Less is more, so the saying goes. But sometimes, more is better.
That was certainly the case when Kathy Pufahl set out to plant what are surely some of the biggest containers available–Italian resin pots from Campania International that are 54 inches in diameter.
Pufahl worked with scores of plants, including many that are new on the market this spring, such as Coleus `Pineapplette,’ with red stems and leaf edges; `Amora,’ with its lovely large leaves; and `Freckles,’ whose orange splotches without a hint of red make it unusual.
Just when it seemed even those huge pots couldn’t accommodate one more stem, she’d cram in another annual or two. But the colorful end result, which had vines spiraling up and flowers cascading down, looked lush and inviting, not crowded.
“In general, I like a lot of fullness in the pot … something that is just brimming full,” Pufahl said. “People ask how many plants I use for a pot, and my answer is: however many I can fit. People are amazed at how much you can really chop down the root ball and abuse the plant, more or less, to squeeze it in.”
For gardeners tempted to follow her example of packing lots of plants in a pot, she has this warning: It will mean more work from the start.
“Any number of plants are going to fill out a container, but it depends how quickly they fill it out,” she said. “The more plants you put in early, the more maintenance you’ll have with water and fertilizer. If you put fewer plants in, you have more soil to hold the water longer.”
Container gardening has become enormously popular in the last decade, and surely part of the credit must go to Pufahl.
At Beds & Borders, the wholesale nursery she owns in Laurel Lane, N.Y., on Long Island, Pufahl has made unusual annuals and tender perennials her specialty.
In the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, she has been credited with popularizing the now-ubiquitous Ipomoea batatas `Blackie,’ or sweet potato vine, along with such plants as Petunia integrifolia a trailing pink species petunia, and Helichrysum petiolare `Limelight,’ or licorice plant, an herb that’s now more often used as an ornamental.
Along the way, she has earned a name for herself as an expert and lecturer.
Her work has appeared in national magazines ranging from Horticulture to Victoria and Country Living Gardener. She has designed container gardens for Martha Stewart Living and Goldsmith Seeds. Last year, she was invited to Disney’s Epcot Center, where she was featured as a “Great American Gardener” at the International Flower Festival.
Not a bad track record for a medical researcher with a biology degree who got into gardening when she took a stopgap job in a retail nursery nearly 20 years ago and fell in love with plants.
Her enthusiasm was still evident when she was asked what she suggests for gardeners who want to plant eye-catching containers this year.
Pick petunias and verbenas: “I always tell people that the vegetative verbenas and Supertunias, any number of the nice varieties out there, perform so well in the heat of summer and are so versatile, because you can get them in a huge range of colors, from strong contrasts to almost monochromatic,” Pufahl said. Her wholesale catalog alone lists 15 trailing verbenas in addition to cut-leaf and upright verbenas and the Verbena bonariensis she recommends for large containers, plus many Petitunias, small-flowered varieties from Danziger Israel, and Supertunias, vigorous trailing petunias from Proven Winners. New petunias are being bred at a dizzying rate, she said.
Vary the forms: “It’s effective to vary flower forms–not have all daisies or petunias,” she said. “I may choose three plants for my centerpiece in a pot, but add a lot of fullness to them to draw your eye to them. At least one of those will have some beautiful foliage to it.”
Focus with foliage: “My eye goes to the midpoint on a pot,” Pufahl said, “and if you rely too heavily on flowers in that place, at some point in the season it is going to look a little peaked. Things come in and out of flower. But if you use a foliage plant, a coleus or a plectranthus, it gives you some weight there [to balance] the trailing things.”
Find a balance: To keep a container looking balanced, make the plantings two-thirds the height of the pot, she said, “but if it’s an urn shape I keep it more draping and less height.”
Use good soil: Pufahl recommends starting any container with a good-quality soil mix and adding maybe 20 percent of organic material such as compost to help it hold moisture for summer plantings.
Add fertilizer: “I use controlled-release fertilizers, like an Osmocote,” she said, “because it’s really hard to keep a pot fertilized in the summer when you are watering all the time. In a container, the plants are dependent on a gardener for the food supply.” Partway through the season she fertilizes with an organic fertilizer or a liquid fertilizer such as Peter’s.
Water well: Containers need a lot of water, and Pufahl suggests that a basic drip-irrigation system might be the best way to go for effective slow watering. Water-retaining crystals help plants get established but don’t have a big effect later on in the season, she said.
