Talking About Potscaping

Filling a pot with annuals or perennials. Filling more pots then massing those pots to create a vignette - that's Potscaping. And that's what gardening expert Marjorie Mason Hogue spoke about at the Tweed and District Horticultural Society meeting on May 4.

Marjorie's love of gardening was evident throughout her informative presentation and she shared some wonderful ideas with the audience. Many gardeners tend to fill their pots with annuals and leave them in one location throughout the summer months, she says. But you have the freedom to move your pots throughout your garden during the season. She also suggests, for added textured and color,  planting perennials, herbs and vegetables in pots. And if you move the perennials around your garden during the season, you'll likely find the best spot to plant that perennial come fall.

Marjorie also explained how to potscape using spring bulbs. Nothing excites a gardener more than a pot of spring tulips. In the fall, plant the bulbs in a hanging basket, keeping the hanger attached. Plant the basket in the garden, leaving the hanger exposed so you'll know where the basket is located in the spring. Next spring, when the garden has thawed, dig up the pot and you'll have a pot of spring flowers.

You can visit Marjorie's garden centre (Mason House Gardens) online at http://www.masonhousegardens.ca/ or in person in Uxbridge, ON. You can also read Marjorie's column in every issue of Canadian Gardening Magazine and hear her radio show "Let's Get Growing" every Saturday morning on CKDO 107.7FM or 1580AM or listen live at http://www.ckdo.ca/.