How to make potted presents
If your special person loves gardening why not create a unique gift that will give them months or hopefully years of pleasure. Choose a large container and fill it with a creative blend of colours and textures. And a good way to go is to think of a theme for your pot. Try these-
Colour Your World
There are numerous fast growing flowering sun-loving plants that can be blended together such as petunia, verbena, portulaca and osteospermum daisies. If you would like to add an Australian native touch consider fan flowers (Scaevola), everlasting daisies and brachyscomes that will all thrive together in an area with high light levels. For shadier spots impatiens, begonias and fuchsias will give months of flowering pleasure and can be combined with decorative leafy plants like cordylines, palms or polka dot plants.
True Blue Aussie pots
A bush tucker theme could include a midgenberry, native mint, Carpobrotus, Disphyma, warrigal greens, lemon myrtle.
Or mix and match some of the best flowering native plants for a colourful display.
Go Herbal
People who enjoy cooking would appreciate a large pot filled with culinary herbs. You could plant up a Meditteranean theme with rosemary, oregano, basil and thyme. An asian themed pot could have lemon grass, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil and a chilli plant or two. There are a number of varieties of basil including dark leafed, frilled and lemon types that look decorative and delicious together.
Feed Me
A pot filled with salad plants would be nice, as leaves can be picked off as needed for the salad. The colourful lettuce varieties available can look very decorative together- a mix of green leaf and red leaf as well as the frilly leaf ones can look spectacular. A large pot can grow a good crop of cherry tomatoes, add basil and some shallots and chives for Italian food loving people.
How about a pot with edible flowers? This would look good plus give the recipient a supply of beautiful garnishes for their dishes. Some edible flowers are violas, nasturtiums, violets, marigolds, calendulas, basil, borage and cornflowers.
Go Wild
Plant up a jungle in a pot with a selection of decorative foliage plants like ferns, palms, peperomia, crotons etc and pop in a couple of plastic wild animals for fun. Or little dinosaurs.
Busy Person Pot
Succulents are the go here, and there are some stunners to mix and match. There are fantastic colours and leaf shapes in succulent plants with great growth forms and textures too. Choose a good gritty mix for them and add a sprinkle of decorative pebbles.
Fairy Garden
For a magical world in a pot, there are some tiny pieces available to create a scene with your chosen plants. Little mushrooms, swings, gates, stepping stones and, of course, fairies, are readily available for you to get creative. You can also create your own with sticks, rocks, string and other items……add glue, thin wire and your imagination too!
To ensure success use a premium grade Australian Standards potting mix that will feed the plants for the vital first few months as they get established. Some of the self watering pots available are very attractive, as well as being functional. You could give some fertiliser in a decorative jar for them to add after a few months to keep your present looking its best.