I'd vote for a bush cucumber - I believe I planted Pickle Bush last year and it did well. All the leaves of the plants you suggested are very similar but the cucumber leaves are smaller. The bush varieties of cucumbers are probably best suited to containers.

All the common summer squash varieties in the US are bush types. Check the descriptions in the seed catalogs to see which ones are marked as suitable for containers.

The normal black zucchini and yellow straightneck squash I grow are very large bushes and I wouldn't plant a hill of those in anything smaller than a half barrel but I know that seed companies have developed a lot of compact varieties of the larger veggies for container gardening.

Hey there! From a looks perspective I'd go with Zucchini... the flowers and the foliage are gorgeous, and I can just see how striking the bright yellow flowers and darn green zucchini would look sitting near a pot of orange, yellow, and red chard.

I grow Nimba Zucchini in a large container and it does well.

Now I'm going to have to go home and arrange my pots in a nice looking manner....

Happy gardening!
Kathryn

Thanks tannabanana, iam3killerbs, and kippie, for your advice! :-) I am leaning towards zucchini ~ I love the foliage and yellow flowers! Pickle bush cucumber sounds nice too ~ tannabanana, how large did yours grow last year, and did you use a support?

Try the container gardening forum. They have some amazing gardens (with pics). Also the pottager and cottage garden boards have great pics to make a front yard look beautiful while growing your veges and fruit.
Check with your condo assn first though! It's a PITA to change things AFTER you put all work in , only to have "them" tell you it isn't allowed!

Thanks!

Has anyone done well with Spacemaster or Bush Champion cucumber?

My cocozelle zucchini is a more compact plant. Also I grow lemon cucumber in an 8 gallon container.

Here is a link that might be useful: gardening blog w/ pics of lemon cucumber-zucchini