Evolving Porch Pots....You Can Grow That!

Have you ever seen seasonal porch pots--especially fall and winter-themed--around during those seasons and wondered how you can do it yourself? AND....make plants work for more than one season?

I absolutely love my front step pots. No lyin'. The possibilities are endless and I truly enjoy seeing various container plantings around during the growing season. Coming from a house where I had a 16x8' porch that I filled up with various containers, I now have only two pots that I plant identically that flank our front door. I like to make these pots work for more than one season by using plants that can work in the season following.


So, here is a year of my porch pots. I'm showing last year's, since we are still in progress this year. : )


Spring


The only time I ever start over with my front step pots are in the spring. Don't we all start over a little each spring? I do just pansies. I'm anxious for some green and color by that time of the year.

I have some new ideas for next spring's pots. We'll see how it goes!


Summer


I won't lie....I do feel pressure when choosing my container plantings in May, since I feel like it's a big commitment. I've had to teach myself to let go and refresh them in the middle of the summer if something's not thriving. Here's a midsummer shot of my porch pots last summer.

Obviously, it was 4th of July time. I had some coral million bells, strawflower, sweet potato vine 'Margarita' and a maroonish plant in the back. This is not one of my favorites, but it turned out not too badly.


Fall


To take this container into fall, I kept just the maroon foliage plant. I added ornamental cabbage, pansies and 4.5" mums. When I took this pic, the white on the cabbages was not showing up yet...I also decided to add a small white pumpkin for a bit of color. I chose maroon/yellow pansies and yellow mums. The cabbages were a great find at the grocery store--a big pot of those three for about $12. I broke them up into three separate containers.

Christmas


For Christmastime, I kept the cabbages and added some red berries, fake greenery (sometimes I use real), pinecones and some lights strung onto silver-painted twigs.

Winter


For the final porch pot before the spring changeout, I removed the red berries and the lights. I added some dried grass from my ornamental grasses, but kept the cabbages, pinecones and greenery. They look even lovelier with some snow....of which we did not have much last year. : ) By the time it's the season for pansies, the cabbages are more than ready to come out.

With some forethought and planning......beautiful through-the-seasons porch pots?


You can grow that!

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