When an expected 80,000 people file by the container display at the Northwest Flower &Garden Show in Seattle next week, there’s no way anyone will miss Sandy Milam’s work.
The Stanwood woman’s display includes seven candy-red geometric planters. The containers are transculent and super lightweight since they’re made with fiberglass. But the real stars of the display are the plants: She has mixed unusual specimens such as corokia cotoneaster and an ancanthus called Tasmanian Angel with standbys like 79-cent primroses. She calls it “Spring Color Splash.”
“It’s like play for me,” she said of container design.
It may, indeed, be all fun for Milam, a lifelong gardener with a background in art, but for most people, container design is a mystery.
She won the People’s Choice Award at the 2006 show for her container design and teaches a series of classes on designing containers at Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville. She offered to share a few of her tips:
Go big: A common mistake people make is buying containers that are too small, probably because big ones cost more — a lot more. But having several little pots can look hodgepodge. Look at pots as art for the garden and as a long-term investment, she said.
Go neutral: A subtle container won’t compete with the plants in the design.
Or not: In some cases, containers in a bold color work perfectly. The candy-red containers, translucent containers Milam used in this display, would work well for a contemporary home.
Use your house colors: Milam encourages those in her class to get a paint chip that matches their house color and take it shopping when picking out the containers and the plants.
Make a template: A simple, yet brilliant, idea. Turn your container upside down onto a cardboard plant holder at the nursery and trace the circumference. Then you can plop in possible plants you want to buy to see how they work together and whether you have enough.
More drainage: Nearly without exception, you’ll need to add more drainage holes to pots. Many stores will drill extra holes for free, if you ask.
Forget the pottery shards: Pottery shards at the bottom of a container can impede drainage, and Milam doesn’t care for gravel at the bottom, either. She does use Styrofoam packing peanuts at the bottom of large containers, as they are lighter and make the container easier to handle.
Know the color wheel: Complementary colors are directly across from each other. Of course, color theory is much more complex than this, and Milam said all colors in nature ultimately work together.
Down with boring plants: People think they have to use geraniums or fuchsias in their container designs. Use just about anything, including houseplants in summer pots, such as bromeliads or florist cyclamens. Look for perennials with interesting foliage.
Go mono: Monochromatic plantings are hot right now, Milam said, especially all white.
Thrillers, fillers and spillers: At some point, that description of what ought to be in a good container entered the lexicon, and Milam said it’s a good way to think about the basics. A container needs something dramatic to anchor the design, something to spill over the edge of the pot and some plants to fill in the space between.
Location, location: Before you start loading up the cart with plants, think about where the container will sit. Full sun? Shade? Choose plants with similar light and watering needs.
Skip enhanced potting soils: Milam doesn’t use bagged soils with water-retaining crystals or fertilizers because she’d rather manage the soil herself. Sometimes those crystals make the soil too damp. If the container is planted for summer color, she fertilizes differently than for a long-term planting. If you plan to tuck in Swiss chard or lettuce, you probably want to use an organic fertilizer. The numbers on a bag of all-purpose organic fertilizers might be smaller, but the nutrients are released over a longer period of time.
Switch it up: Milam changes her pots in spring, summer and fall. She plants in a lightweight plastic container and drops it into the larger pot. When a new season arrives, out comes that container and in goes another.
Deck feet: Use them to keep the pot off the deck to improve drainage, air circulation and to protect your deck.
Embellish: She encourages people to use a piece of art or glass in container arrangements.
Watch the eaves: People who put their containers under the eaves in winter forget that while it may be plenty wet outside, none of it is getting into those containers.
Don’t overdo the water: She has seen far more plants killed with too much water than too little.
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
Northwest Flower &Garden Show
A great variety: Flora lovers can traipse through 26 full-size gardens, get ideas at a container garden display or watch any of 120 seminars at the show, set to begin Wednesday at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle.
Popular show: The event, which typically draws 60,000 to 80,000 visitors, is the third-largest in the world. The star attractions are the show gardens, each of which averages of 1,000 square feet.
Where: Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seventh and Pike, Seattle
Dates: Feb. 20 to 24
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Admission: $19 for adults admission at door; $16 purchased in advance at ticket outlet or online through Tuesday; $15 for groups of 20 or more; $13 for half-day tickets purchased online or at the door after 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; $8 students (25 years and under with valid student ID, at door only); $3 for ages 6 to 17; children 5 and under admitted free.
Visit again: Multi-day tickets are also available; see the Web site, www.gardenshow.com.
Information: 206-789-5333
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