Basket and Container Plants

Elevated, airy positions call for plants with vigorous branching habits and deep drought resilience. For culinary planters, trailing crops like tumbling tomatoes and sweet potatoes produce generous pickings that spill over basket rims. If you're designing decorative floral arrangements, cascading fuchsias, trailing lobelia, and ivy-leaf geraniums supply uninterrupted colour from June through autumn frosts.

Line wire baskets with thick sphagnum moss or coir liners to shield root balls from drying winds, and mix slow-release fertiliser granules through a peat-free compost to keep heavy bloomers fuelled through summer.

What are the best container plants for shade?

Cool, north-facing walls and shadowed courtyards provide the perfect setting for woodland natives and shade-tolerant perennials that would scorch in direct sun. Foxgloves (Digitalis) send up striking vertical flower spikes that thrive in dappled light and attract bumblebees, while delicate harebells (Campanula rotundifolia) provide nodding blue blooms for rockery planters.

For fresh culinary pickings, salad burnet grows well in shaded patio corners without turning bitter. Pair with moisture-loving Cyclamen hederifolium, which carpets shaded compost surfaces with silver-marbled foliage and pink reflexed petals from late summer into winter. Incorporate garden compost during soil preparation to replicate natural woodland floors.

The diameter of your pot and root spread of your chosen plant varieties will determine how many you can safely plant together:

• 30cm (12-inch) hanging baskets — Settle 4-5 trailing plugs evenly around the perimeter, framing a single central upright plant to create a dome of foliage that conceals basket walls.
• 35cm to 45cm patio planters — Plant three to five compact perennials, herbs, or container vegetables, leaving 8cm-10cm between root balls so root systems don't compete fiercely for moisture.
• Large 50cm to 60cm patio tubs — Provide the generous amount of compost needed for woody stock, such as Cornus Midwinter Fire, Pyracantha Coccinea, or repeat-flowering shrub roses like 'Buff Beauty' and 'Art Deco'.

Overcrowding restricts root airflow and depletes compost nutrients quickly. Check our practical guide on feeding and watering to keep dense container arrangements thriving through summer heatwaves.

What plants will survive winter in a container?

Knowing how to care for plants in winter is vital. Because container potting soil freezes inwards from the sides, root systems are far more vulnerable to sub-zero cold than plants bedded into open garden soil. Choose frost-proof terracotta or heavy stone containers, sit them on pot feet to make sure winter rainfall drains away freely, and wrap pots during prolonged freezes.

Hardy woody shrubs, tough evergreens, and cold-tolerant perennials easily shrug off freezing weather when settled in free-draining potting compost. Deciduous shrubs like Cornus Midwinter Fire light up dull winter borders with orange and red stems, while evergreen Pyracantha Coccinea offers dense glossy foliage and orange berries that sustain birds.