Containing the Unconventional

Ben Pope gave us a very interesting and inspiring talk about using containers in the garden. He started out by showing us ideas about mixing colours and textures with our plant choices and went on to suggest we don’t need to only go to the garden centre for annuals every year. He showed us plenty of excellent photographs with young shrubs or perennials as the focal point of containers.

He also explained the pros and cons of a variety of containers, terracotta, plastic, concrete, metal etc, then encouraged us to be adventurous about what we used. He had a gorgeous selection of containers planted up including watering cans, bird cages and teapots! Members asked questions about choices of compost and the use of crocks in the base of the containers, all of which he answered with several options. His main message was it’s up to you to make your containers as fun as you want to and enjoy the creativity.