Round Robin: Outdoor Container Gardening

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DENVER, Colorado—The country is crazy for pots. I sometimes think that we’re more concerned about the container a plant grows in than about the plant itself.

As far as I can determine, it started ten years ago or so in ­Architectural Digest, House & Garden and magazines of that ilk. In presenting those beautiful homes (well, some of them are more strange than beautiful), the photo stylists go through and “pretty them up”. This means putting plants and flowers in all the bare spots—in wonderful pots.

I have to laugh at them. There’s no way those standard roses can last more than a few days on either side of the mantle in that dark New York brownstone. And who’s likely to be growing lovely, moss-encrusted antique pots of foxgloves around their bed? Not me. I’d fear that my snoring would suck a few poisonous blossoms into my mouth and that my peaceful sleep would end up an eternal one. Old cast-iron urns, the rustier the better, brim with 6-foot delphiniums in the entry hall or flank a fireplace. I suppose they last about as long there as they do in my garden before the wind snaps their brittle stems. Forget the delphiniums; it’s the urns I covet. One of my favorite container photos shows a crate of freesias perched on an old-fashioned radiator. Do you suppose that fried freesias smell even sweeter? And any gardener can deduce that those scented geraniums will survive about a week on the counter underneath those kitchen cabinets. But I have to admit that the texture of old terra-cotta makes the shot.

The topiary craze is the latest development in container worship. Any house fashion magazine worth its salt is cram-packed with topiaries in wonderful old pots. Never is there a saucer under them, which is the tip-off that they sat there exactly long enough to get their picture snapped.

The older the container, the better—that’s the trend. Marble, ceramic, stone, lead, wood, concrete and cast-iron containers with a century or two’s worth of patina on them are in big demand with prices to match. Terra-cotta is the enduring favorite, and why not? Is there any container more practical, or one that sets off plants more beautifully? It’s here to stay.

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