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Native Perennials in Pots—A Colorful Low-Maintenance Design

Plants & Gardens News Volume 18, Number 2 | Summer 2003

by Joan McDonald

Looking to try something different in your outdoor containers this year? Why not create an informal naturalistic planting composed of native perennials? It'll allow you to evoke the spirit of America's wild places, and at the same time you'll enjoy a stunning horticultural display.

The native plants listed below are easy to maintain and drought tolerant. Most of them bloom from summer through fall and attract pollinators such as butterflies and bees. If grown in large containers and sheltered during winter, the plants should keep coming back year after year.

The containers in the drawing are labeled A, B, and C in order of decreasing size (3 feet wide, 2 feet wide, and 1 1/2 feet wide, respectively) and are positioned according to a simple color scheme. Container A provides a cool, mainly white-flowered backdrop to the other two. Container B, with its yellow and purple flowers, is somewhat warmer than A. Container C is red-hot—so watch out!

The species in all three containers have roughly the same cultural requirements: moderately fertile, well-drained soil and full sun. Be aware that if the growing medium is too fertile, some plants may rot in the pot. Add sand to your potting soil to decrease organic content. Top-dress with compost each spring and remove dead foliage and stems in late autumn. Every three years, lift and divide the plants and repot the strongest pieces.

Container A

1. Pycnanthemum muticum (American mountain mint)
This three-foot-tall upright perennial has small, lance-shaped leaves and produces small double-lipped white flowers with pink flecks from summer until first frost.

2. Gaura lindheimeri (white gaura)
Growing two to three feet tall, this bushy perennial has willowlike foliage and produces 8- to 24-inch-long panicles of small white flowers from late spring to early autumn.

3. Aster oblongifolius (aromatic aster)
This one- to three-foot-high bushy plant has blue-green leaves and produces daisylike violet-blue flowers with yellow centers in September and October.

Container B

4. Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks' (fireworks goldenrod)
This two- to three-foot-tall native produces clusters of yellow flower heads in summer and fall.

5. Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower)
Growing two to three feet tall, this erect perennial has broad, dark-green leaves and bears daisylike purple flowers from June to October.

6. Verbena bipinnatifida (Dakota verbena)
A prostrate, spreading, 3- to 12-inch-high plant, it produces lavender-purple umbels from early spring to late summer.

Container C

7. Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed)
This one- to three-foot-high erect native bears short, narrow leaves and offers brilliant orange umbels from midsummer to early fall.

8. Salvia greggii 'Cardinal red' (autumn sage)
Growing two to three feet high, this shrubby plant bears one-inch linear leaves and produces rich red flowers in late summer and autumn.

Joan McDonald is former manager of BBG's Gardener's Resource Center and current owner of Gardens by Design, a private garden design, installation, and maintenance business, which can be contacted at gardensbyjoan@aol.com.