Cheap and Easy to Tend seasonal plants for my garden tubs

I'm going for begonias for shady spots and geraniums (sented leaf ones) for sunny pots. I always pot up a few nice grasses to mingle with them. I find one variety of anything often (to me) looks more spectacular than a mix!

Begonias, petunia, geraniums, impatient, nasturtiums

Last year I had Tidal Wave Petunias, Osteospermum, Busy Lizzies and Fuschias in groups of pots. If you like profusion I would recommend them. They flowered right up to the first frosts.

You really can't beat Pelargoniums for being neglected.
The range of hybrids has increased.
I get mine in the local market .
If you are careful-you can winter them in your kitchen then as they will become leggy give them a cut and plant out after the frosts

Most other plants are too tender .
I always put my cooled used tea bags on top of the soil to keep moisture in .
I've got a huge variety of plants in my pots and all of them need watering almost daily .

I've had beautiful displays of iris germanica but you're left with just leaves for the rest of the year .
I recommend the variegated one.
Irises aren't thirsty plants .
Lavender is easy .After a few years it tends to become woody and ugly.
Rosemary is another idea .

The primroses are spring flowers and perennial so don't forget rid of them.

Pelargoniuums and mine are flowering again having been left in and neglected all winter. They were in a sheltered spot out of the rain and fairly dry over winter.

Petunias, impatiens (busy lizzies), begonias are all colourful. I have agapanthus growing in pots, they do well in borders too and are perennials.

The Chelsea Flower Show on BBC has good ideas.

Busy Lizzies are great, plant in tubs now and they go on well into the Autumn.
Pelargoniums more expensive but last until the frosts arrive in late Autumn.
Calibrachia are pretty and look well in smaller pots.
Petunias of all colours, there’s a lovely new one called vanilla sky.

Impatiens in shade, geraniums in sun.

Filler of blue lobelia.

Nasturtiums are easy to grow, very colourful and you can eat the leaves and the flowers. I'm trying them in one of my window boxes ,Princess of India which has deep red flowers with chocolate coloured leaves. I believe you can get mini ones too. My packet of seeds was under a £,an offer.
Well we'll see how it goes.

I 🥰 nasturtiums but they always get blackfly.

Oreo

I 🥰 nasturtiums but they always get blackfly.

If I've grown them, they end up full of caterpillars!
Cabbage white, nothing exotic.
They are supposed to be good for companion planting near brassicas but these were in hanging baskets just outside the front door.

Pansies/violas are good and pretty much bomb-proof. I planted summer violas in pots three years ago in a dark purple/yellow colour. Ever since, they’ve self seeded in between the patio slabs, in the boarders and even in my trugs. They’re a rainbow of colour, too, from almost blue through lilac, bronze and a lovely cream. You never know what colour will come up next.

My go to plant is now always Bacopa. Sometimes last the winter if in a sheltered spot, too.

Go for something tallish, mid high and trailing. Thos year I have centrally a heuchera wit taller tobacco plants and trailing geraniums in some pots and petunias in others. Growing on the petunias in the greenhouse they are now flowering and to my surprise, they are highly scented. The greenhouse smells glorious when I open it in the morning.

Don’t forget to harden off any plants you buy as they have had a sheltered life in a greenhouse and need to get used to outdoor living before you plant them out.

Erigeron are perennial and flower almost constantly. A quick trim in the spring and come back everywhere. They have small pink and white daisy flowers

Geraniums family, tough as old boots, mine are known to stay flowering until November /December.
I particularly like trailing ones, which I plant up into long planters, then I place to hang from my fences.
I'm fortunate I live in the very South, so we don't get frost very often which makes them last longer.
I only buy them from a well known German supermarket, brilliant value.

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Fuschias, geraniums, petunia, lobelia, buzzyy lizzies.

Busy Lizzies to me and Fuchsias are tops as you don't really need to dead head them like Petunias.
I combine them with small Geraniums tho you do have to remove dead heads to keep them at their best but they aren't too fiddly.

Nasturtiums on my goodness yes Blackfly.

Zinnia and cosmos, both tolerate drought and heat.

I read a about a way to keep your plants moist, buy a kitchen sponge,cut it onto cubes and put it at the bottom of the pot on top of some soil, it holds the water and helps keep the plants from drying up.

Ooh, I love deadheading! And pruning. 👀

I usually have a variety of plants but find that geraniums and verbena are really the best for summer, with small pansies and cyclamen for autumn and winter. The pansies usually last until I can put the summer plants out once the frost is over.

I also have some very short species tulips permanently in my troughs for spring.

Antirhinums; I forget to water and they still look lovely. They self seed so keep coming back. I love fuchsias too, lobelias (trailing and upright) seem to last until we get vicious frosts.