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Flower Gardening In Containers Article
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Where to Stick Your Photosynthetic Friends - Flower Gardening Pots
from:Flowers have the power to give that decisive final touch to our home and our yards; their natural beauty makes them the perfect finish for every type of décor, whether classic and austere or fresh and modern.
Flower gardening pots make it possible to grow our favorite flowers indoors, even if the area where we live would make it impossible for them to survive outside. Pots make it possible for us to liven up our interior space, and move flowers around to fit whatever style we feel like assuming at any particular time of the year. We can decorate our pots according to festive occasions and we can make our plants an intimate part of our lives.
Flower gardening pots can also be placed outside, obviously, adding to the exterior beauty of the house and any garden already planted in the yard. In this case as well, we can create ever-changing arrangements, moving the pots around periodically, giving rise to a dynamic landscape. As an added benefit, the pots can be moved inside the house to protect delicate plants from winter conditions.
When shopping around for a flower gardening pot, you should consider a number of things. First, where is it exactly that you’d like to put the pot? Do you want the pot to match the interior design of a particular room in your house? You absolutely must research the needs of the plants you are thinking of growing. For example, African violets prefer crowded root spaces, so your best bet for these beauties would be a smaller pot. Do you want the plants to hang? In this case, you can get window box planters or hanging pots.
Think of your needs, the plant’s needs and what kind of conditions the plant will be living in. Choose a flower gardening pot that is appropriate. For example, if you don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to caring for your plants, you should opt for something like a plastic flower pot, because it dries out less than something like an unsealed terracotta flower pot. Choose plastic flower pots also if your pot is facing a hot westerly position to avoid over heating. Indeed, plastic pots are light and conserve moisture well; some plastic pots can also be used as liners to be placed in more decorative pots, which give added insulation to plants.
Terracotta pots are not frost-resistant so you’ll need to make sure to keep them in a warm place if the flowers they hold are delicate. Concrete and stone pots or planters also get hot quite quickly, but they have the added bonus of insulating as well; indeed, this material is good for maintaining stable soil temperature and moisture. If the tops are protected, plants in these pots can be left out over winter; one big disadvantage is that stone or concrete planters are extremely hard to move.
Another type of material that makes for a heavy pot is metal. These containers are good for winter containers because they retain heat; this can actually be a problem, though because if you don’t frequently water the plants in metal containers the roots run the risk of baking. On the other hand, to get good water retention, you can choose a wooden pot; don’t worry about the wood rotting because it can be treated with preservatives. Wood does have the characteristic of shrinking and expanding with moisture and temperature, so make sure the pot you choose is constructed solidly.
Synthetic materials, such as fiberglass and resin, can often be very good choices for pots. They look like natural material, they are light, durable, inexpensive and many are now frost-resistant.
As far as pot measurements, a standard shaped pot, which is as wide as it is tall, usually presents a good fit for almost any plant. Then there’s the azalea pot, which is wider than it is tall; this pot is good for plants whose roots don’t grow deep. Azalea pots are very stable and also, because of their small size, allow the flower potted in them to be accentuated. Finally, a rose pot is about one-third taller than it is wide and this is a good pot to choose for plants that have deep root systems.
Depending on what it is exactly that you’d like to do with your flower gardening pot, you can either choose an elaborately sculpted container, so that both the plant and the container constitute the visual work of art; or, if mother nature is the one defining beauty, you could match flowers with dramatic colors and blooms to pots that are relatively simple, so that all the emphasis is placed on the actual flower. For those individuals who just want a little color in their lives, there are even self-watering flower pots so that the wannabe busy gardeners can have things super easy while enjoying a little bit of their own personal piece of nature.
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