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Posted on: April 23, 2007

Enter in Floral Style

With a few green-thumb touches, you can greet your guests with a hearty welcome before you ever open the door

By Beth Kujawski
CTW Features

Whether a palatial porch or stubby front stoop, there are lots of things you can do to spruce up your home’s entryway. “The idea is to be a little more fun and to put some personality into it. So choose plants that you like but not necessarily those being used by the neighbor next door,” says Tom Bodnar, nursery manager at Peaceable Farms, Ridgefield, Conn.

Plants

There’s almost no limit to the plants you can use in adorning your doorstep. Annuals are the first things that spring into everyone’s mind, but perennials can be potted and wintered over from year to year.

Even topiaries aren’t just for formal gardens anymore. “They look great all year,” says Bodnar. “The only thing with topiaries is that you do have to do trimming, but since they’re mostly needled evergreen, they’ll stay from year to year as long as you feed and fertilize them.”

Fragrance

A number of easy-to-grow plants are exceptionally aromatic, adding to the sensory experience. Petunias and marigolds are old standbys, but for ease of growing and aromatic punch, scented geraniums are hard to beat. More than 50 types of fragrant plants exist, and include lemon, orange, coconut, peppermint and chocolate mint scents.

Plants Helping Plants

Many plants are renowned for their abilities to repel pests that plague other plants and pester us. Basil, for example, is said to repel flies and mosquitoes, and catnip potted near doors can keep ants at bay.

However, Phyllis Milano, a perennial manager at Twombly Nursery,

Monroe, Conn., says there is no proof that plants actually act as repellents. “The only thing that they’ve proven is that marigolds will work against nematodes in the soil,” she says. “Everything else is old wives’ tale.”

More, More, More

While it’s true that you have to allow plants room to grow in containers, many gardeners skimp at the outset. “Most people in gardens to do not think big enough,” says Bodnar. “When you think you have enough plants in there, find room for three or five more. You don’t want to wait the entire season for them to get into their glory, so you should plant them heavily.” Fill pots with lots of plants, keeping in mind to use plants that grow to various heights for maximum impact in a single space.

Some ground covering plants, like ornamental grasses, are not best to invite to your property let alone plant in numbers. “There are things that are invasive which means they usually self-feed like crazy, and they push out native plants,” Milano says.

Materialism

In very sunny locations, lighter-color pots will absorb less heat than darker pots, and keep roots cooler and happier. Containers made of wood absorb the least amount of heat of all potting options.

Terra cotta is traditional material for pots, but it’s also heavy and breakable. And once you fill a terra cotta pot with soil and plants it may be darn near impossible to move. Extreme cold can also crack terra cotta pots, Milano says. So, if you’re a terra cotta purist, plan ahead and put the pot on casters before you fill it. Keep in mind, too, that terra cotta pots dry out quickly, requiring more frequent watering than their plastic counterparts.

Levels

In order to accommodate more pots and add visual interest, get vertical, using anything from plant stands to stacks of bricks to a concrete paver set on a minnow bucket. Hillside homes can be a blessing in this case. “A slope is great for plants that really need drainage, but it’s hard to establish things on it,” says Milano. “Sometimes you just have to try things.”

Move it

Waiting for a new landscape plan to grow in? Fill in empty spaces with pots as your landscape matures. As long as various containers have similar light considerations, switch pots around with other containers used elsewhere in your landscape.

“You can get away with putting a sunny pot in the shade for a week or two,” says Bodnar. “As long as you bring it back out, it won’t suffer that much. It’s a nice way to brighten things up if you’re having a party.”