Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
jrzgurl

Best container plants for full sun?

jrzgurl
9 years ago

This is a reposted question my original post has disappeared....
Right now all my sunpatients are looking blah I think they do better in the winter. Does anyone have an recommendations for plants to survive the strong p.m. sun?

Comments (8)

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    9 years ago

    Link to your original post.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ideas for a big pot?

  • fawnridge (Ricky)
    9 years ago

    Cactus, succulents, Aloe, Acalypha, to name but a few.

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    9 years ago

    Full-sun plants include canna, crown-of-thorns, desert rose, daylilies, pentas, iris, plumbago, crinum, plumeria, bougainvillea, periwinkle/vinca, marigolds, datura, roses, brugmansia, hibiscus.

    The problem with some plants - especially hibiscus - is that they don't like hot/cooked roots. In the ground, plants, even full-sun plants, have cool roots. However, in a pot, especially a dark or black pot (which is popular now in stores), the roots get much, much hotter than they would in the ground and a lot of plants will let you know that they do not like it one single bit. The leaves turn yellow and drop, people think it has to do with watering issues, and it has everything to do with hot roots. What color is your pot?

    Another issue: how often do you want to water? Some of those plants listed above like daily water... others, sparse water.

    Of the ones listed above, I think canna, pentas, vinca/periwinkle and portulaca are the easiest/hardiest for a mixed container.

    Good luck and post pictures!
    Carol in Jacksonville

  • irma_stpete_10a
    9 years ago

    1) Remember, you don't need soil the whole depth of the pot, just deep enough to support the various plants in it. Fill the lower recesses with material(s) that won't hold water but will support various pots of various plants.
    2) Pentas are working for me in this situation. They expand sideways and are tough, bloom in all but cold weather.
    3) For height, and dramatic, colorful, blooms, add a pot of Epidendrum radicans, a reed-stem orchid, planted in fast draining soil/bark. Bloom best planted in sun, mine get only full morning sun, bloom January thru fall, haven't had to repot in 14 years. Trim any stem without a bloom and start new plants with the piece of stem (I have many rooted stems from my orange/red/yellow ones to share - send me an e-mail, anyone who wants some).

    This post was edited by irma_stpete_home on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 15:52

  • irma_stpete_10a
    9 years ago

    1) Remember, you don't need soil the whole depth of the pot, just deep enough to support the various plants in it. Fill the lower recesses with material(s) that won't hold water but will support various pots of various plants.
    2) Pentas are working for me in this situation. They expand sideways and are tough, bloom in all but cold weather.
    3) For height, and dramatic, colorful, blooms, add a pot of Epidendrum radicans, a reed-stem orchid, planted in fast draining soil/bark. Bloom best planted in sun, mine get only full morning sun, bloom January thru fall, haven't had to repot in 14 years. Trim any stem without a bloom and start new plants with the piece of stem (I have many rooted stems from my orange/red/yellow ones to share - send me an e-mail, anyone who wants some).

  • gregsytch
    9 years ago

    CROTON! If the pot is big enough they will get huge, and if it gets cold I scoot mine in the garage. Of course, I have plenty in the ground that are large, too, but they were damaged 4-5 years ago in that cold winter. Acalypha require way too much water! Cycads do great, Epidendrums, especiall the orange! My Heliconia rostrata blooms all summer but it LOVES food! Some of the Alcantareas (Bromeliads) thrive in full sun! Pic is of Alc odorata...

  • irma_stpete_10a
    9 years ago

    I do plants better than I do computer! I didn't mean to post 2x above... or even 1x... I meant to put it 1x under the question of how to fill a big pot. "Edit"? Fergetit! Impossible! Sorry!
    But.. I think Epidendrum radicans would do well with hot roots - saw them this year at nurseries in huge black pots, full sun (Haines Rd, Pinellas Park).

  • laura1
    9 years ago

    ditto fawnridge....succulents...agave.

Sponsored
Outdoor Spaces
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars19 Reviews
Experienced Full Service Landscape Design Firm Serving Loudoun County