Hello SandraJ and Everybody!
Oh my SandraJ how time has just flown. I meant to answer your posts long before now - thanks for your visits!- and I am sorry that I haven't. Anyway, here we go.
Being in South Africa is a surprise as it is so far away from you there in Oregon ... (what city please tell), but imagination brings us as close as that cuppa coffee or tea you are going to have soonish and that's just fine for me. Knowing your city will help me learn more about your fab country but no matter if you don't want to say.
Also are you in a wheelchair and seated or can you walk with an aid ... and I am asking only to respond perhaps more clearly. Again, no matter but you can choose which plants and or ideas are more suitable. And as everything comes in threes! please describe all of your inherited containers so that I can match them up.
For now, what I will say is that containers are 'beings' in my life. This may sound funny, but I call them characters in a play I manage, and each of mine has a name. This is for several reasons but one is that my gardener and assistant forgets the names of the plants but not always their plantpot names.
He knows when to water Annie, how to care for her, when to give her food, when to trim and how to fuss when needed.
Annie is a beautiful very big (6 feet or so) Philodenron which is variously underplanted with begonias and mondo grass or spider plants or ivy. She is in a large semi-circle container around 5 feet in diameter and around 17 inches high - very heavy to move about so she is well placed and comfy and a really beautiful gal!
So on my 'to do' in the garden list that I follow (which comes from my garden notebook), when I say do such and such for Annie -he knows exactly where to go. Of course I do a lot myself, but there is so much to do in the garden that I could not keep up without his help.
Anyway SandraJ, will wait for your answer but will start to think of some ideas for you in the meantime. Still and all, even if some of your containers are plastic, PLEASE ensure they are completely clean from all previous plant material and old soil.
Scrub-Wash them out in strong white vinegar water, fill them with snow and leave them thus for a couple of days, then empty them, bring them inside or onto the stoep etc and see what you choose to do with them.
Next is to place the empty pots where they will look prettiest in shapes and sizes and colours and types. Play a little so that they each add to the other. Then tell me some favourites you have - plants, colours and all and all, and also if you want to grow edibles, herbs and vegetables or just flowers.
Cheers for now, will hear from you I am sure, ta
Last edited by Lestie - ContainerGardens; 01/02/13 08:48 PM.