Summer on the front porch

I am a little late with the annual front porch pics, but 2021 has been a HOT summer and shook up the growing season for my potted plants. We had 3 unusual days of SW desert heat here in Oregon-108f, 112f, 117f at the end of June.

 My hydrangea were burned so badly that they will not recover until next season. Camelia shrubs were badly burnt too. As for the potted flowers and plants, they went into dormancy for about 10 days, but with some water, fertilizer, and love they have rebounded quite nicely. 

A few pics from the back Patio

Plant the Pot!

If you haven't already planted your outdoor container pots, try this simple technique. I am just getting started! We recently returned from a 3 week vacation to Hawaii (that experience will be another post soon😊) so I am playing catch up with my annual summer container plants.

So onward with this amazing and easy way to plant your flowers in containers! Instead of planting the plants, you are going to plant the pots first. This eliminates breakage and damage to the roots and helps with spacing if you are planting several small plants.

The pics below I am planting a hanging basket using this method

First you will want to remove the plant from it's original pot to use the the smaller pot for your template

Below you will want to add soil to the bottom of the larger pot so when you insert the empty pot that it sits just above the rim of the larger pot

Next, you will need to fill in the sides with soil, packing it down firmly. When finished, simply pull out the empty pot.

Last step is to simply drop in your plant and water in.

No broken stems and underfilled pots!

This method works well with multiple small plants for a mixed basket too. Simply place all your small empty pots, fill soil around them, pack down, remove pots and simply drop the plants in the holes.