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Sedge and thrift pot display

in : Pots & containers: Summer

You will need

  • Sedge, Carex buchananii
  • Blue fescue, Festuca glauca x2
  • Scabious x2
  • Thrift, Armeria maritima x3
  • Large container, we used one made from recycled tyres
  • Free-draining compost with extra grit added (see Adam's tip)
  • Crocks

Pots & container categories

Overview

If you yearn for the smell of the sea and the sight of grasses waving in the dunes, try planting up this coastal-themed container. From late-spring, the thrift brings splashes of colour with profuse pink, white or purple flowers, while the lilac scabious echoes its purple accents from mid- to late-summer. Above these plants arch the leaves of the grasses, gently swaying in a summer breeze.
Plant it: March - April
At its best: June - September
Takes just: 20 minutes

How to do it:

1Cover the bottom of the container with crocks, then fill it two-thirds full with compost.

2Knock the plants out of their pots and arrange them in the container. Plant the sedge in the centre, with a blue fescue on either side. Dot the scabious and thrift around the outside.

3So long as the container doesn't become waterlogged, the plants in this planting scheme should overwinter. Just before the new spring growth appears give the sedge a trim. Birds will love the seedheads of the thrift so wait until late February before cutting back the foliage.

Adam's tip

All these plants thrive in very well-drained soil. Plant them in a free-draining compost mixed with a few handfuls of horticultural grit or sand.
In late-summer, the thrift produces papery, yellow seedheads - make the most of them by placing the pot where the low afternoon sun can shine through them.

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