Containers are an excellent way to learn about gardening because they're easy to plant and give great results quickly. They also provide color to highlight patios, steps, garden gates, or anywhere else you find to be a little drab. In addition, pots are the best places to show off rare and exotic plants.

When you're gardening in containers, you can control the soil.
When you're gardening in containers, you can control the environment. See more pictures of container plants.

Containers eliminate much of the guesswork in gardening. There is no need to tolerate difficult soil or make do with marginal sites. You can start with any potting mix, picking the perfect blend for the plants you want to grow. You can set the pot where it will have the ideal amount of sun or shade. You provide water when nature comes up short, and you schedule the fertilization. There is nothing left to chance, assuming of course that you take the time to tend the potted plant.

In return, containers become living flower arrangements. With lively color schemes, varied textures, and handsome containers, potted plants grow, flower, and flourish close at hand where they are easily enjoyed.

Keep a succession of new flowers blooming in pots throughout the seasons, so your home and yard will never be short on color.

  • In spring, enjoy cool-season flowers like forced bulbs, primroses, and pansies.

  • In summer, grow tender perennials and annuals like impatiens and begonias.

  • In fall, enjoy late bloomers like asters and mums.

Materials for Containers
  • Plastic
  • Clay
  • Ceramic
  • Fiberglass
  • Brass
  • Bronze
  • Tin
  • Stone
  • Cement
  • Cedar
  • Redwood
  • Compressed fibers
  • Compressed peat moss
Are window boxes the right container for you, or does your patio cry out for a clay pot? Keep reading for tips on selecting the right container.
Want more gardening tips? Try visiting these links:
  • Gardening Tips: Learn great helpful hints for all of your gardening needs.
  • Annuals: Plant these beauties in your garden.
  • Perennials: Choose great plants that will return year after year.
  • Gardening: Discover how to garden.