Container Gardening in the Southwest

Given that here at Imagine Backyard Living, we are as much about the patio as we are about the entire backyard. In order to appropriately serve our friends and clients who don’t have huge lawns or garden beds, we wanted to take some time to talk about container gardening is an excellent way to incorporate the beauty of nature into your smaller property. Not only is container gardening a great way to fill space with the types of accents and flair that only natural flora can provide, but it is an even better way to take care of the same plants year after year, regardless of the climate.

Container Gardening Protects Plants

While containers can limit the size that a particular plant is able to grow to, the fact that they are mobile allows you to move them depending on the time of day or year to be in the best environment possible to thrive. For example, some succulents are not very frost-resistant but can tolerate most other outdoor conditions.

Whenever the weather forecasts a hard freeze, those plants can be moved inside overnight to weather the harsh conditions. Some other popular southwestern plants actually do not like a ton of water and can be moved indoors during a hard rain to prevent their roots from becoming oversaturated.

Container Gardening is All About the Containers

One of the other benefits of container gardening is that it allows you to express your creativity through the plant as well as container choices. Choose colors and color themes that match the plants as well as the building material that makes up the outside of your home. For accent pieces, go with large colorful terracotta pieces matched with tall slender cacti for a contrast that will be sure to draw the viewer’s attention.

While there are a number of store-bought container options available out there, really use your imagination and even consider building some of your own or repurposing items that you would not traditionally think of to hold plants. Antique watering cans are great for holding vining plants that will drape over the edges.

The possibilities are truly endless with container plants. The biggest benefit is that you can bring them inside from time to time to brighten up the aesthetics of your home and even help clean and filter the air that you are breathing. In the desert southwest, most succulents can do great in a container and only need to be transplanted to larger pots if you wish them to continue growing. It is always a good idea to get some specific directions from your local garden store when selecting plants for a container garden. Get out there and get creative with your patio plant decorations and go wild with some container gardening.