Growing Flowers in Containers:
How to Pick and Plant High-Performance Pots

Growing Flowers in containers is simple and rewarding--even if you grow them in the simplest clay flower pots!

But--if you want your container planting to be successful, you need to know how to select the flowers and how to plant them.

The same flower—or herb, foliage plant, or vegetable—planted in a garden bed can perform differently in a pot. This is because there’s only so much room in an outdoor planter while the ground offers unlimited space for roots and plant expansion.

No matter where your pots go—the patio, the balcony, your deck, or in window-boxes, you need to understand:

• plant selection
• potting soil
• how to plant your flowers and herbs
• plant care (how to fertilize, water, groom)
• repotting
• wintering over
• garden pests and diseases—what they are, how to avoid and get rid of them

We'll cover plant selection and potting soil in this section.

You can make sure you're growing flowers that perform their best by following the plant care gardening guide.

To keep your flowers looking healthy and beautiful, guard against garden pests

How to Pick the Perfect Plant
You can start seeds yourself in many cases—it’s very easy. For more information on that, check out how easy growing flowers from seeds can be.

If you’re growing flowers you’ve purchased, they come home in temporary plant pots. There are things to look for at the nursery so you don’t get a plant home that promptly keels over or spreads some hideous alien disease to all your other lovelies.

Select the right one to take home. You'll also want to be sure to check what plant hardiness zone you live in. Do that in the Plant Finder section of this website.

Next up is The Potting Soil
All potting soil—whether you make it yourself, or buy it—needs to have these key characteristics:

• Structure: this refers to the soil composition. You want it stable, and non-compacting. It needs to have that happy medium where it holds water but also lets it drain away so the roots don’t rot.
• Texture: this refers to soil “lightness.” Potting soil must let enough air in so the roots don’t get waterlogged and can absorb soil nutrients.
• Balance: this refers to the availability of nutrients. Soil in planters not only has to deliver food to roots, it has to offer the right nutrients in the right amounts to so your flowers thrive. Too much can cause root burn and too little can cause plant failure.

Soil or Soilless mixtures are your two choices.

Third thing? Potting Up is essential.
If you're intent on growing flowers that thrive, take your time properly planting them. Damage the roots, get too much potting soil compaction, etc. and you've got wilted, drooping, unhappy flowers.

Not what you were going for, right?

Ok, let's see how avoid that. You’ve got your plants home. Now what? Get organized! Growing flowers is just like most things in life--it's much easier if everything you need is right at your fingertips.

Get all your stuff together before you start. Gloves, water, planter, fertilizer if you like, potting soil, water gel crystals, self-watering system (if you use one), crumbled shards for the bottom of the pot.

Maybe a few plastic bottles (you’ll see why later), Styrofoam or other material to stack in the bottom of big pots.

And if you’re planting a big pot, put it in place now, before you fill and water it.

Also, if you’re using clay pots (that includes terra cotta), soak them, if you can, overnight. This is because clay’s porosity allows water to evaporate and you want your newly potted flowers and herbs to retain the water you give them, especially at the outset.

Finally, wash the pots—scrub them if you’ve used them last year. You want clean outdoor planters free of any possible garden pest or disease problems to start your plants off right and make sure you’re growing flowers that will bloom beautifully.

So you have the pot, you’ve got your stuff. Now it's time for potting up and growing great flowers! If you'd like to watch a video about how to successfully plant your new flowers, you might enjoy this page. And, if you want to watch a video about how to plant containers with the very popular "thriller, filler, and spiller" look, click here.

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