Want a stylish way to parade your gardening skills, one that does not require much space or time, and is good to go?  Why not try your hand at the latest fashion in gardening - pot gardens.  There is a pot garden to fit every location. A window ledge, patio,  balcony or verandah may be all that is required for a productive mini-garden.  The challenge is to select the right group of plants for the particular location. Often, the over-riding consideration is the quality and duration of light. Vegetables and most flowering ornamentals  require lots of sunlight, at least six hours per day, and would find locations such as a balcony, deck, roof or  sunny patio suitable.  As a general rule of thumb, plants with highly coloured leaves, such as coleus and crotons, flowering plants and succulents grow best when placed in an area where they receive bright light, or  full sunlight.  Foliage ornamentals such as aglaonema, dieffenbachia, pothos, philodendron and spathiphyllum are quite at home in  shaded or indoor locations.  

Design

The best place to decide on the design of your pot garden is at the garden centre, before you make your purchase.   First, select plants that appeal to you, then  shift them around in  ‘mock’ arrangements, starting with the tallest plants as the centrepiece, and shorter or trailing plants to the sides and edges.   Remember not to mix in the same design, plants that require different growing environments.  Make a sketch to help you remember, and purchase only those plants that fit in with your design.  Take a look at the designs pictured here, maybe one will appeal to you.     

Please do not overlook what is perhaps the most important element of success, the quality of the potting soil.  If you’re dealing with a few pots,  it may be a good idea to purchase one of the many  prepared mixes available at the garden centre.   Make sure that the one you select has  a good mix of organic and inorganic materials, and a fairly loose structure.  This is important for air and water circulation as well as moisture and nutrient  retention.   

Combining several different plants in the same container gives expression to your innate artistic talents, and allows you to mimic, albeit on a miniature scale, what occurs naturally in nature.  So go for it!