reducing weight in large flower pots

Diane Whitehead voltaire@islandnet.com
Thu, 10 Feb 2005 22:47:03 PST
Sometimes the pot is not the right size for the plants, but the right 
size for the place it is put.  Or the surface area is right when one 
wants to grow a lot of small plants, but the pot is too deep.

In my case, I won an ornate pot as a garden meeting door prize.  It 
had too fancy a design for any of the natural plants I like, but 
seemed just perfect for auriculas (not the wild Primula auricula, but 
the artificial-looking show plants bred from it.)  Some have white 
farina on their leaves and flowers, and need to be kept out of the 
rain.  They are usually grown in individual pots in a cold 
greenhouse, but I planted a collection of them in the correct depth 
of potting soil on top of styrofoam in my giant prize pot, and put it 
beside the front door, under the eaves.  When the auriculas are not 
in bloom, this pot serves as a display area for small potted plants 
in flower.

If I had a lot of bulbs that would do better in pots, I would like to 
plant them altogether in one big pot, for visual impact and easier 
control of watering, but it has been difficult to get a big pot with 
the ratio of surface area to depth that one needs.  Now that sets of 
pots are being shipped here from Vietnam and China, it is easier to 
buy a suitably-proportioned large pot.

-- 
Diane Whitehead  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8
cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
sandy soil


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