How deep is the pot? If it is like 2' deep, you could fill it like half way with those styrofoam peanuts to lessen the weight of the pot and provide drainage. I think that moss rose is shallow rooted enough that you would need much soil.

However, the best thing to do would be, if you or your friend or your neighbor has a drill with a bit that will drill through pottery, concrete, brick, or whatever, could drill a hole in the bottom for you.

I have a beautiful cobalt blue ceramic pot that is about 2' tall and 3' around that doesn't have a hole in it, and I use it for water plants, like papyrus, lobelia, etc.

Susan

The pot is 6 & 3/4" deep. Think I should try to drill a hole or try the rocks? Also if I were to drill a hole is it ok if there is no pan underneath as I don't think I could find one that would fit?

A pot that small I would buy a ceramic tile bit and put a drain hole in it. Go slow and you should have no problem.

I never use a saucer under outdoor pots. My mother does on her wooden deck though. She oversizes the saucer and fills it with gravel so the pot won't sit in water, sour the soil, and kill the plant.

randy

Thank you

Ditto what Randy said since your pot is so small. You really need a drainage hole or two.

I don't use saucers either, Randy, except for those pots that I put on the grass. Otherwise, that dang bermuda will drawl up inside of it. I plan to use my stepping stones to set them on this year.

Susan

Susan

I use stepping stones. This photo is from last summer with a bunch of pots out in the grass on them.

randy

Gravel and/or rocks at the bottom works fine in a planter without any holes. I did this when I had a windowsill herb garden with some gravel from my driveway. No problems.

I have done it both ways.

My preference is to always have a drainage hole.

If for some reason I have a container I want to use that doesn't have a drainage hole, I prefer to plant in a slightly smaller plastic pot with drainage holes and sink that pot into the ceramic one. Hopefully the inch or two between the bottom of the plastic pot and the ceramic pot gives water a place to drain too. However, you have to be careful that you don't overwater. Water sitting in that ceramic pot can sour your soil and kill your plant. I use a little mulch on top to hide the fact that there is a pot-within-a-pot.

You can do it the way droogie suggested, but you must be careful not to overwater. Even with the gravel in the botton you can still put in so much water that it rises above the gravel and keeps the soil soggy.

I think it is easier to control the water in the pot without a hole if it remains inside the house, like Droggie's windowsill herb garden, or is in a sheltered location, like under a porch or patio overhang where it won't pick up a lot of rain/sprinkler water in addition to what you're giving it when you water.

I got the hubby to drill a hole for me today plus I added some rocks to the bottom. When it rains I might even move the pot back a little on the steps so it doesn't get totally emersed in the rain. I think my ross moss is glad to be outside, finally! Thanks everyone for your wisdom. I've been lost since the death of my grandmother to provide me with her gardening wisdom.

I "came into" a batch of stepping stones (about 50) last year. I am going to use them for setting out plants this year, too! How bout that!

I would love to create some garden paths, but alas, it's just too big a job for lil ole me to do. I have to focus my energies on things like planting, growing from seed, and just generally caring for my plants. I always have a lot of plans for things to do, but never seem to get all of them done in one season.

Susan

Tmelrose,

I'm glad all our 'helpful advice' didn't send you running for the hills!

I, too, miss my grandparents and all the gardening knowledge they had in their heads. I would like to think I absorbed a lot of their knowledge when I was helping them in the garden, but it still would be nice to be able to ask them questions at times.

In my neighborghood when I was a kid in the 60's, we had some of those 'little old lady' gardeners who always wore big floppy hats and gardening gloves. Being ladies, they always wore cotton housedresses outside, usually in floral prints. I always thought that they had beautiful yards, especially their flowers, and wish I had picked their brains to learn all their secrets too. They were so sweet and kind and so tolerant of all the questions kids ask, and I do remember that their pure love of gardening just oozed out of their pores. I would like to think there is a bit of them in each of us, even though we share our experiences and ideas now over the internet instead of over the backyard fence.

Susan, I always have a lot of plans for things I never get around to doing too. Maybe all gardeners are that way. Having an unfinished 'to do' list or a 'list of plants to try' always keeps me occupied in the winter....when I think, of course, that "in the spring, I will get to that", although I usually don't.

And, I have yet to meet a single gardener who thinks their landscape or garden is "finished" or "done". They always have a mental list of things to do and things to try. Even my rural neighbors who are lifelong farmers/ranchers/gardeners and are mostly in their 80s and 90s now always have something new they are going to try "this year or next".

Dawn