Suggestions please for large pot.

Escallonia is also a rather pretty shrub .

Thank you Shysal!
About 100 pots sounds beautiful. And Yes, watering is a pain but worth it!

Indiebee

Lovely choice. All these suggestions are so useful. Thank you. I am very ignorant about gardening as my dearest late DH used to do it all, as he wanted to and was good at it.

All help and advice here noted for the lovely courtyard garden that I have moved to. My containers, terracotta and blue glazed pots, came with me in their own furniture van, but always room for more! 😊

Yes, always room for more pots! I have about 100, grouped on my patio mainly. I am crazy really, because watering is a pain, especially when we have a hosepipe ban. I had to give up the ceramic pots as I can't lift them any more. I find black plastic ones disappear from sight once the plant grow.

Enjoy your courtyard garden, Indiebee

Lovely choice. All these suggestions are so useful. Thank you. I am very ignorant about gardening as my dearest late DH used to do it all, as he wanted to and was good at it.

All help and advice here noted for the lovely courtyard garden that I have moved to. My containers, terracotta and blue glazed pots, came with me in their own furniture van, but always room for more! 😊

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202607/medium-fuzutv-witch-hazel.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202607/medium-gcd8xy-witch-hazel2.jpg

Many thanks for everybody's input.
I visited Notcutts this morning armed with your suggestions. I already have quite a few of them, but went for grandMattie's Loropetalum (witch hazel). The photo of the label doesn't do it justice, the flowers are very hot pink and the foliage a deep burgundy.

Daphne Odora might fit the bill if you want an evergreen with pink flowers. It smells nice too.

As suggested, Pieris would do well. I have one either side of my front door and they’ve been there for years. Potted in ericaceous compost, watered with rain water and top dressed each Spring. I use liquid seaweed as a feed. 👩‍🌾

dogsmother

Wonderful thread.
Can I recommend the Anouk lavender, it’s truly beautiful and smells devine.

Word of warning Anouk or French Lavender is a tender perennial and will not survive a cold winter so it’s suitability depends where you live.

Wonderful thread.
Can I recommend the Anouk lavender, it’s truly beautiful and smells devine.

Star Jasmine has lovely white scented flowers and grows on a metal support.

I have an Abelia growing in a pot .
I think that it's the most successful of my pot plants.
I don't do much to it apart from.water it and it produces a mass of very pale pink almost white trumpets.

I think a shetland pony would be good as a large pet but my garden's too small.

Jasmine

My lollipop topiary bay trees in pots give me a lot of pleasure and look lovely all year long, but you could add extra interest by under planting with low growing flowering plants like lavender, Erigeron, petunias or busy lizzies.

Osmanthus Goshiki (false holly) could be good. It’s evergreen but always multicoloured. The dwarf one doesn’t exceed 1.5 metres and is very slow growing indeed.

Hebe's are really nice with various shades of leaves and flowers i love them

kircubbin2000

You have a flower palette?
Does anyone else?

Not personally, but my friend won't grow any flowers in her garden unless they're white.

I've just found a small olive tree for sale: prickleplants.co.uk/products/olive-tree?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Olive%20tree%2030th%20June%202026%20%282026-06-30%29&_kx=mVffF8UZu0LpqStBj4ZaD5Ab-OIArWBdRefG7-6evi5ZPxfJyzOXQ_TD-GnXjdm1.RzggZK

Was your hydrangea in the sun? When mine kept getting its beautiful white blossoms turning brown prematurely, a gardening friend suggested the container was in direct sunshine and it would prefer more shade.

He was right. I moveed the container (with help!) into the shade. No brown blossoms and it is now joyously thriving.

shysal

kircubbin2000

You have a flower palette?
Does anyone else?

I don't do yellow or orange in the summer. Daffodils and primroses in spring are fine!

You have the same colour palette as me, people can't understand why I like yellow in the spring but not the summer!

The other plants which have done well for me in pots are olive trees. I had one which grew as a small bush for many years but eventually sucumbed to a really hard frost, and still have another "standard" which has a stem about two feet high and I've had for at least eight years. Again I pinch out the new growing tips once they've reached a couple of new leaves, to persuade them to bush out and to keep them small.

I also like agapanthus and have some pots that have been planted for many years, but they obviously don't flower for that long.
We also have a Camellia Sasanqua which is evergreen and winter flowering, it's stayed fairly small for more than seven years - I do pinch out the tips if any branches grow faster than others.
I'm very keen on salvias, there are bright blue ones which I love, such as Salvia Greggii 'Blue Note', or others perhaps more to your taste. Many flower for much of the summer, one of mine started a month ago and another last week. With judicious dead heading they go on almost until the first frosts. I do put fleece on them once the weather is very cold, but they vary in hardiness and are not expensive to replace.
There are also clematis recommended for pots (such as those from Raymond Evision) though I've never been very successful with them in pots. You can get plant supports which will fit in pots and work well with climbers: www.crocus.co.uk/product/_/pot-obelisk-gunmetal-grey/classid.2000046894/ This one seems expensive but I think that I bought mine in a sale in a discontinued colour!

I like hebes. They are evergreen and come in a variety of leaf shades and flowers in shades of pink and lavender or white.

The larger leaved varieties, which will grow larger, can be a little tender in a harsh winter, but if you are in the south and have them close to the house you should have no problem. Steer clear, though of the green and gold Veronica variety as this is more tender.

There are more and more hebes to choose from these days so do have a good look at the label.

I hope you find something lovely

I’ve got a lovely red leaved Loropetalum which seems happy in my pot. It has hot pink flowers

I would plant a pieris, preferably Forest Flame, especially for all year round interest. If you don’t know this plant, do look it up and make room for it in your garden, it really is spectacular I have had them, both in the border and in pots on the patio, for as long as I have had a garden if my own, over 60 years, and they never disappoint, ever changing and always of interest.