Do all your potted plants DIE? Try these 15 expert-picked varieties that thrive

1: Agapanthus (main image)

This South African native loves nothing more than a constricted root run to flower freely, so growing it in pots is ideal. It won’t even mind drying out every now and again. Be a little careful when choosing varieties, as some are more tender than others. ‘Windsor Grey’ is a lovely one, fully hardy with huge heads of lilac-tinged flowers; Headbourne Hybrids can also take the cold, and they have violet-blue flowers; or opt for ‘Margaret’, a stunning powder-blue agapanthus that’s fully hardy. Agapanthus are harmful to humans and pets if eaten.

Type: Deciduous/evergreen perennial, depending on variety

Do give them a spot in full sun.

2: Tulips

Tulips are an ideal spring-flowering bulb for containers. Place your tulip pots beside a path or in a sunny spot by the front door when the flowers appear; then swap them for late-flowering spring plants once their blooms have faded. For containers, choose shorter varieties like deep maroon ‘Ronaldo’, orange-pink ‘Jimmy’ and green and cream ‘Spring Green’. Combine warm-coloured tulips with orange, red or pink wallflowers; cool whites look fabulous underplanted with forget-me-nots. Harmful to humans and pets if eaten, and a skin allergen, so wear gloves and other protective equipment when handling.

Type: Spring-flowering bulbs

Do mix plenty of grit into your compost.

3: Azaleas and rhododendrons

There are some lovely compact azalea varieties that are perfect for pots in part shade, where you can give them the acid soil they need to thrive. They’ll flower in spring, in bright shades of pink, purple, yellow and sometimes white, welcoming the new season with a bit of drama. Award-winning scented Rhododendron ‘Daviesii’ has more subtle colours, the funnel-shaped flowers like miniature lilies in rich creamy white. Compact evergreen Rhododendron ‘Mother’s Day’ is a dazzling cherry red, while evergreen Rhododendron ‘Rosebud’ has unusual blossom-like mid-pink flowers and small glossy leaves. Harmful to humans and pets if eaten; wear gloves and other protective equipment when handling.

Type: Deciduous and evergreen shrubs

Do mulch in spring with ericaceous compost or conifer bark chippings.

4: Catmint

A large terracotta container overflowering with nepeta (catmint) nails the country-cottage vibe. Its long spikes of flowers create a romantic, perfumed haze of violet-blue that will last from June to September, if you clip it back after its first flowering. And it’s a huge favourite with bees and other pollinators too. For impact, choose ’Six Hills Giant’, which grows to around 90cm in height and spread. If you need something for a smaller space, try ‘Kit Cat’, which only reaches around 30cm.

Type: Herbaceous perennial

Do make sure your compost is free-draining, mixing in plenty of grit.

5: Grasses

Grasses can be brilliant in containers, either mixed with other perennials such as dahlias, verbena and heucheras for colourful displays with movement, texture and a beautiful, airy feel or used as statement plants for a handsome contemporary look. Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ is a great example of a stunning grass that works alone, its billowing yellow-gold foliage reaching around 45cm and needing no more than a smart pot to shine. For height and gorgeous smoky red bottlebrush flowers, try Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Red Head’ in a large pot. Great mixers include Festuca glauca, smaller Carex sedges and Stipa tenuissima.

Type: Deciduous and evergreen perennials

Do use generous containers.

6: Cosmos

Top of our list of annuals to grow from seed has to be cosmos, although you can buy them ready-grown too. They’re pretty much fool-proof, and the results are spectacular and long-lasting, with flowers in white, pink, red and yellow produced from July through to November. Go for smaller cultivars for pots, as some can reach nearly 2m tall and need staking. The Sonata and Apollo series are both good options.

Type: Flowering annual

Do resist feeding or planting in rich soil, or they’ll produce foliage at the expense of flowers.

7: Trailing tomatoes

All tomatoes can be grown in containers, however the taller ‘cordon’ varieties can become unwieldy, plus they need plenty of attention and a strict watering regime. For something easier and lower maintenance, look to trailing types such as ‘Tumbling Tom’ (red or yellow), a compact, bushy cherry tomato that fruits prolifically, or ‘Peardrops’, which has unusual yellow, pear-shaped fruits. Both work really well in a pot or hanging basket placed in a sunny spot, provided you feed and water them regularly.

Type: Annual salad crop

Do plant out deeper than in the original pot, to encourage more root growth.

8: Roses

Generally speaking, roses aren’t the best for containers, as they tend to be large and all need good, rich compost to thrive. But there are lots of smaller varieties that have been bred specially for pots. So if you have a sunny front door or patio that could do with some scent and colour, options abound, as long as your pot is a decent size with plenty of depth. Try SWEET DREAM ('Fryminicot'), a compact plant to around 50cm with double apricot-coloured flowers from early summer right into November, or golden-yellow climbing rose LAURA FORD ('Chewarvel'), which will reach around 2.5m tall.

Type: Flowering shrub

Do use peat-free soil-based compost, feed regularly and keep them well watered.

9: Cut-and-come-again lettuce

Edibles in pots? Absolutely! Choose the right ones, and you can have a productive mini kitchen garden on your patio. One of the easiest and most satisfying salads to grow is cut-and-come-again lettuce. Simply put, it’s a mixture of seeds you can sow from early spring, direct into patio containers, then again every six weeks or so, to give you fresh salad leaves until the beginning of autumn.

Type: Annual salad crop

Do keep picking the outer leaves to encourage your plants to produce more.

10: Mint

Planted out in a border, mint is a bully. It will run riot, smothering nearby plants with ease. Give it a pot in sun or part shade, and it will behave and thrive, providing you with fresh pickings for salads, teas, desserts, smoothies, jellies and sauces from spring until early winter, year after year. Mint isn’t fussy about soil; it just needs a decent amount of water. Spearmint (Mentha spicata) and peppermint (Mentha x piperita) are traditional, but try others like chocolate mint, with its purple new shoots, or zingy grapefruit mint for something a bit different.

Type: Herbaceous perennial

Do keep picking the leaves to encourage bushiness.

11: Blueberries

A blueberry bush left to its own devices in a raised bed or border is likely to sulk and fail, unless your soil is naturally acidic. Grown in a roomy pot of ericaceous compost, however, it will thrive, given a little care in terms of regular watering – use rainwater to keep that essential acidity in the soil – and occasional feeding. A couple of recommended varieties include ‘Duke’, for high yields in early summer, and ‘Patriot’, another great cropper with particularly sweet berries.

Type: Deciduous fruiting shrub

Do plant two, if you’re unsure whether yours is self-fertile.

12: Japanese maples

You’d think planting a tree in a pot would be a risky business. But it doesn’t need to be. As always, it’s about choosing the right kind of tree and the best container: something large and possibly glazed for the pot (terracotta dries out easily), while a small, spreading tree like a Japanese maple is the perfect shape to balance out an oversized pot. The leaves of Acer palmatum ‘Katsura’ are a symphony in gold, orange and pink; ‘Dissectum’ has feathery foliage that turns a bright coppery orange in autumn; meanwhile, the leaves of ‘Garnet’ are a deep claret colour and finely divided.

Type: Deciduous tree

Do place your acer in a sheltered, partly shaded spot.

13: Dahlias

We wouldn’t recommend every variety of dahlia for growing in pots. Some are just too large and need staking, which is tricky in pots. Shorter ones with single or pompom flowers tend to do well. In fact, they often do better, as you can protect them from slug and snail attack more easily when they’re not in the ground – a common problem when the new shoots are coming through in spring. Try sunset-coloured ‘Totally Tangerine’, golden ‘Moonfire’ or dark-leaved ‘Bishop of Llandaff’.

Type: Tuberous perennial

Do feed regularly in summer.

14: Mexican fleabane

This is one of the most drought-tolerant plants we know of, so even if you’re hopeless at watering, Mexican fleabane is likely to survive in a pot. It’s got a lovely airy feel, with its delicate clouds of pink and white daisies hovering above wiry stems from early summer to mid autumn, with pretty much zero upkeep. The scientific name is Erigeron karvinskianus, and it’s heavenly in a metal trough or zinc planter, the pale flowers and slightly glaucous foliage finding their perfect foil.

Type: Herbaceous perennial

Do give it gritty compost that’s not too rich.

15: Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas are beautiful but thirsty plants. The clue’s in the name (hydra…). So if you’re not great at watering, they can be a bit hit and miss in containers. The good news is there are plenty of newer, smaller cultivars (up to around 1m) that, given a roomy pot of compost, will thrive. Paniculata hydrangeas such as Little Lime ('Jane') and BOBO ('Ilvobo') are excellent choices, as are macrophylla varieties including ‘Little White’, ‘Little Purple’ and ‘Little Pink’. A container also means you can give those blue-flowered hydrangeas the acidic soil they need to keep their colour. Harmful to humans and pets if eaten, and a skin allergen, so wear gloves and other protective equipment when handling.

Type: Deciduous shrub

Do water them often in dry weather.