropped and I decided that whether I was ready or not it was time to put it in the ground. The other tree had been planted a year later and probably could have waited another year. But it was already starting to slow in growth and look less happy and I wanted to get it out of its pot before it was any harder to accomplish. Word of advice - don't buy huge pots that are narrower at the top than the middle, I don't care how pretty it is, it's not worth it. Really not worth it! Next advice - don't let your spouse "help". Seriously, DO NOT let your spouse help! While the roots were really dense, they did not circle. So I stimulated them and spread some out and stuck it in the ground. Hopefully it will be OK. It's loosing leaves like crazy, but so are other maples around here, so it's hard to tell. Wish me luck. And the way to plant trees that big is with a big strong helpful person (NOT THE SPOUSE) who knows what he's doing. I've put four big trees in the ground this year (but not JM's). And by big I mean root ball and total weight. I was lucky enough to find a man who used to work at the nursery planting and potting. So he is well trained. It's the very first time I've hired someone to help that actually knew more than me (which shouldn't be THAT impressive, I am an amateur). He has another guy that works with him on the bigger jobs. So between those two and my husband (who now is only allowed to help move big trees from the truck to the planting site) the trees got where they needed to go. Now I just need to wait and see how they do. So my tree potting experience conclusions... Pros: I really liked putting the youngsters in the pots. It made them look bigger and more impressive instantly. It let you know it was an important tree. I was able to see the structure really well and trim without becoming permanently hunch backed. I was better able to control the water amounts. When we had weeks of rain I just covered the top of the pot so the younsters didn't drown. When it was hot and I watered I knew that surrounding ground wasn't sucking the water away to other plants. Which allowed me to resist the temptation to give it "extra" water and then drown the poor tree during a drought (are you hearing the echo of past mistakes?). When we moved twice I was able to take them with me. Cons: Those trees were so heavy in those big pretty glazed pots that moving them required multiple people. When I didn't like where I put them after the first move, it was just too bad because I couldn't get anyone to help me move them again. And the trees suffered for it. But then, the one I put in the ground with the giant rootball just had to stay where I put it, too. On really sunny days those glazed pots got really hot. I don't know how dangerous that was, but intuitively it seemed like it might be a problem. So I spent as much time watering the outside of the pot as the inside. And just as a rool of thumb, the pots needed to be watered more frequently and more carefully than what was in the ground. Very time consuming. Oh, and now that I live where it gets down below freezing more often and for more days at a time, I worry about what the implications of that will be. In the future... I like the idea of putting young trees in some kind of container. Glazed pots are just too heavy, get too hot, and I would prefer a pot that wasn't so valuable I wasn't ready to break the pot apart when time to plant the tree. The black plastic aren't exactly beautiful and they get hot, too. The wooden ones suck out the moisture during the heat waves. Anyone got a better solution? For me, I have the glazed pots already (except the prettiest one - which cracked as the tree was finally coming out). So I'll continue to use them for the youngsters but put them in the ground in fewer years. Unless the freezing this turns out to be a problem. In which case I'll be putting perennials in the pots. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And then Kaitan4 responded with... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They make polystyrene posts that mimick the look of the glazed pots but are as light as a feather! They really look good, too! The added bonus is that the pots do not transmit heat and insulate against cold. I just potted up an A.p. 'Burgundy Lime' in a polystyrene pot next to my steps. It looks all the world like a terracotta pot! Even has the chalky white touches in the crevices! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Further, an acquaintance of mine puts hers in the ground but has moved them twice (and they're big). Her theory is, "What's the difference between cutting their roots to pot up vs. cutting their roots to go from ground to pot. She just hired a back hoe when it was time to move to ensure getting a big enough root ball.
Hi Whilst searching for inspiration I have come across the following pictures which may be of some use to you. http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=40505 http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=114663 http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=110278 http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=104053 http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=103827 http: //www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=74914 http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=56522 http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=14322 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2218/2463050543_977161fe26.jpg?v=0 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2109/2463383277_c97cdae116_b.jpg
Does anyone have plants that are older, like 15+yrs in containers? I'd like to learn about the above ground pruning strategy. And learn if there is a consensus on soil mixes, root pruning, organic vs inorganic ferts, etc for larger containers (10+ gal) that hold mature plants. (any photos?)
It is not my case since after, at the latest, 5-7 years they go into the ground. However I have seen many JMs 15 years and older in containers. The most remarkable example is the case of Benoit Choteau, he is a Belgian nurseryman (nursery name is CECE) and maple specialist. He holds the national Belgian maple collection and all his collection is in containers due (I have been told) to a soil heavily infected with Verticillium (this is also the case with the plains of Northern France, people over there claim that agricultural land used for potato growing is irremediably infected with Verticillium, do you also say so in North America?). Most trees are more than 15 years old. Unfortunately I do not know his container growing strategy. Gomero
thanks, Here is the link to his nursery website, although I haven't been able to find his personal collection yet: http://www.cece-choteau.be/fr/index.php
Initially when I started I wanted all my container trees to grow fast and become larger like the one I saw in the nurseries. Over the last couple of years my outlook has changed. Now I rather have my trees remain small and stocky than large, a lot easier to move around, re-pot etc. My ideal maple is about 2 - 3 feet tall with a 2 -3 inch calliper or more, and stocky and well branched. I have been reading a lot on bonsai, pruning, etc. Unfortunately, when I bought my maples initially I was looking for high grafts, so most of my maples are grafted at 18-24 inches. Now I get only low grafts, the lower the better. xman
I guess this thread made containerizing percolate in my head, because it came up in conversation with the local nurserwoman. This lady, by the way, used to work for a Japanese Maple wholesaler before moving to our area. She seems to really know her stuff (I think). Anyway, she told me... 1. Do NOT put the rocks at the bottom of the pot or broken pottery over the hole. That is apparently an old school technique that is thought to be counterproductive because it creates an area for bad things to grow (I'm paraphrasing here for brevity). If you are worried about the hole plugging up and must do something, instead use a piece of old mesh screen. 2. When creating your soil mixture for the pot, do not try to create any stratifications. Instead make sure your mix is a homogenous mixture of whatever you have selected. In other words, don't do what I used to do which was to try and put rocks on the bottom, then pea gravel, then the other good stuff. This is because smaller particles will wick moisture. Whoops.
The bonsai practitioners have plenty of relevant knowledge. Although i think that because their ultimate goal is a little different from mine not all of the techniques are transferable. Bonsai folks don't seem to rely on soil biology at all. That means myco, biochar and all the other biologicals are out of the equation. That does makes sense to me. I plan on switching all of my pots over to soil less mixes. Besides the weight benefit, moisture and nutrition should be easier to manage. I've always thought that teas, compost and castings make the best nutrition but it seems to be correct only for trees in the ground. Next season I'm going to start off with dilute dyna grow or something like that and see how it goes. On the above ground aspect the trees do sort of balance their growth with the pot size but I agree with Xman that stouter trees look better and are easier to manage. I'd like to see some examples of potted, robust older maples pruned to manageable size. Nursery techniques used to pump up JMs before they are set into the landscape are not very useful for plants intended for long term container culture. Do other container growers agree about the soil/soil less media and biology vs chemistry ?
Here is a thread with a lot of good information on container soils. It is a long thread so may load slowly. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0918361520140.html xman
Thanks X, I've been through that thread. Tapla, the main author, has serious groupies around his soil mix. Probably worth rereading. Lots of the bonsai guys don't get that particular about their mixes. This Master has a quite a tree. He says, in the comment section, the soil is "baked loam and rough peat". Sounds suspect but the tree is spectacular and Walter has impressive credentials.
Yorkieterrier, Thank you for your post with those links, really what I was looking for. I do not know how I missed your post, I just saw it. thanks, xman
I'm a container man myself. This time of year is a pain, since I have to think about getting them in the ground. I have two cold frames for such a purpose. Poetry, I have just started to use Tapla's mix a little this summer, so maybe get some reports in the following years. Previously I have used almost 70 percent pine mulch, a bit of perlite and some peat. The pine mulch seems to mulch itself too quickly. Stays too wet... I settled on pine bark mulch, pine bark chips (mini), chicken grit or small granite and Turface from MVP. I will see how it does. I have found the white grow bags from Worms Way with a few extra holes have done real well for the plant, ugly, but go figure. I leave mine sometimes on an elevated 2 X 12 treated board, and some others in front of that. Kind of an eyesore, but the plants are distiguished and take my mind off that. Any source for cheap polystyrene pots let me know. The links above are quite nice. Namaste'
Do any of you fellow container growers have any form of dressing on top of the soil/compost in the container? Traditionally I have gone with slate chippings but am recently experimenting with moss. This is mainly for asthetics as I doubt it will have any effect on the growing habits of the plant except maybe provide a small amount of insulation to the top of the soil.
Yorkie, I've used slate chips as well and also beach pebbles. I think both give a good look. If you can collect enough seaweed, it looks great on top, doesn't blow away. gives off some nutrition but doesn't last too long. Mag grandiflora or long needled pine leaves held down with scattered rocks look real nice too. Mini pine bark nuggets cover the soil surface on most of my pots.
