Many people associate these containers only with alpine or rock garden type plantings. By making small containers that are easy to move, you can create wonderful scenes with tender cactus or other succulents which can easily be overwintered indoors. You can even use them as the outside cover for a water garden.
I have several planted with the typical hardy plants--various alpines, sempervivums, and sedums. These are wintered outside without any protection. Some authors do recommend using a sheet of plastic just above the plants to keep excess winter snow or moisture off of them. Others suggest covering them with evergreen trimmings or even a protective straw mulch. I prefer to just leave them open to the elements. The 1997 Philadelphia Flower Show featured trough gardens. Miniature trough gardens discusses the possible plants including miniature evergreens that may be used in outdoor troughs.
I use 1/3 vermicullite, 1/3 gravel, and 1/3 topsoil or Sunshine Professional Mix as the soil mixture for these hardy troughs. I always top them off with some kind of gravel to prevent the soil from washing over the edge during a hard downpour. Besides that, I just plain like the appearance of a gravel mulch around these plants. I tried a chipped wood type mulch and didn't feel it fit right with the alpine type plants.
Troughs may be used in various creative ways inside as well as outside. This year is the first time I've tried water gardening. I bought the plants (water hyacinth, water lettuce, duck weed and fairy moss) and placed them in a plastic tub. However, I didn't like the appearance of that sitting on my front porch. Since I had used the same plastic tub to create a trough, I slipped it back inside the trough. This now looks like a very naturalistic type container and people are surprised to find water plants flourishing inside it. Even my mailman has commented on the unique things I've done with these troughs. The plants have done so well that I've already been able to split every type with my mother.
Since the plants are not be hardy in Michigan winters, I'll be overwintering them under my shoplights in my basement or my bedroom light garden. Hopefully, this will be enough light to just keep them alive but not necessarily multiplying. It is hard to find people to share tropical water garden plants with when there is a foot of snow on the ground. My son is willing to place some of the fairy moss and duckweed in his tropical fish aquarium to see if his fish will eat it or even breed because of it.
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