If you don’t have a good garden spot on your yard or maybe lack of yard space then container gardening is the best option for you. The magic of growing something from tiny seeds or seedlings to ripe produce is simply priceless. Some of the most common containers used for small-scale gardening include terra cotta pots, ceramic urns, baskets, and patio planters. If you are on a tight budget, investing on these pricey containers may not be necessary. You can always find some old stuff in your house and let your imagination run wild. Anything that holds soil and water and allows drainage is a potential container garden such as an old boots and high-topped tennis shoes, washtubs and bathtubs, ice cream tubs, kettles, teacups, tree stump, colanders, bucket, old tires turned inside out, a sink, a baby stroller and many more. These recycled containers do not only save you a lot of money but also add a unique look in your garden or living space. Container gardens can be used singly or in combinations, giving the space unlimited design elements.
Because you only have small space garden, choosing the plants you want to grow may be a bit daunting. Determining the right plants for your garden involves cutting down the list of plants you love to the list of plants you will use. You can have the chance to grow a vegetable container garden where you can simply pick a fresh tomato and enjoy the pleasure of eating on the spot while still warm from the sun. Or perhaps, woodland gardens where it brings you unbeatable preference for pastels over hot colors. Some common examples of plants for your container garden are listed below.
Cottage garden classic plants
Achillea ‘Coronation Gold’
This 3 feet tall and 1.5 foot wide plant produces dense, flat clusters of golden yellow flowers above fern-like silvery foliage. They thrive in lean, dry to medium moisture, well-drained sandy loams in full sun.
Dianthus
With the many types of Dianthus, you will surely find one that suits your garden. Most dianthus has pink, red or white flowers with notched petals. These plants grow in areas with full sun and well-drained soil, preferably with neutral to alkaline soil pH.
Cornflowers
Centaurea Cyanus have an unfussy beauty. They look like mini-carnations, delicately fragrant and cheerful. This plant is also known as Centaurea cyanus, Casse Lunette, Bachelor’s button, bluebonnet, blue bow, centaury, cyani, hurtsickle, and bluecap.
Gallica rose
The gallicas are one of the oldest and most highly evolved of all roses ever bred. Gallicas are a perfect addition to your garden because they are graceful, well behaved garden specimen.
Hollyhocks
Alcea or hollyhocks adds a lovely vertical element to your garden. Typically, they grow leaves the first year and flower, seed and die the next year.
Lady’s mantle or Alchemilla mollis
Lady’s mantle is widely known for its fuzzy, cupped leaves that hold water droplets after a rain and the frothy sprays of dainty yellow flowers that bloom in late spring and early summer.
Cranesbill geranium
This annual flowering plant is found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region. This plant has long, palmately cleft leaves while its flowers have 5 petals. Their flowers are colored white, pink, purple, or blue often with distinctive veining.
Lavender
Lavender is a common name for Lavandula. Because of its aromatic fragrance, lavender is often used as the main ingredients in soaps, shampoos, perfumes.
Delphiniums
Delphiniums are commonly found in many English cottage gardens. It is characterized as any of several tall cultivated varieties having palmate leaves and long racemes of showy, variously colored spurred flowers. Delphiniums species include mainly three colors blue, red, and yellow. They thrive in regions with relatively cool and moist summers.
Lupin (Lupinus) Inverewe Red
Medicinal Plants
Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera is one of the famous plants in the world. Studies have shown that this plant is a topical treatment for burns and abrasions, diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, digestive problems, ulcerative colitis, chronic constipation, poor appetite, psoriasis and osteoarthritis.
Great Burdock
Great Burdock has been used medicinally for hundreds of years in America and Europe. This plant is used to help heal the kidney and bladder infections. It also acts as diuretics and stimulates elimination of urine. In China, it is used as an anti-pyretic, which helps reduces fever. The leaves of this plant are used externally for all sorts of skin diseases, from eczema to dry-skin rashes, from treatment of burns to insect bites, and from healing bruises to cuts.
Pot Marigold
Aside from its ability to thrive in any soil condition, calendula officinalis or pot marigold is often used to heal insect bites, stings, sprains, sore eyes, wounds and even varicose veins.
Chamomile
Chamomile is a common name for various daisy-like plants of the family Asteraceae. It has been used as a traditional medicine for thousands of years to calm anxiety and relieve stomach and intestinal cramps.
Echinacea
Echinacea is a popular herb, especially in the treatment of flu and colds. Its functions include the treatment of sores, burns, wounds, allergy, insect bites, stings and snakebites.
Great Yellow Gentian
This herbaceous perennial plant native from the Southern and Central Europe is considered one of the alternative medicines for the treatment of digestive problems. It primarily stimulates the gall bladder and liver while strengthening the body.
Tea Tree
Tea tree is a common ingredient in various medicinal or beauty products. Tea tree oil comes from the leaves and twigs of a tree plant. People uses tea tree oil to treat acne, athlete’s foot, fungal infection of toe nails, dandruff, vaginitis, thrush, periodontal diseases, boils, lice, and cold sores.
Peppermint
Peppermint has been an old-age medicinal plant that dates back during the ancient times. Naturally, it is loaded with vitamin A and C along with one of the essential mineral called manganese. Peppermint is widely used by many to reduce a number of conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, upset stomachs, fever, flatulence, and spastic colon.
Ginseng
Panax Quinquefolium is a popular medicinal plant throughout Eastern United States. Ginseng is sometimes a difficult plant to grow and is often pricey but its outcome is beyond the price. It is used to relax the nervous system, improve the immune system and stamina, helps treat lack of appetite and sleep disorders, and reduces cholesterol levels.
Sage
Salvia officinalis or Sage is both a culinary herb and a medicinal plant with dusty-green leaves with earthly flavors. Sage is well known to combat depression, fatigue, and managing moderate cases of Alzheimer’s disease. Sage oil can also be applied to the skin to help regulate menstrual cycle, heal wounds, skin infections and ulcers. A few drops of sage oil mixed into a glass of water are effective in eliminating indigestion and flatulence. If you are suffering from gum and mouth infections then gargling with sage oil in a shot glass will also eradicate the infections.
Vegetable are also one of the most preferred plants for container gardening. Vegetable container gardening only requires plants or seeds, a container, good potting soil, fertilizer, plenty of sun and water. Peas, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Carrots, Radishes, Cucumbers, Eggplant, and Zucchini squash are a good addition to your garden.