The Best Plants if You’re Limited to Pot Plants

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What a week I’ve had. Nothing to get excited about, but I’ve had a week off work ill with COVID. I’ve been just mooching on the sofa watching films all day. I’ve had no energy for anything – for once I can’t wait to get back to exercise and the office. I’m like a caged animal right now.

One of the positive things about quarantine for me, was being able to take a leisurely walk around our tiny garden a few times a day. It doesn’t take long, it’s only small, but it’s still a nice addition to the morning routine. One day I want a walk around my garden to be a big journey, rather than just a pathway. But it still makes me happy for the moment. The only thing our current garden holds us back on is the lack of actual ground planting. We’re kind of limited to pot-plants. Luckily, I’ve discovered some really beautiful plants that have thrived in their pots, so that’s today’s post.

Hydrangea

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You just have to hear the names they give these things, and you’ll be sweet on them. Examples include Minty Ice, High Five Purple, Apricot Delight, and Sweet Marshmallow. Plus, they can be used like a mood ring – pink means love and sincere emotions, blue is forgiveness or regret, white is grace, and purple means wealth. Really, you can change the colour depending on what you want, by – get ready to sound smart – the ph levels in the soil, and the presence of aluminium. If you’re planting yourself some hydrangeas and have a colour scheme going, it’s definitely worth reading up on this before you do.

While these do look amazing when they’re used as garden borders and allowed to grow into big bushes, you can grow really pretty versions of these as pot plants. Plus, when they’re smaller they do look a little more bushy in the flower department. So far mine has only grown three flowers, but because they’re bunched together they look full. Get yourself a bright pot to keep them in, and these will look beautiful. This is probably my favourite pot plant in my garden – you can see a glimpse of it when it was a baby plant in this post.

Grow Your Own Hydrangea Plant

Sunflowers

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Admittedly, I don’t have a good photo of a sunflower to show you this year, because mine haven’t yet come to anything. But they’re getting there. I’ve planted a few, and they’re definitely the bigger or taller the pot you use, the more they will thrive. I would say if you’re planning to go for the tall record, planting these as pot plants probably isn’t the best way forward. But if you’re just here for the pretty, yellow flower, then do like me.

Sunflowers have to be everyone’s go-to, they’re the thing – other than cress – that everyone’s had a go at planting. Did anyone else do those challenges in primary school science where you all try to see who can grow the tallest, or was it just my school that had run out of ideas by then? Believe it or not there’s actually sunflower types other than the big, usual yellow ones you’re probably thinking of right now.

Grow Your Own Sunflowers

Tiger Flower (Tigridia Pavonia)

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Right, I had to ask my friend what the hell this was when mine grew – like a genius I threw away the packets after I’d planted them. But, after some research, we realised it was a Tiger Flower, or a Tigridia pavonia. It looks like something straight out of an exotic jungle somewhere, but it really adds colour to a garden.

They grow really strangely, but seem to be thriving in the planter life. They started out as wide, flat leaves, then come out suddenly looking a little like lilies. Then, even more weirdly, they seem to open up in flower in the morning, look beautiful all day, then by the evening they’ve closed themselves up and that’s it. Over the next couple of days they shrivel up and drop off, and leave behind a flat stem ready for the next flower.

Grow Your Own Tiger Flower

Plantain Lilies/Hosta

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These are strange looking plants, but when they’re out in flower they look gorgeous. I bought mine as a cutting, and it started off growing as just a small, shrub-like thing with lots of big leaves. Again, I threw out the packet it came in, so didn’t have a clue what it was supposed to look like. I thought the leaves thing it was doing was it. But then a weird, alien-esque stem shot out the top of it, which then grew little flowers.

Grow Your Own Hosta

Rose Bush

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And finally, the beautiful rose bush. One of my dreams is to one day have a rose-bush section of my garden where I can go and cut some roses and display them on my coffee table. I’m thinking Lisa Vanderpump style in Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. And this’ll be when I’m not so limited to pot plants too.

I couldn’t resist by buy myself a small rose plant to add to my garden when I started out. Mine’s called a Celebration Rose, which I originally thought was going to be a light pink colour, but it’s actually come out a deep red, and I love it. It is a slow-grower, at the moment I’ve only seen two flowers from it, but there’s a few more coming again.

Grow Your Own Rose Bush