Climate change is showing us ever more clearly that the only thing we can expect from our weather is the unexpected. So our plants need to be as versatile and accommodating as we have to be, when one week is downpours, the next is drought. The key, then, is to select a backbone of tough, weatherproof plants that will withstand whatever the elements hurl at them, all year round.
HARDY HOUSELEEKS
With their ability to store water and withstand high temperatures, sedums and sempervivums are survivors, thriving on roofs and in gutters, in borders and containers, and enabling you to go on holiday for a week or two and return to, hoorah, plants that are thriving, not dying. Sempervivums – houseleeks – look great as a tabletop display on your balcony or patio, creating a mesmerising series of concentric rosettes in varying shades of greens, plums and even chocolate. Although they don’t look hardy, they’re tough as old boots. Sedums are bigger and bolder, making substantial-sized container plants. For some reason they’ve been renamed Hylotelephiums, but that doesn’t make them any less desirable. H Autumn Joy and Brilliant are the classic pink-flowered choices, while Stardust is pure white. New kid on the block, SunSparkler Lime Zinger, showcases daintier, creamy green foliage finely edged in hot pink, and deserves prime position in any container display. In late summer, Lime Zinger also throws out clouds of soft pink flowers. A trio of these beauties in a trough or windowbox would make an unusual and stunning choice.
FERNS FOR SHADY SPOTS
Stuck for something to permanently liven up a shady corner? Group several ferns together, in different pots at different heights, and suddenly you have a rather wonderful fernery. They will need watering, and an occasional seaweed feed will give them a boost, but that’s about it. The trick is to choose evergreen ferns that will provide a strong green presence through the year, such as British native Polypodium vulgare or shuttlecock fern Polystichum aculeatum. They have a chunkier, more solid look than the more usual lace-like deciduous ferns more usually seen in woodland and bathroom settings, so will make more of a statement seen from a distance. You could edge the pots with an equally undemanding trails of blue-flowered periwinkle Vinca minor or ivy, but choose a small-leaved variety such as variegated Clotted Cream, that is easily clippable and best suited to a container.
HERB HEROES
Evergreen herbs are surprisingly versatile, adapting well to all kinds of weather conditions, but they do need free drainage, so mix a handful of horticultural grit into the compost, don’t let the container sit in water and make sure that water can freely drain right through the compost. Covering with a mulch of grit will give a clean finish and cut down on water loss through drought periods. As well as varieties of sage, thyme and rosemary, essentials for the kitchen, include oregano, indispensable for pizza and pasta. Plants in a small space need to work for their keep, so select a decorative variety such as Origanum Kent Beauty, Jan’s Pink or Amethyst Falls, which pumps out the prettiest trails of pink or lilac tubular flowers in summer.
EVERGREEN, EVER RELIABLE
If you’re after year-round greenery, the reliable choisya, aka Mexican orange blossom, should be top of the list. You could do worse than standard-issue Choisya ternata, with deep green rounded leaves and fragrant white flower clusters in early summer, but you could do even better with variety White Dazzler. A new, more compact version of the popular Aztec Pearl, Dazzler has similar finely-cut foliage and in late spring is smothered in choisya’s typically star-shaped white flowers. If you love the dissected foliage of a Japanese maple, this flamboyant choisya has a similar feel but, unlike a maple, doesn’t lose its leaves over winter. Don’t dismiss the common spotted laurel, just because it’s a favourite of car park and municipal plantings. With those handsome, yellow-splashed glossy green leaves, Aucuba japonica Crotonifolia makes a showy, rather exotic shrub in a container, and is virtually indestructible, thriving in any situation.
Another great choice for a weatherproof shrub is Mahonia Soft Caress, which, unlike the spiny, stiff leaves of its more familiar varieties, has strokable, slender foliage that looks good year-round, and, being more compact, is better suited to a container. Happy in sun or shade, Soft Caress generously produces those familiar fragrant yellow flower spires in late summer and autumn: it’s a must-have.
CONTAINER CARE FOR PLANTS THAT GO THE DISTANCE
* Given our variable weather patterns, it’s risky to stick to a regimented watering programme. Estimate on daily watering through summer but twice daily through heatwaves.
* Check that pots don’t dry out in winter and wrap them with bubblewrap through freezing temperatures to protect both pot and plant roots.
* Don’t rely on rainfall to water plants: a canopy of foliage acts as an umbrella, preventing water from reaching the compost.
* Given their restricted accommodation, all container plants will need regular feeding during their growing season.
* As soon as you buy them, get plants out of their plastic pots and into containers that are more substantial as well as attractive. Wide-based pots are less likely to topple over in high winds.
* If an established plant is struggling, it may need potting up a size or two.
* Group pots together through drought periods as this reduces evaporation.
* Use a liquid feed from March to September.
* If you’re forgetful about watering, invest in self-watering pots or a simple irrigation system.
Photography by GAP Photos
