I Recently Moved From California To Louisville, Ky, And Would…
Laura Asked
I recently moved from California to Louisville, KY, and would like to beautify a prominent balcony at the front of our house with some blooming flowers and attractive plants. Could you please recommend some container plants that are fast growing, easy to take care of, and have a long blooming season? How do I take care of the plants in the winter to keep them from dying? The balcony is in full sun during part of the day and shade in the afternoon.
The Gardener’s Answer
Hi, Laura in Kentucky: Welcome to Louisville! Gardening in Kentucky is very different from gardening in California, and as far as container gardening goes if you want them to look lush and beautiful all year round it is best to change them out seasonally. This is especially true if it is blooms you are after. Winter containers can be challenging in terms of blooms, but this does not mean you have to sacrifice color. Planting evergreens in your containers for the winter months will provide you with winter interest, but you can also create your own arrangement by using cut greens such as magnolia, pine, arborvitae, chamaecyparis, or any other evergreen and then add berries, pine cones, and red/yellow twig dogwood or even curly willow branches to create different colors and textures. This will last all winter long and is as easy as sticking the branches in soil. You can pull them out in the spring and your containers are ready for spring planting. Cool-season annuals will be available in the garden centers late February/early March and these usually consist of pansies/violas, snap dragons, alyssum, and dianthus, among others; these will bloom until the weather turns really hot. Our frost-free date in Louisville is May 10. This means we are safe to plant warm-season annuals that will provide color all summer long into the fall. There are a lot more choices to choose from for filling your containers this time of the year. A lot of these options may have been perennials for you in California. As the cooler temperatures arrive, the cool-season annuals will once again make an appearance and shortly thereafter we will be designing our winter arrangements for another season. Unfortunately there are not any plants that will bloom all year long or even survive in our containers all year long unless you want to plant evergreens and plant annuals around the base, switching them out as the seasons change. As with all containers , make sure they have proper drainage holes and are filled with a good potting mix. If you need suggestions for reputable garden centers in Louisville, The Plant Kingdom on Westport Road and Wallitsch on Hikes Lane are both great choices.
