BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Container Gardening What is good with bright light?

I do Not have a green thumb as much as I wish I did, but I have these two nice containers that I try to grow flowers in every spring/summer and they always die. The containers are around 14inches high and 14-16 inches wide. I want a beautiful flower that will bloom through the fall. I live in PA.

Any ideas. I'm not crazy about yellow or orange.

Check your local nursery for good ideas in flowering annuals. There are some really nice blue and purple salvias you might like, and lots of pinks to choose from, and don't be afraid to combine low plants and high ones, like a couple of petunias and a salvia.
The main thing is to fill the containers with a top quality container soil with added fertilizer. Miracle-gro gives great results. Just filling the pots with a shovelful from your back yard will work, but not as well.
Make sure that the pots have drainage (a hole in the bottom that isn't clogged up) and then be consistant in watering them. Containers set in the sun on concrete can get boiling hot and dry out in no time.
Enjoy!

Oh, I set mine on concrete. That must be my problem. So are you saying there should be a plate underneath? I have to check and see if there are holes in the pots. There sure should be.

The problem with concrete is that it soaks up the heat and reflects it up into the plants, drying them out really fast so you have to make sure that they get plenty of water, daily if it is sunny and hot. If they seem to dry out super fast you can put a plate underneath to hold the water in the pot for a little longer. But you don't want the roots to sit in soggy soil for days on end, that makes them rot. That's the reason for the drainage holes.