• Shade to Part Sun
• Evergreen
• Fine texture
• Deer resistant
• Low maintenance
• Good in containers

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It’s a great time to start transforming your warm season annual combo pots into fall combo pots!  Whether you are re-working existing containers or starting fresh, here are some tips from the professionals at The Good Earth:

Fall combo pots provide bright color all fall.  Consider plant options such as crotons, ornamental peppers, ornamental cabbage/ kale, rudbeckia, celosia and pansies.  And if you aren’t familiar with Cool Wave pansies, check them out.  Cool Waves trail over container edges for cascading color all winter long!

Keep your crotons!  With their colorful orange, red and yellow leaves, crotons fairly shout fall.  But they aren’t winter hardy so often times, people let them freeze.  There is another way!  Pop them out of your combo pots, pot them up and bring them inside when temperatures start dipping under 50 degrees at night.  They grow well as houseplants in areas with bright, indirect light.

Use evergreen plant shrubs or perennials, pansies, violas, panolas or Cool Wave pansies to fill in where crotons and other non-winter hardy plant materials have died back to give you color all winter long.

Use drainage rock, Good Earth brand Professional Growing Mix, and Good Earth brand Jump Start at planting.  For containers with flowering annuals, use Ferti-Lome Premium Bedding Plant Food.

Don’t forget to water your pots during the winter; plants do not like to freeze dry.  The is is especially important to remember for pots placed in covered areas.

Not sure where to start?  Bring us pictures and measurements of your pots and we will help you.  Also, don’t forget, our Potting Pavilion is open.  Bring your pots and plant them up here!  For more information about the Potting Pavilion, click here.

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Choose winter hardy plants for containers that offer interest all winter long!  The key is to choose evergreens, perennials, groundcovers and seasonal color that can last throughout our coldest temperatures in containers.  If you typically plant tropical plants in your containers, and aren’t sure about planting evergreens and perennials in them, just remember you can remove and plant these shrubs and perennials in your landscape next spring!

For evergreen height, consider yews, hollies, camellias, boxwoods, junipers, arborvitaes and Alberta spruce.  Surround evergreens with cabbage, carex, sweetflag, dusty miller, ajuga and English ivy for filler. Add Cool Wave pansies for cascades of blooming color!  For more fall and winter combination planter ideas, visit this blog post or our Finally Fall Pinterest board.

Try to plant winter pots this month (November) so the roots get established before the weather gets too cold.  For professional results, use the products that we professionals use!  Good Earth brand Professional Growing Mix and Jump Start plus Ferti-Lome Premium Bedding Plant Food for pots that contain pansies or other cool season bloomers.

Don’t forget to water your pots this winter.  Plants do not like to freeze dry; plant cells actually explode if they do, which causes visible and potentially deadly damage.  Winter watering is especially important for containers located under covered areas; these are only getting the water you give them since rain won’t reach them.

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Do you live on a busy street or need to build in some privacy around your home and outdoor living space? Then you may want to consider planting a living fence, or privacy fence. The benefits of a privacy screen include blocking strong winds, limiting street noise, and defining spaces in addition to masking unsightly views. Read on for more information about screening plants for Arkansas landscapes.

Before you choose a screening plant, take a few moments to consider the following aspects of a privacy screen. These will help you choose the right plant for your space.

• Available space. Measure the area you can plant in and decide how tall you need your screen to be to block the unwanted view.
• Is your landscape formal or informal? Do you need a plant that’s neat and tidy, or will your yard accommodate a more natural, relaxed look?
• Evergreen or deciduous. Evergreen plants provide a year-round screen, whereas deciduous options offer more flowers and colors.
• Function in the overall landscape. Will your screen be an integral part of the look of the yard, or is it far from your windows? Does it provide a backdrop to a central flowerbed, or fade in the distance? This will affect the look of the plant you ultimately choose.

After you’ve determined the answers to the above questions, it’s time to choose your screening plant(s)! We have some recommendations below.

If you’re looking for year-round privacy, you have many evergreen screening plant options. A number of hollies, such as the Foster, Burford and Nellie Stevens Hollies, make for great screens. Green Giant Arborvitaes lend a stately presence to landscapes, and grow up to 3 feet each year! If you need a fast-growing screen, eleagnus is a great option with unique silvery green foliage. You can also consider Little Gem Magnolias, Japanese cleyera, sweet olive, large growing loropetalums, waxleaf privet and cryptomeria. Finally, don’t forget podocarpus, camellias and large growing azaleas if you have a shady area that needs some filling in!

Curious about what flowering or colorful options you might have in the deciduous screening plant department? Variegated privets have delicate, fragrant flowers and grow well in a variety of soil conditions. Viburnums come in a number of varieties and have showy flowers, require little maintenance, and tolerate shady environments. Also look into Rose of Sharon, crapemyrtles or vitex if you are would like summer blooms. Forsythia and large spireas such as Bridal Wreath work well if spring flowers are your favorite. If you’re looking for fall color, a burning bush will show off its red flair nicely in your yard.

Some folks may need screens for narrow spaces. In this case, consider installing a trellis and growing vines! From trumpet vine to chocolate vine, you have lots of options for flowers. If you’re hoping for color year-round, look into evergreen clematis or English ivy. Finally, depending on your interest in performing maintenance on your screen, you may find that a shrub mentioned above could be kept in check in your smaller space with regular pruning. Emerald Green Arborvitaes (pictured above) are another narrow screening option. The have a mature size of 3 to 4 feet wide and about 15 feet tall.

As always, come out and see us at The Good Earth Garden Center if you have questions about screening plants for Arkansas landscapes. We’re happy to talk through the specifics of your situation and help you pick a plant that will be successful in your landscape!  A visit to our inventory might be helpful too; check out the plant descriptions in the screening plants category.

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