Hi,

I live in a rented house with no garden, just a large concreted area. I would love to introduce some small trees into this space, but not sure what. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could do well in a decent sized container? A friend of mine has a twisted willow that's thrived for five years, but other than that I'm clueless. The area is reasonably sheltered on all sides and gets full sun for most of the day.

Cheers in advance!

J

"JoeP" wrote in message
...

Hi,

I live in a rented house with no garden, just a large concreted area. I
would love to introduce some small trees into this space, but not sure
what. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could do well in a decent
sized container? A friend of mine has a twisted willow that's thrived
for five years, but other than that I'm clueless. The area is reasonably
sheltered on all sides and gets full sun for most of the day.

Cheers in advance!

J




--
JoeP

Hi Joe

I don't have many more clues than you as I am not a gardener, but being
married to one with over 54 years experience, some has rubbed off. The thing
that rings bells with me in the first instance is your bit, "" and gets full
sun for most of the day"" which means that ANY plant in a pot has got to be
watered on a VERY regular basis, especially in the growing season and at the
height of the sun period, a tree even more than a small plant..

Those who own this site will make uncompromising remarks at this next bit,
but as it is rented property I would SERIOUSLY consider artificial/plastic
trees as used in indoor/commercial areas. You can take them with you when
you move on. :-))

""REAL"" plants? Tubs with 'pretty flowers' in?

Mike


--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

In article ,
JoeP wrote:

I live in a rented house with no garden, just a large concreted area. I
would love to introduce some small trees into this space, but not sure
what. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could do well in a decent
sized container? A friend of mine has a twisted willow that's thrived
for five years, but other than that I'm clueless. The area is reasonably
sheltered on all sides and gets full sun for most of the day.

Feijoa (Acca?) sellowiana does, and has some attractive and edible
flowers, but it might be tricky to get. Pomegranate does if it
doesn't get too cold, and is almost drought-proof. Bay (Laurus
nobilis) and SOME of the citrus (but they don't like cold much).
It depends on where you are.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 03/29/2012 05:50 PM, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-03-29 15:40:18 +0100, JoeP said:


Hi,

I live in a rented house with no garden, just a large concreted area. I
would love to introduce some small trees into this space, but not sure
what. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could do well in a decent
sized container? A friend of mine has a twisted willow that's thrived
for five years, but other than that I'm clueless. The area is reasonably
sheltered on all sides and gets full sun for most of the day.

Cheers in advance!

J

As long as you can remember to water them, a sheltered garden with
*some* shade would mean you can use an acer. But they won't like being
blasted by full sun all day. Some bamboos are good for container
growing, as are some grasses. You could also plant up some pots with
summer flowering annuals, including upright things and trailing plants,
too. Pelargoniums (geraniums) enjoy sun. And if you can fit up an old
sink or similar with an electricity supply & pump, you could have a
little water feature. You could grow jasmine in a container into which
you've inserted some form of frame for it to climb on. Just remember to
water well in dry weather but also to make sure the pots are raised a
little on bricks so that they can drain.

Yes. You can grow most Japanese Acers in tubs/pots if you have a little
shade; with minimal care they will do very well, and are very rewarding
trees with a large variety of colours and habits. They can be grown in
full sun in pots but get rather finicky.

There are many other maples, like trident maples, paperbark maples and
most snakebark maples that do very well in tubs too.

Otherwise there are many possibilities. The gating item seems to be
trees that aren't that large to begin with; those may take a lot of root
pruning.

Try googling "container gardening" and you'll see lots of ideas.

BTW Sacha's last sentence (both parts!) is really key to success.

On 29/03/2012 16:50, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-03-29 15:40:18 +0100, JoeP said:


Hi,

I live in a rented house with no garden, just a large concreted area. I
would love to introduce some small trees into this space, but not sure
what. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could do well in a decent
sized container? A friend of mine has a twisted willow that's thrived
for five years, but other than that I'm clueless. The area is reasonably
sheltered on all sides and gets full sun for most of the day.

Cheers in advance!

J

As long as you can remember to water them, a sheltered garden with
*some* shade would mean you can use an acer. But they won't like being
blasted by full sun all day. Some bamboos are good for container
growing, as are some grasses. You could also plant up some pots with
summer flowering annuals, including upright things and trailing plants,
too. Pelargoniums (geraniums) enjoy sun. And if you can fit up an old
sink or similar with an electricity supply & pump, you could have a
little water feature. You could grow jasmine in a container into which
you've inserted some form of frame for it to climb on. Just remember to
water well in dry weather but also to make sure the pots are raised a
little on bricks so that they can drain.
Anyone who lives in or near Newcastle under Lyme may have seen the large
containers placed outside the J2 gym centre. These have been planted
with quite large trees. While waiting for a bus I watched the men (From
Jacksons Nurseries) planting them. Just before finishing they place a
tube near the roots projecting to the soil top, this was for watering.
this would be worth copying.

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

Hi Joe, within reason you could grow just about anything you fancy in a large container so I'd suggst you visit a nursery/garden centre and have a look at whats available. Firstly decide on what 'look' you want and maybe decide on a theme, ie- maybe a mediteranean theme with palms, phormiums, lavenders etc
Its a very personal thing deciding what to have but the nice thing with gardening is, if it looks good to you then thats fine !
There are a few pointers to bear in mind, make sure that the containers are large enough so that tall plants like trees are not continually blowing over and getting damaged - leave a good gap between the compost and the rim of the pot to allow for watering - water and feed well during the growing season- be prepared to regularly prune to get nice bushy plants.
What I've done in the past is to choose plants that have good foliage colour and or contrasting texture, then the area will look nice all the time. Think about having groups of various sized containers with a mixture of tall,bushy and foliage colour plants grouped together, this way, you have the option of changing the groupings around to give differing effects.
Obviously there may be a limited budget you can throw at this, so have a look around and get lots of ideas and then you wont go far wrong.
regards, lannerman.

"JoeP" wrote in message
...

Hi,

I live in a rented house with no garden, just a large concreted area. I
would love to introduce some small trees into this space, but not sure
what. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could do well in a decent
sized container? A friend of mine has a twisted willow that's thrived
for five years, but other than that I'm clueless. The area is reasonably
sheltered on all sides and gets full sun for most of the day.

Cheers in advance!


The trees/shrubs I am currently growing in containers a

(1) Brown Turkey fig - deciduous - produces several nice figs most years.
Had it for years and it is still small.
(2) Olive - evergreen and produces a decent crop of small olives every year.
Very attractive to look at.
(3) Bay - slow growing evergreen but hardy and the leaves can be used in
cooking.
(4) Budleia - deciduous - vigorous grower which has loads of flowers which
attract butterflies and other insects. Also seeds a lot so you need to watch
for offspring in unlikely places.
(5) Lemons - but these are a bit risky if you don't protect them over
winter. Mine are pretty battered at the moment.
(6) Clematis - deciduous - need some shade for the pot, and something to
climb up such as a trellis.
(7) Roses - nice flowers, quite thirsty, probably need more care than I have
the patience for.

Almost anything will grow in a container, including fruit trees; look for
ones suitable for patios.

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

In article ,
David WE Roberts wrote:

Almost anything will grow in a container, including fruit trees; look for
ones suitable for patios.

For a sunny patio, I would recommend going for ones adapted to fairly
hot, dry summers - others tend to suffer badly from not being watered
if you have to go away in summer.

Olive, bay, fig, citrus (usually), pomegranate, Feijoa, Buddleia
and others all fall into that category.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:40:18 +0000, JoeP
wrote:


Hi,

I live in a rented house with no garden, just a large concreted area. I
would love to introduce some small trees into this space, but not sure
what. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could do well in a decent
sized container? A friend of mine has a twisted willow that's thrived
for five years, but other than that I'm clueless. The area is reasonably
sheltered on all sides and gets full sun for most of the day.

Cheers in advance!



Morrisons have some whopping big pots for £5. Plastic ones although I
think they have clay too.

Someone on our site has put 5 fruit trees in pots (1 per pot) and
plans to keep them in them.


J
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

If you want to be productive how about columnar apple/pear trees (vertical cordons) these people have a good range: Buy Fruit Trees - Pomona Fruits