Help with overgrown container! Cleome has taken over!

8 years ago

I'm so new to gardening and caring for flowers and need help! I got these pots about 1 1/2 months ago & things are now growing like crazy. As you will see the Cleome has gotten huge and feels a bit unruly (alongside the African mallow). And the other flowers in this pot aren't doing nearly as well as in the other pots - supertunias, angelonia, and sweet potato vine. The vinca & osteopernum have disappeared all together.

The pics show the pot now (pics 1&2), when first planted 1 1/2 months ago (pic 3), after about 1 week (pic 4 - pot on left). I have since cut some of the cleome back but am wondering how far back I should cut and if there is anything I can do to get the other flowers to start to flourish again?

Also the top of a root is exposed in the container, can I add more soil (even if different than what was used originally)? Can I add any additional flowers to the pot at this point? The pot is in full sun and we have had a really rainy June. I had been fertilizing once every 2 weeks or so. Any ideas? I really need help!!

Featured Answer

PRO

Cascio Associates - Site Planning - Landscape Arch

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

So buy more pots, without the offending but beautiful Cleome or whatever. Perhaps more whites, maybe yellows and oranges near the furniture. Also seek fragrance.

You said you are new to gardening, but it looks like you are making all the right choices, and these handsome pots will do you well throughout the growing season and winter with excitement. The simple color with interesting designs that do not compete with the materials above shows your good design sense. Bravo, and good luck - looks like you have a great garden center from which to access all the good choices.

Now it it time to start thinking about filling the plant beds with ground cover plants and bulbs, so you no longer are looking at mulch, but at green textures and periodic flowers & fragrance.

I think you enjoy getting your fingers in the soil, so get down and get busy. Enjoy.

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Comments (6)

cmcole01
Original Author
8 years ago
Cascio associates - thank you for the nice words. I appreciate it. Do you have any specific ideas about what to do to fix this pot? Any ideas on how to Get the flowers that have been overtaken by the Cleome to grow?
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tgb1
8 years ago
My pots are usually trial and error, some stuff doesn't do well, some are over-achievers. Next year you'll know to avoid the cleome, or give it a pot all by itself :) Your flowers look beautiful..
W
8 years ago
When you fill your annual pots you can fill them sparsely knowing they'll fill in over the season or you can make them lush at the beginning knowing they might become overgrown. Personally, I'd leave it and enjoy the cleome for what it is, but your pots were very well designed. If you want to maintain that look, you can try to pull the cleome out, but it might come with the other plants because their roots are likely intertwined. If it looks like the removal process isn't going well, you could pull everything out and place it in the garden and create a new container arrangement.
drbarb03
8 years ago
You can move the other plants to a different pot. Put a decorative grass in the center for height that won't shade them out. Leave the beautiful Cleome in this pot by itself. Any good-quality potting soil should be fine to use when you repot everything.
PRO
Cascio Associates - Site Planning - Landscape Arch
8 years ago
Lots of great advice here, as usual. The quick and easy fix is: to maintain the verticals and remove the side shoots that are obscuring and competing with its neighbors. Open sesame.