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Flower Pots 
Flower Pots are more than just Gardening, it’s Art, Flowers, and Plants Combined. Gardening Newsletter Growing plants and flowers in flower pots is easy, fun, versatile and very inexpensive. You have so many choices that any décor style can be achieved as well as accommodate a large variety and sizes of plants and flowers.
Growing plants & flowers in pots is the same as in your gardens when you consider they require:
 
Additionally, various plants and flowers require different ratios of the above mentioned necessities. The main difference is that you can bring a pot inside your home. Inside you can artificially control the environment to grow varieties of flowers or plants that would not be possible in your garden because of climate conditions. Free Newsletter Please sign up and enjoy our Gardening Advisor Newsletter. In this you will read both fun and serious gardening information covering a wide range of topics.
We will gaurd your Email with great care and NEVER send spam or sell your information. Advantages of Growing with Flower Pots:
* They can be placed indoors or outdoors.
* When winter comes they can be relocated.
* You can grow varieties of flowers or plants not possible in your outdoor garden because of climate restrictions.
* Can be moved to different rooms easily.
* Inside you don’t have the pest & disease you’ll put up with outdoors.
* As a gift they can be transported home from the hospital, school or work.
* Option of transplanting to your outdoor garden at some later stage.
Challenges of Growing with Flower Pots:
Potted flowers and plants are growing in restricted conditions and thus are totally dependant upon you for their survival. Challenges with potting are:
* With limited space, some flowers and plants may need watered more often to keep from drying out.
* Conversely, it is very easy to over water a potted plant to the point where the roots get water logged and rot.
* Plants can outgrow their flower pots and need to be repotted.
* Feeding plants in flower pots is trickier because they don’t have the great outdoors to tap into natural mulch nutrients.
Shape – Size – Location - Décor of Flower Plants:
Décor is personal so the only advice here is to at least consider color, shape and style when purchasing your flower pots.
Important Note: Consider the weight of your flower pots. Moving an empty flower pot is one thing, but if it’s large and full of dirt and plants how much does it weigh and can you move it. If it will be extra heavy make sure you place it where you want it before filling with the soil and plants.
Safety Note: This borders on the extremely obvious but be careful where you place heavy flower pots. Make sure a small child can’t pull on over on themselves off a table. Furthermore, make sure a flower pot cannot be easily knocked off a balcony or other high place to cause injury or damage.
Soils – Potting Mixtures for Flower Pots:
You could use soil from outside but there will be challenges. In a closed system like pots the soil from your garden tends to become packed and too hard for proper water drainage. This also makes it a lot harder for nutrients to penetrate to the root systems.
It is better to go with a potting soil mixture which you can either make in the kitchen or purchase. A good mix consists basically of these 3 ingredients:
The main concept here is to create or buy a mix that accomplishes these goals:
Fertilizing & Feeding Plants in Flower Pots:
In a closed container system, your flowers and plants need to be given nutrients more often because there is nothing to replenish the soil. Your options are to fertilize often (possibly at each watering) or to use a slow release fertilizer. Slow release fertilizers allow small amounts of nutrients to be released each time you water.
There are 3 basic ways to help feed your plants in flower pots:
Liquid Fertilizers – Liquid foods are fast & effective because it goes directly to the root system and is therefore quickly absorbed. Liquid fertilizers come in various strengths and types. * Synthetic Liquid Fertilizers
* Organic Liquid Fertilizers (fish emulsion, seaweed extract, etc).
Granular & Pellet Fertilizers – These act as “time-released” fertilizers. They put nutrients into your soil and are available to your flowers and plants on a continual basis for weeks at a time.
Organic Fertilizers – This is a great solution that’s easy to do. One method that works is to place organic mater around the top of your potted plants. Whenever you water your potted plants nutrients leach from the organic matter into your soil and thereby feeding your flowers and plants. Examples of organic matter are: * Mulch from your compost pile. * Manures (well rotted or they may burn your plants roots). * Purchased versions pre-mixed for this purpose.
Watering Plants in Flower Pots:
It’s easy to over water a potted plant. More plants die from over watering than by drying out. The reason for this is you are dealing with a small closed system that can retain water (when the soil becomes saturated for a longer period the plants roots will rot).
If the soil is waterlogged then proper amounts of air will not get to the plant and nutrients are blocked. Pointers on watering plants in flower pots:
Water Test – Pick up your pot and feel the relative weight compared to when it was fully watered. If it’s dry you’ll feel that it’s lighter.
Water Deeply – When you do water, do it deeply rather than lightly everyday. This of course depends on the flower or plant because cactus for example will die if you water them too much.
Water Crystals – These can reduce watering frequency needed.
If Outdoors – Potted plants placed outside may need daily watering because they have the elements such as sun, wind and heat to help dry out their soil.
Terra Cotta / Clay Pots – Flowers and plants in these types of pots usually need watering more than if in plastic or ceramic pots. This is because Terra Cotta / Clay pots are more porous and will absorb water away from your plantings.
Self Watering Pots – These work by storing water in a small area under the pot. There is also a tube that draws that water slowly into the potting mix as needed. Great for busy gardeners or when you are vacationing. Free Newsletter Please sign up and enjoy our Gardening Advisor Newsletter. In this you will read both fun and serious gardening information covering a wide range of topics.
We will gaurd your Email with great care and NEVER send spam or sell your information. Various Types of Flower Pots: One of the really neat things about flower pots is there are so many varieties. Some of the popular styles of flower pots are:
In addition to traditional flower pots are a wide variety of related planters that are uniquely designed for all sorts of uses. Some of the styles are:
Arts & Crafts with Flower Pots:
You can do more with flower pots than grow flowers and plants. Many people use flower pots for all sorts of craft projects, gifts, and décor.
Flower Pot Candles – This is easy to do. This usually is done with unglazed terra cotta style flower pots and can be any size (depends on how big you want your candle to be). The basics of flower pot candle making are: * Use terra cotta style clay pots.
* Use glazed flower pots (if unglazed you need to coat the inside for fire safety reasons). * Plug the hole at the bottom to prevent wax from poring out. * Pour in the wax with wick in place. * Decorate as you like or leave bare.
Wind Chimes – You can decorate smaller flower pots, turn them upside down, and hang strings with chimes connected.
Christmas Tree Ornaments – Using small flower pots you can decorate tem with all sorts of winter scenes and hang on your tree or place on a table. Examples of Plants for Flower Pot Gardening:
Annual Flowers:
Perennial Flowers:
Bulbs:
Flower Pot Gardening is easy and gives you the opportunity to enjoy your flowers and plants indoors and all season. |
