We’ve been covering a lot about getting your garden ready for those native plants you’ve been picking out. But what if you don’t have a garden, or even a yard to put a garden in?
Well, there are always containers. Containers are the solution for you if for one reason or another you can’t have a garden in the ground. Maybe you live in a high rise apartment or in a neighborhood with an HOA that forbids you to touch anything outside your house? Do you have physical issues that prevent you from doing the work a garden sometimes requires?
Planting in containers may be the solution. You can have pots on patios, balconies or decks. You can try a bench garden. It’s like a table with sides that can be filled with dirt so you can grow plants there.
Can plants in containers help pollinators?
Yes, they can! Wherever you have your garden, know this: A native microprairie in containers is just as important as one in the ground, especially in the city. Bees and other pollinators can only fly so far. Parks with no native plants or even a neighborhood with only lawn and preapproved shrubs may as well be a desert for a bee or butterfly looking for something to eat.
One of the principles behind microprairies is that we can create a network of pockets of native plants that are closer together, so pollinators can “island hop” from one island of flowers to another without having to wear themselves out. Every little bit helps.
Can you sequester carbon with a potted plant?
You sure can. Whatever your plants are planted in, they still depend on the process of photosynthesis—they take in (inhale) carbon dioxide, split the carbon molecule away from the oxygen molecule, then release (exhale) oxygen and send the carbon to their roots, where they hang onto it. Sequestered!
So even with a modest little collection of potted plants—even one potted plant—you’re still helping to keep carbon out of the air.
So, here are my tips on planting natives in containers.
- Start small if you don’t have a lot of money or patience to deal with replacing plants that didn’t make it.
- Ask a native plant grower or at your dependable garden center which plants they think would be okay in pots. I’d start with plants that aren’t too fussy about their soil.
- Knowing what kind of light conditions your plants need applies to containers, too. Try to group plants with like needs together so you don’t end up with sun-loving plants in the same pot or spot with shade-loving plants. One of them will suffer.
- Consider the size of the full-grown plant when choosing your container. The plant needs enough room, and you don’t want it to get top-heavy so that it tips over easily.
- Watering: Plants in pots need to be watered more often than plants planted in the ground, and the kind of pot you choose and where it’s located affects how much water the plant will need. If you’re not good at remembering to water, make sure you go for the more drought-resistant plants that can handle some neglect.
- You’ll need to repot your plants once in a while so they don’t become root-bound. One of the hallmarks of prairie plants is the massive root systems they can develop. You might want to learn some bonsai techniques to keep the roots under control if you can’t keep switching to larger pots. For the same reason, don’t pot them in dishes (shallow pots). It may work for succulents, but our prairie plants need some space for their roots.
- Overwintering: The roots of a plant in the ground are insulated during winter, but the roots of plants in pots will freeze completely through, killing them if it gets cold enough. Try to put the pots up against your home, preferably on a wall facing south (if you’re in the northern hemisphere) so it gets winter sun and some protection from wind. If you have a three season porch (unheated), even better. But if it gets very cold where you live like it does here (days or weeks below 0 degrees F), be prepared to have to replace your plants in the spring. But you might be surprised. My brother left plants out through a Minnesota winter in the pots he bought them in, and they came up this next spring just fine.
- Don’t be afraid to ask a horticulturist at a reliable garden center for advice. They will love to answer your questions or at least give you some suggestions about how to make your container soil hospitable for native plants.
But what about the whole native soil thing?
When I started thinking about putting native plants in containers, I hit a snag. Can you put a native plant in potting soil? Should you?
After all, isn’t the whole idea of using natives about using plants that are adapted to the soil under your feet and giving the pollinators in your area the best possible food source—one they’re adapted to already? And isn’t some this about getting that microbial life going in the soil?
Good questions. So I looked into it, and guess what? I didn’t find much, especially not much about whether native plants will do okay in potting mix.
I did find some info on what potting soil is, and it’s not native soil. In fact, it’s not soil at all. It’s usually a mix of peat moss, bark chips and perlite, a type of volcanic rock that keeps the potting soil light and fluffy. While that’s good for most plants, that’s not great for plants that are used to struggling in tough soil conditions. Life can be too easy for a native plant, in which case they may get long and leggy and weak.
Can I just get some dirt from outside? Not necessarily. Here’s some good info from wildflower.org, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin. (When you have time, read up on First Lady Lady Bird Johnson and her legacy of restoring beauty to America’s roadsides.)
The article is about native plants in Texas, of course, but there’s some good advice:
“…Using only soil native to the plant’s original habitat, however, may not always yield successful results for container gardens. Clay soils shrink from the edges of pots, directing water over the edge of the hard, dried up root ball rather than saturating it. Adding a bit of compost or cedar flakes can help lighten clay. Sandy soils in pots may not hold enough moisture and plants may benefit from the addition of clay [soil] and compost. A little compost will also provide nutrients to enhance plant health.
“Think about where a given plant grows naturally. Most plants that require shade grow under trees. The trees shed leaves, making the soils richer. The plants that grow under their canopy, such as cardinal flower and columbine, want rich soils. Plants that naturally colonize dry, rocky, poor (little organic matter) soils, such as gayfeather or Blackfoot daisy, suffer in gardens that are well composted, watered often or heavily mulched. If you do not have access to native soils, try to replicate them….”
“Container Gardening with Native Plants,“ at wildflower.org
This might sound a little complicated, and it probably would be if you’re trying to grow native plants that need really particular conditions to be happy. I wouldn’t try growing a Jack-in-the-pulpit in a pot as your first attempt.
But there are plenty of natives that aren’t too fussy. I’m guessing coneflowers and wild bergamot or beebalm would do just fine. They’re pretty foolproof in a regular garden.
So here’s what I would suggest: take your bucket and find a friend with a yard that has soil of the same type as what you want. Ask if you can dig up some of their dirt, then bring it home and mix it with the potting soil. Try a half-and-half formula. I’m just guessing here. It’ll be an experiment. Potting soil by definition is soilless and lifeless. Adding some dirt from a yard or even just some compost will put some of that microbial life back to work, too.
Here’s a little bonus from the Missouri Botanical Gardens: a post that talks about how to arrange your plants in your containers. It even provides three examples each of containers for sun and containers for shade and a list of suggested plants. (Be sure to check their zones.)
Growing native plants in containers is something we need more information on, so I’m going to keep looking. After all, everyone should be able to create little havens for the pollinators that live there, too. I’ll let you know what I find!
Any questions? Ask them in the comments below!