native plants in pots for sunny patio

Tired of traditional geraniums, basket stuffers etc. Any suggestions for a potted native display?
Hot sunny spot, windy, we're seaside.

 

Where is "Courtenay" ? There may be some Australian or NZ natives suitable if there are not local ones.

Liz

 

Norma--hard to think of our natives that would give as season-long a display as the usual basket stuffers. A lot of local plants are pretty ephemeral in their flowering, thanks to the extremely dry summer climate.

Depending on the boundaries chosen for the natives, a couple thoughts would be the local sedum (spathulifolium?) that has attractive grey leaves even when not flowering, and various lewisias, with the cotyledon hybrid types having the longest displays. I think some California poppies are quite long flowering also, if that counts in the native category.

You may be thinking of natives as plants that would require less maintenance than the more exotic plants. In containers, tho, the plants will almost always require extra attention, regular watering and some protection from winter cold and wet if perennials are used.

Do any natives keep flowering all season like geranium and fuchsia...there might be a reason why those are so darn popular!

 

(Courtenay is in BC - so I moved this thread to the Regional PNW of North America forum)

 

And yes, I agree with growest - there are very few (none?) native plants that flower as long as the more typical potted plants. Would you be willing to use natives that may not flower for long, but retain interest for other features such as foliage or fruit?

 

Portulca is very hardy and loves the sun. Has beautiful rose type flowers, and if its happy it will bloom all summer long.

 

Portulaca, however, is not native. I agree that it can be quite nice - my mother used to plant it between walking stones in her garden.

 

Sure, foliage or fruit is welcome.

 

Same natives you might see on beach or rocks, there or elsewhere on Pacific Rim, in appropriate container mix. Maybe above-mentioned stonecrop, plus beach wormwood (Artemisia stelleriana), thrift (Armeria maritima), nodding onion (Allium cernuum), quamash (Camassia quamash)...shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa) blooms summer-fall, selections of local native type quite nice with low habit and grayish leaves, although like other forms of this species apt to look dead all winter - if in roomy enough tub might combine with Oregon grape (Mahonia) so there is handsome winter foliage to obscure the brown twigs of the cinquefoil. Another good shrub for a pot due to slender habit would be flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum), although summer foliage is rather poor bloomy fruits may follow early bright flowers. Fine details of small-parted redwood rose (Rosa gymnocarpa) might also be useful for container display; dime-sized flowers smell of cinnamon, fruits the size of peas become bright orangish.

Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) could spill over the side of a tall enough pot.