8 Low Maintenance Outdoor Potted Plants
Whether you are a beginner gardener or just have limited time to maintain your garden, low-maintenance outdoor potted plants could be the ideal solution.
Growing plants in pots offers numerous benefits and can be a great solution for those with a small garden, physical difficulties reaching the soil, or who have limited space.
This post will take you through:
- The benefits of growing plants outdoors in pots
- Top tips to look after your potted plants
- 8 of the best low-maintenance outdoor potted plants.
Benefits of Growing Plants Outdoors in Pots
Growing plants can be a lot of hard work. From trying to manage the quality of soil in your garden to rotating your soil and ensuring it provides good drainage.
Whereas growing your outdoor plants in pots can offer a great solution.
1. Visual Aesthetics
Our gardens are usually flat, rectangular in shape, with a lawn in the middle and a border around the edge. It is simple and easy to maintain, but it doesn’t provide you with many visual stimuli in your garden.
Using a variety of pots with different textures, shapes, and sizes can help take your garden from appearing 2D to 3D and on different levels.
It creates a space that’s calming and beautiful to look at. Encouraging you to spend time outdoors which then benefits your health.
2. Easier to Maintain
Looking after plants growing in the ground can be tiring to your body. Having to bend down over the soil and kneel in the dirt.
Gardening is a great workout, but it can take its toll on you also.
By planting in pots, you can fill them using a table and then move the pots to where you want to position them in your garden.
This is easier on your body and is a lot more manageable in the long run when you need to prune, water, or repot your plants.
3. Choice of soil
Often, gardens do not have optimal soil for plants to grow. They are either clay-based or sand-based. Neither offers the right amount of nutrients your young plants need to grow.
When you grow your plants in pots, you choose the soil that is added. It is best to purchase compost as it is loose and has added nutrients your plants need to help them germinate.
4. Space-saving
Perhaps you don’t have a large garden, or maybe you live in an apartment with limited balcony space. Using potted plants helps to reduce the amount of space you need in order to grow beautiful flowers, trees, and shrubs.
You don’t need a large amount of space. The great concept of pots is that you can choose the right size for the space available and then take a look at which plants thrive in that sized pot.
For example, if you only had space for a cup-sized pot, then you probably won’t be looking to purchase a tree. However, you could grow some Pansies or Shasta Daisies, or even consider growing herbs instead.
5. Control the Size
Plants such as geraniums, shrubs, and even certain herbs, will grow and fill all space available if unmanaged.
With a pot, plants can only grow to the size of the pot and will only grow bigger if you replant them into a larger-sized pot.
So a great benefit of growing plants in pots is that you control the size a plant can grow, suit the available space you have.
Top Tips for Taking Care of Potted Plants
Now that we know why potted plants are a great option for a low-maintenance garden let’s take a look at some top tips for taking care of them.
Water
Pot plants need watering regularly. Your plant roots do not have access to water found in the ground, plus pots usually have holes in them to drain water away.
Hence, it is important your plants gain regular water, especially on hot days.
When watering your plants, try to water the soil around your plant rather than the leaves. Water on leaves can encourage fungus to grow, which infects plants. So it is best to focus on watering soil around the bottom of your plant so that the roots can access the water they need.
Use Compost
As mentioned above, compost is nutrient-rich and helps to provide important nutrients to your plants. But, due to it being loose rather than compact, it offers excellent drainage for excess water.
Drainage Holes
Not all pots for plants come with drainage holes, especially if you are repurposing a range of containers for your plants e.g. old watering cans.
Ensure your plant pots have holes in the bottom of the pot. This enables any excess moisture from escaping the pot and ensures your plants gain access to oxygen in between soil particles.
Access to Sunlight
All plants vary in the amount of sunlight they need every day. However, all plants need ‘some’ amount of sunlight in order to grow and to photosynthesize.
Ensure that your potted plant has access to some amount of sunlight each and every day.
8 Low Maintenance Outdoor Potted Plants
These 8 plants are some of the best low-maintenance outdoor potted plants as they are easy to grow, simple to maintain, and do not require lots of space.
Aloe
Aloe is a plant that does very well potted. It is best to place in an area that receives lots of sunlight but is important not to overwater.
Being a desert plant, leave the soil to dry completely before rewatering.
Jade
Jade, similar to aloe, is a type of succulent. This makes jade a great choice for growing in pots. They are easy to care for and low-maintenance as they are naturally grown in hot, dry climates. Hence, the soil needs to be completely dry before watering.
Pansies
Pansies are a perennial plant which means they grow back every year. The flowers are available in several different colors from pink to blue.
They are an easy, low-maintenance option for growing in pots. They require full to partial sunlight and complement many other plants due to their small size and bold colors.
Shasta Daisy
Shasta daisies are like giant, beautiful wild daisies with white petals and a yellow center. They grow well potted and are best placed in full sunlight.
When maintaining shasta daisies, ensure to remove old flower heads to encourage new growth. You also need to ensure the soil does not become too dry with the pot being placed in the full sun, especially during the summer months.
Geraniums
Geraniums offer an abundance of color during the summer months as they bloom. They are a perennial plant and if not grown in a pot, can spread rapidly across your garden.
Similar to other plants, geraniums like to be placed in full sunlight but watered regularly so the soil does not dry out.
Hostas
Hostas are a leafy green plant with silver edges. They still thrive in shade and boggy conditions, hence are great for you if you require a low-maintenance plant. Hostas are a type of perennial plant that will grow back each year.
Violas
Violas are very similar to pansies, with pansies derived from violas. Violas, however, are smaller than pansies in height and the size of their flowers.
Violas are perennial and can be grown in full sun or partial shade. They do require regular watering, so ensure that the soil does not become too dry.
Hydrangeas
Hydrangeas are a type of shrub that does require a larger-sized pot. The flowers bloom in large groups and are often blue, pink, or white in color.
They are easy to grow in pots and prefer to be placed in partial shade, and are best grown in damp soil.
These 8 plants are a great place to start if you are looking for low-maintenance outdoor potted plants for your garden. They do not require a lot of space, and most only need a top-up of water each day.
If you’d like to read more on growing guides, low-maintenance plants, or growing plants in a small place, take a look at these posts:
