You didnt say what kind is it flower or veg, Iam starting my 2nd year at container veg. garden and love it. I am disabled with bad lungs,heart,leg and old age but I still love gardening. First decide what plant, then select the right size pot, then the right soil. Go to a garden center and ask those questions, they will help you get started. NOW WELCOME TO CONTAINER GARDENING AND GOOD-GOOD-GOOD LUCK.

Welcome! Container gardening can be a lot of fun. I would investigate the various postings in this forum. Don't forget you can click on the pages of posts at the bottom of the forum. There are many postings relevant for newbies.

If you are doing vegetable containers or even if you aren't, a good basic book available at most libraries is:

McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: A Container Garden of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers
by Rose Marie Nicols McGee,Maggie Stuckey

Or you can get it for less than $20.

Many container gardening questions are answered there.

Also see this link, for more ideas...

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetables in Containers...

I am interested in flower pots only...not veggies. How do you show them off in your yard? I'd love to see pictures of your pots?

Here ya go!
My yard's totally bricked in so everything you see here is container grown.
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Out of Spite I loved your examples of container gardening. I did a great deal of container gardening (flowers, veggies, and herbs) over the past 25 years. It's very important to have good potting soil, fertilizer like Osmocote and a big container. When I was a newbie, I incorrectly planted in small containers and got root-bound mini plants. As Outofspite's picture proves, almost anything can be grown in a container and the portability of most containers gives you color or fullness right where you need it. As for which should come first the plant or the container, if I fall in love with a container first, I just buy it and find the appropriate plant. There's always another one out there. I have the P. Allen Smith Container book which is very helpful and the www.provenwinners.com website is amazing with its stunningly beautiful containers. Just chock full of ideas. Best of luck newbie.

Out Of Spite...that is AMAZING!! How many containers do you have there??? And what do you do for the winter months storing all those plants? Is there a secret to how to arrange these pots to make such a visual impact?

myoneandonly-
Most of my containers ar 16". I have a couple of 20" ones as well.
You're right - just about ANYTHING can be grown in a container!
The plant (with a bad case of powdery mildew) behind the bench is a pumpkin plant. I actually grew 2 little pumpkins!
Here's one -
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Last year I grew a cantaloup.
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June8 - There are over 100 containers. In the winter, most of them stay out there. I dig up the callas & dahliahs & store them in my mother's basement. The cannas & tuberose are over-wintered there as well, but they stay in the pots.
Some things, like the geraniums I bring indoors. Most of the other perennials are hardy for my zone & just come back each year. While I'm technically zone 6, I buy as if I'm zone 5. I read somewhere years ago that one should lower the zone# by one when using containers. (when they are going to be left out)

As for arrangement - I figure it out on paper.
Although it's hard to tell in the photo, there's a path that winds from left to right (in front of the vine pole) back to the bench.
You can see it better in this shot. This was mid-June '05.
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Because I am a newbie please excuse the somewhat ignorant questions I may ask. I am learning. lol
So most of these containers have perennials in them right? Do you also add annuals since perennials bloom at different times? Could you add pots to an already perennial front island garden? Do you think it would look wierd since everything else is planted in the ground?

Actually, most are annuals. There are a lot of perennials in the middle, but not all. All the pots along the fence on the right are annuals. The left is mostly annuals. The big strawberry pot has Million Bells (annual)
In the lower right corner (not shown in this pic, is a "Coleus Corner". Lots of color - all foliage.
Here's a shot of that corner-
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My sister mixes in-ground plants with pots. In some spots she has annuals like marigolds to fill in between already-bloomed perennials. Other places she just uses them to add color & interest.

If YOU like how it looks, fine. Who gives a rat's aXX what anyone else thinks. LOL!

Here's a link to more pics.
There's also pics from my garden I took in 2004, 2003 & 2002.

Here is a link that might be useful: More garden shots (and other stuff)

outofspite:

Beautiful!!! The slideshow of your garden's transfomation was awesome!

I agree, great garden and great pictures. I wish I could be so consistent and do week by week progress throughout the year. Last year the drought here in Chicago was so bad it made me tired of gardening (mainly watering the entire damn garden every single day) so I stopped taking pictures entirely from August onwards.

Outofspite, congratulations on your creative and attractive container garden. What I especially love is that you use different size and style pots. I don't care for settings where the pots are all one size and one color. Also you have verticality in your styling. Without verticality, a container setting can look stilted, and lacking in interest. Mixing heights and widths of plantings as well as pots creates the most interest. Your containerscape should win the prize.