The best flower for containers

Are you looking for an easy-care container plant – one that provides loads of colour but doesn’t take loads of work?  Flower Carpet® roses may be your answer.  Most varieties of easy-care Flower Carpet roses can do extremely well in containers, providing the container is large enough and they get adequate water.

Containers filled with easy care Flower Carpet roses are great on decks, patios and to move around the garden as needed to fill seasonally-empty spaces.

Flower Carpet is one of the few roses that doesn’t require chemicals or sprays to keep them blooming and healthy all summer.  So with that, you can easily combine Flower Carpet roses with edibles (as seen below) for a simple patio pot that’s pretty yet functional.

The container should be at least 20 – 24 inches in diameter and equally deep (the larger the better). Make certain the pot has good drainage with a hole at the bottom so that the roots don’t get water-logged. It’s important to use a good quality potting mix. NOTE: If you’re creating a mixed container and are going to add edibles, please use an organic soil, one without extra chemicals added as fertiliser.

Before transplanting your Flower Carpet rose from its retail pot, water thoroughly, allowing the water to run through the pot several times.  This will help in the transition to a larger pot.  If the plant is root-bound (roots all tangled up together), gently “tease” them apart before transplanting into their larger home.

The containers can be placed in the sun or semi-shaded area. Because the roots don’t grow as deeply in containers as they do naturally in the ground, the key is to make certain the containers aren’t allowed to completely dry out. If in doubt, stick your finger down 1-2 inches into the soil and if the soil feels dry, water it.

For maximum blooms, feed your Flower Carpet rose a few times a summer with a organic all-purpose fertiliser or early and mid-summer with an extended-release fertiliser like Osmocote.

These roses look terrific on their own, or can be mixed with annuals or other perennials for an even greater display.

Flower Carpet rose varieties or colours that seem to do best in containers include White, Red, Pink, Coral, Pink Splash, Yellow / Gold and Appleblossom.  (The newer varieties of Amber, Scarlet and Pink Supreme tend to get larger than the others, so unless you had a very large container, you’d be better off going with the other colours mentioned). 

Here are a few more ideas for inspiration…

Want to see more inspirational ideas click here!