A few awesome benefits of container gardens

Containers are invaluable when you must move beloved plants to a new home. They also allow you the freedom to move your garden as you please. Here are a few benefits of planting in containers:

• Should you need to relocate plants, especially over a long distance, they will fare better if you can get them accustomed to life in pots several weeks before moving day.
• Afterward, they will wait patiently in their containers while you get settled and prepare a more permanent location for them.
• Containers are most often used to provide a permanent home for a plant, which is especially good news for apartment and condominium dwellers whose gardening space is limited to a terrace or patio.
• Given proper care, even trees and shrubs can live happily in containers for many years.
• If your yard is large enough to provide an out-of-the-way nursery area, you can shuffle pots so that each container can be moved to a place where it will be fully appreciated as it reaches its peak.
• Don't worry if that spot is shady, because sun-loving flowers, such as petunias, geraniums, and globe amaranth are often grateful for temporary shade when they have reached the blooming stage.
• If your own mobility is limited, container gardens make it easy to enjoy plants. Pots and boxes can be raised to a convenient height, eliminating the need to bend or stoop, and they can be moved or arranged to accommodate the special needs of the gardener.
• Because container gardens are usually smaller in scale, they are less taxing to care for.

• Containers offer the easiest way to grow bulbs, perennials, and even shrubs that are tender in your area.
• Instead of digging them up at the end of the season or watching them succumb to cold, simply move the entire pot to a sheltered spot, such as an unheated garage or storage area, or anywhere the plants will not be exposed to freezing temperatures.
• This maneuver works beautifully with caladiums, calla lilies, and cannas, and where winters are short, even vigorous petunias and geraniums can be maintained through winter this way.
• When growing small, hardy shrubs in containers, sometimes careful placement of the pots is all that is needed to give those plants the edge they need to survive the frigid weather in good condition.
• Snuggle evergreen azaleas, camellias, and hydrangeas against a sunny wall, which will absorb the sun's warmth and protect them from wind, and they may well make it through the winter with no trouble, even if they are marginally hardy in your area.

Whether you choose to plant in containers or your environment restricts you to solely containers, they are a great way to build a garden without worrying about weather and seasonal conditions. As well, the freedom to move the plants wherever you please is an attractive quality for many gardeners. Time to set up a beautiful container garden!