Growing Shrubs in Containers

Follow these special care requirements for thriving container shrubs.

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Many decorative shrubs can be grown in large containers, but they have somewhat different planting and care requirements than container-grown flowering plants, ferns, and decorative foliage plants.

Among the shrubs that do well in containers are barberry, bluebeard, camellia, clematis, small cotoneaster, escallonia, euonymus, false cypress, firethorn, flowering currant, forsythia, honeysuckle, jasmine, some lavenders, lilac, Mexican orange, passionflower, prunus, rhododendron, rockrose, spirea, and wisteria. Boxwood, privet, and other hedge shrubs also do well. Your nursery or garden center can give you good advice on what to choose.

Planting Shrubs
Shrubs generally grow larger than most other plants, so you need a sizable container -- say one 2-1/2 feet wide by 1-1/2 feet deep for a shrub that will grow 4 to 5 feet tall and spread 3 to 4 feet wide. Drainage holes in the bottom are essential.

Place about 2 inches of coarse gravel, broken clay pots, or similar drainage material in the bottom of the container. Then add a layer of potting soil. You need enough so the base of the stem will be level with the top of the container when the shrub is placed in it. To prepare a soilless potting mix for shrubs, use 3 parts moss to 1 part sharp or builder's sand, plus 4 tablespoons of all-purpose fertilizer per bushel of mix. A good soil-based mix is 2 parts soil plus 1 part compost or leaf mold plus 1 part sharp sand or perlite. Another is equal parts of soil, sand, and peat moss.

Make sure the root ball is moist and the root system healthy for planting. Trim away any dead or damaged roots. Set the shrub in the center of the container and fill around it with your potting soil. Firm the soil with your hands as you work until it is about 1/2 inch below the top of the container. Then water thoroughly, wait for it to drain, and water once again.

Caring for Container Shrubs
Water the shrub well whenever the soil surface dries out. About a year after planting start feeding the plant with liquid fertilizer monthly or when growth is poor or the leaves become discolored.

Prune the shrub's top growth to shape it and keep to size as desired. Do this in late autumn or early in the spring, before sap begins to flow for new growth. Every four to six years, remove the shrub and prune it by stripping about 4 inches of root ends and soil from the root ball. Scrub the container and replant the shrub with fresh soil mix.

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