Creating Tiered Fall Containers for Maximum Plant Interest!
Creating Tiered Fall Containers for Maximum Plant Interest!
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00:00 (plastic rustling)
00:02 (plastic rustling)
00:05 (thudding)
00:10 (thunder rumbling)
00:13 (plastic rustling)
00:18 - Okay, bum on the seat please, babe.
00:31 Bum on the seat.
00:32 (plastic rustling)
00:35 Sit in your chair, please.
00:38 Hey guys, how's it going?
00:43 So today we are planting up the 10 large containers
00:46 along our east fence line for fall.
00:48 And I'm trying to remember back,
00:50 have we ever planted these up for fall?
00:52 I know we've had boxwoods in them at least one fall season.
00:55 We've put greens in them for winter,
00:57 but I can't remember if I've ever done
00:59 like ornamental kale and pansies
01:01 and things like that for fall.
01:03 So that's what we're doing today.
01:04 And I'm very excited about it.
01:05 I already put together one and we rarely do that.
01:07 I rarely start the project
01:09 before I start filming the project,
01:11 but I wanted to see how it was gonna come together
01:13 and I love it.
01:14 Look at that.
01:15 Look at how beautiful that is.
01:17 I really wanted a very uniform, clean design,
01:19 which means you use a lot of repeat plants
01:22 and you only pick a few plants.
01:24 So in here we've got ivy,
01:26 which will be good through the winter.
01:28 Well, and it's perennial.
01:29 I mean, I could keep it in here.
01:30 When I'm done, I can move it out.
01:32 We've got ornamental kale.
01:34 I'll tell you the name in a minute when I can find a tag.
01:37 And this will be good through the winter as well.
01:39 Then we've got dusty miller.
01:41 This is the serious variety.
01:42 And oftentimes these will hold,
01:44 well, these will hold through a really hard frost
01:46 and they'll eventually start to wilt down
01:49 when it starts getting super, super cold
01:51 for a prolonged period of time,
01:52 but they will last for a long time.
01:54 And then as a centerpiece,
01:56 I went and cut some of our corn
01:58 and I cut six hydrangea blooms off of the quick fire fabs
02:01 in the back corner of our property.
02:03 And you can see the gator here is all loaded up.
02:05 We've got lots of things in here.
02:06 I think I've got enough stuff to get three completely done.
02:08 Then we'll have to go get more corn and hydrangeas,
02:11 but let's see if we can find a tag.
02:13 Kale ornamental crystal snow.
02:15 These are gorgeous.
02:18 They are so pretty and so big.
02:22 Now there is one different thing
02:24 about how I'm putting these containers together,
02:26 because when you look at the dusty miller
02:28 and the kale in their containers,
02:30 they're about the same height,
02:32 but not when we get them planted.
02:34 See the beautiful layering we have there.
02:36 I created a second layer, planting layer in here
02:40 using a piece of really thick cardboard.
02:43 So we actually have a tiered planter inside this container.
02:47 And you'll notice that the kale aren't flat.
02:50 Like if we were to plant them
02:51 with the roots facing straight down,
02:53 you would see the top of the cabbage like this way,
02:56 but we tip these a little bit as well as the ivy
03:00 so that we get the nice spill effect right away.
03:02 And we can see the face of the kale
03:04 as we approach the container.
03:06 And these are all still on drip.
03:07 The cardboard will hold up through this fall season,
03:10 probably through the winter.
03:11 It's not something I would do for a summer container,
03:14 but I would do it for spring and of course fall container.
03:17 So anyway, I want to show you how these go together,
03:20 how I'm doing this.
03:21 First off, these are the Jumbo Jardiniers
03:22 from Unique Stone.
03:23 And I want to say, they're like a 30 inch diameter maybe.
03:28 I have to look that up to be certain.
03:30 We have fresh soil from top to bottom.
03:32 We cleaned out all of the summer stuff.
03:35 And then we have our drip system already set up.
03:37 So we'll leave that flopped out of the container
03:39 until we are done planting
03:41 and then we'll weave it through the plants.
03:42 So I'm going to set up a camera
03:43 and try to get some good close angles
03:45 so you can see how I'm doing this.
03:46 Now, while these are all going in a little bit different
03:49 than how you would normally plant a container,
03:51 every single root ball is completely covered with soil
03:54 and everything should do great.
03:56 And I am packing it full too.
03:58 And that's another thing I've always mentioned
04:00 in fall and spring containers,
04:01 you're not dealing with the kind of growth
04:02 that you deal with in summer.
04:04 So feel free to pack them full from the very beginning
04:06 because they just don't need the space.
04:08 All right, so let's walk through the steps.
04:09 The first thing we're going to plant is our outer ring,
04:12 which consists of our ivy, which this is a, what variety?
04:16 Needlepoint ivy and our kale.
04:19 And I'm going to set them out first.
04:21 So I'm going to set this one here,
04:23 one like that, all the way around.
04:25 I am not going to use an ivy on the backside
04:28 because it's kind of a waste of a plant.
04:30 So there will be two kale kind of next to each other
04:32 without an ivy between it.
04:34 Let's get these set.
04:35 And we want them, we want them close together, like so.
04:44 Okay, so what I have here is an ivy, kale, ivy, kale,
04:48 ivy, kale, ivy, kale, kale, ivy, kale, ivy, kale,
04:52 if that makes sense.
04:52 So right here, we don't have an ivy coming out the back.
04:55 Let me just clear these out
04:57 so you can see what I'm doing here.
05:00 So with our first ivy, take it out of the container,
05:03 rough up the roots if you feel like it's root bound.
05:05 And because we watered these on drip
05:07 and they get such a slow, steady stream of water,
05:09 it has a chance to soak in without like bubbling up.
05:12 I'm going to put this root ball right up to the top
05:15 of the container right there.
05:16 And it will seem wrong to do that,
05:18 but it'll be totally fine.
05:19 We're going to put soil around the whole root ball
05:21 and we will be checking all of these root balls
05:23 in the end as well.
05:24 But now it's time for a kale.
05:26 Are you filming too, Samantha?
05:28 So we're going to take this one out of the container.
05:34 Look at these roots.
05:35 Those are intense.
05:37 I'll break that up a little bit.
05:38 Excuse me, baby, I'm going to put a plant right here.
05:44 We tip that root ball like this
05:46 because we want this to be facing out.
05:48 Now this is higher than this,
05:49 but in the end,
05:50 because we are building up another layer inside,
05:52 we're going to be able to fill in
05:53 over the top of this eventually.
05:56 So I know it looks wrong and scary right now, but trust me.
06:00 Okay, another kale.
06:02 I'm going to do the same thing.
06:05 Now we've got our ivy.
06:12 (leaves rustling)
06:16 We're going to do that all the way around.
06:18 (leaves crunching)
06:24 (leaves crunching)
06:27 (leaves crunching)
06:31 (leaves crunching)
06:34 Okay, I've got another bag of soil.
07:00 Because if you take a look in here,
07:02 see how the root balls look nicely covered
07:04 and they're going to get even more covered than that.
07:06 But we need to fill in with a bit more soil.
07:08 (leaves crunching)
07:11 Oh, this bag of soil is wet.
07:15 Okay, the whole bag.
07:24 This is going to be our next planting level.
07:27 Let me grab my cardboard right here.
07:29 So I'm just going to mold this real quick
07:31 so we can make a circle with it.
07:33 This is thick cardboard.
07:34 This is the, came from the box that our Adirondack chairs
07:37 came in from Country Casualty.
07:38 We'll sink that in just a little bit.
07:42 I couldn't cut quite a long enough piece,
07:43 so we have to make do here.
07:45 Look at that.
07:49 So you can come in with soil back behind these,
07:53 fill in if needed, but I don't feel like we need to.
07:57 Filling in around all those root balls.
07:58 Don't feel any air pockets at all.
08:00 So that's our second layer right there.
08:04 Isn't that fun?
08:05 Okay, so with the Dusty Miller,
08:07 what I like to try to do is get one between each kale,
08:10 kind of like that.
08:12 So take it out of its container,
08:15 kind of plant it at a slight slant like that.
08:17 Kind of do the same thing.
08:21 How many do I need?
08:25 One, two, three, four, five.
08:27 I think I brought enough over.
08:29 Ooh, save the nice big ones for the front.
08:32 Look at that.
08:34 Oh, that is so pretty.
08:37 I love these for fall containers.
08:39 And so you'll notice I don't have any plants
08:45 for these that have blooms.
08:47 I mean, we'll use the hydrangea blooms,
08:48 but I almost didn't do that in the first container.
08:50 It looked very clean and very nice even without them.
08:53 So that's totally personal preference.
08:56 I'm gonna replace this one.
08:57 This one's a little smaller.
08:59 Put that one toward the back.
09:00 Nice big one toward the front.
09:02 Okay, so we've got our ring of Dusty Millers in.
09:06 Now I'm gonna create a little well,
09:08 not a little one, kind of a deep one with my hand
09:11 because it's easier to put the corn in
09:13 without having to push it all the way down through the soil.
09:17 And you know what?
09:18 Before I do the corn, let's get the drip up through here.
09:19 So this is long enough to where I can sneak it in
09:22 behind all of the kale on the lower level.
09:26 (child mumbling)
09:28 Do this by feel here.
09:30 (child mumbling)
09:37 Oh, where'd your shoes go, babe?
09:39 (child mumbling)
09:43 Kitty doesn't want you to pet him right now.
09:45 Okay, so I've got this much left.
09:48 We're gonna pop up into the top
09:50 and that's what will water the Dusty Miller up there.
09:52 It's perfect.
09:53 Let me grab the corn.
09:54 It's a bundle of 10 right here.
09:56 I'm gonna pop these down in.
09:59 I'm gonna sink them down in and then tamp them in,
10:02 spread them out a little bit
10:04 and then push the soil in around them.
10:07 So they should be fine.
10:08 They shouldn't blow around in the wind.
10:10 Shouldn't, just be the key word here.
10:12 Oh, so pretty.
10:16 Now hydrangeas.
10:17 Take all the leaves off of them first.
10:19 Look at that big beauty right there.
10:22 The nice part about this is that a lot of times
10:24 our hydrangeas, they'll burn on one side.
10:26 So I can just face that toward the corn stalks
10:28 and use the good side facing out.
10:30 Okay, here we go.
10:32 So these, we just sink down into the soil right in there.
10:36 Give it a little bit of extra fluff.
10:37 Again, I don't really feel like these are 100% necessary,
10:42 but they do add a little extra oomph
10:44 down toward the bottom of the corn.
10:47 (leaves rustling)
10:50 Done.
10:55 Isn't it fun?
10:56 Oh, I just love it.
10:57 This corn needs some help though.
10:59 Might have to mess with the corn a little bit
11:05 to get it right.
11:05 That is so pretty, I love it.
11:10 All right guys, I got eight more to do.
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12:39 Oh, you guys, I love how these turned out.
12:41 So there's that first one we did
12:43 and then look at all of them.
12:45 Oh, I love just how there's, you know,
12:48 a lot in each container, a lot,
12:50 but they still have a very simple look to them,
12:52 which I appreciate sometimes,
12:54 especially after, you know, your summer plantings,
12:56 which are usually, well, ours were a mess by the end.
12:59 I mean, we had purple fountain grass
13:01 that had been flattened by a couple of huge rainstorms
13:04 that we had come through and they had kind of picked back up
13:07 but part of them was still laying down.
13:09 And then, you know, the sweet potato vine
13:10 was halfway across the driveway after trimming it twice.
13:14 And then our supertunias were starting
13:16 to look a little tired.
13:17 It just, it's just nice to see kind of a clean look
13:20 after that.
13:21 And I like both.
13:22 I like having the abundant flower filled, you know,
13:25 drapey containers, but I also like this.
13:28 Now I'm probably gonna cut more corn stalks.
13:30 I was trying to just use 10 per container
13:32 because I didn't know how many I had out in the garden.
13:35 And I have plenty more to go put, like, I don't know,
13:38 five to seven more in each pot
13:39 just to kind of bulk it up a little bit.
13:41 And I think that will be perfect,
13:42 but I'll do that later on.
13:44 I need to get these all watered in.
13:46 The fourth one in, so let's see, one, two, three, four.
13:49 That one had the shortest drip line.
13:51 So I need to get in there and extend that just a little bit,
13:53 but the rest of them, it worked out beautifully.
13:55 And you know, as you're looking at these containers,
13:57 you can't even see the cardboard little layer.
14:01 Isn't that crazy?
14:03 I just love how it gives you the ability
14:05 to do a stacked container look like this.
14:07 And I do prefer to have them all mapped
14:10 when they're this close together.
14:11 There was one summer where we did,
14:13 Aaron and I did that container challenge
14:15 where he designed seven of the pots
14:17 at the time we had 14 here instead of 10,
14:20 but he did seven, I did seven.
14:22 And so every single one of them was different.
14:24 And while it was a very fun experiment,
14:26 I'm glad it was just an experiment, not something permanent
14:29 because it just, it's too much.
14:31 When you have something that's all in a row like this,
14:33 it's just nice to have a continuous look.
14:36 It's more restful in the eye.
14:37 So you can do as much color and as much stuff
14:41 in the container, but as long as they all match,
14:43 then it doesn't look like too much.
14:45 And the wonderful part about these containers
14:48 is that once fall is over, we will pop the corn out
14:51 and I'll pop red twig dogwood right in the center.
14:54 We might need to add a few greens.
14:56 You know, if these have started to kind of
14:57 will down a little bit, but everything else will stay.
15:01 I love that.
15:02 Okay, we are gonna plant two more containers
15:04 because they're easy.
15:05 They're the two shallow urns behind the Hartley
15:07 and we're just doing Ivy and pansies right here.
15:10 I might do just all lemon yellow or a mix of both
15:12 kind of candy corn style.
15:14 And then another type of Ivy.
15:16 Now they have a needle point tag in this Ivy,
15:19 but that is not needle point Ivy.
15:20 So I'm not sure what kind that is, but it works out.
15:25 We actually ended up with exactly the right amount
15:28 of needle point Ivy that we needed for those 10 containers.
15:30 It worked out great.
15:31 Still have some Bordeaux back here.
15:35 We've had to pull some out, you know,
15:38 where we had that great big water leak right there.
15:40 And these containers, I am gonna be planting up
15:42 for fall as well, but they still look so pretty.
15:46 But I think after this weekend, we're gonna get pretty cold.
15:49 I don't know.
15:50 I think they might be done after that,
15:52 but oh, I just have enjoyed those so much.
15:55 These are the urns right here.
15:57 See the little Viola that we had spring up by the bench.
16:01 Now we have this Joey's Lamb's Tail, which is a super cool,
16:06 it's not a grass, but it looks like the plume of a grass.
16:10 I don't really know.
16:12 I don't know.
16:13 Anyway, we've got, let's see, three in this container
16:16 and there's one over there.
16:18 I think I'm gonna take these out and pot them
16:19 in the greenhouse and see if we can't winter them over.
16:22 We started these from seed.
16:24 They're so neat.
16:25 I'm thinking this container is wet, wet.
16:29 I need to take all this soil out and start over
16:32 'cause I don't know what is going on
16:34 with the drainage here.
16:35 Okay, let's get these done.
16:36 (leaves rustling)
16:39 (leaves rustling)
16:42 (leaves rustling)
16:45 (leaves rustling)
16:48 (leaves rustling)
16:53 (leaves rustling)
17:13 (leaves rustling)
17:15 (leaves rustling)
17:41 (leaves rustling)
17:43 (leaves rustling)
18:07 (leaves rustling)
18:10 (water running)
18:35 (water running)
18:37 Okay, all done.
18:41 Went with a mix of the lemon yellow
18:43 and the orange with the ivy.
18:45 I think that looks very fresh.
18:48 Oh my goodness, so fresh compared to what we had
18:50 going on in there and just simple
18:53 and I really, really like it.
18:54 And there's that one looking very much the same.
18:57 And these should do really well through the winter too
18:59 in terms of interest, even the pansies.
19:01 Unless we get really, really cold,
19:04 most of the time they look a little bit sad
19:06 and kind of withered down in the morning.
19:07 But if it's sunny out especially,
19:09 they'll pick back up by lunchtime and they'll look great.
19:11 And you guys, I realized that my microphone
19:13 was not on for part of the video.
19:15 So I do apologize if the audio was kind of crummy there
19:17 for a little while, but either way,
19:19 I'm really happy that these fall containers are done.
19:22 Like I said, I have plans to do the four
19:24 around the Hartley at the corners,
19:26 the ones out at the Cut Flower Garden,
19:28 couple in the Versailles Garden,
19:30 and then just whatever else kind of
19:32 happens to fall into place.
19:33 But I'm just enjoying seeing some fresh plants out.
19:36 So anyway, thank you guys so much for watching.
19:38 I hope you enjoyed it.
19:40 And we will see you in the next one.