Spring has certainly sprung in this part of the world. During the last couple of weeks I have been enjoying some lovely early spring sunshine. This weather seems to be lasting for the moment and temperatures have been quite high for the time of year. Officially, British Summer Time doesn't begin until the end of March, but I'm not complaining!
With gorgeous weather such as this I have been making great progress in my own spring preparations. Although there are many more jobs still to do, I can feel satisfied with my efforts over the last few days.
I have many plants in containers and most are permanent plantings. Nearly all of them prosper quite happily for several seasons without much attention. Others like lilies, for example, require fresh compost each season together with a high potash feed to ensure a good crop of flowers. For those less fussy herbaceous and woody shrubs, an occasional re-potting does work wonders by perking the plants up.
Occasionally, re-potting of the larger more permanent plants in containers is not always possible. They might be just too big to move (large plants in containers are very heavy), or possibly some might already be housed in their final pots, having reached their optimum size. In either case, fresh compost can be applied if done carefully without disturbing surface roots too much. Removing the top 2 or 3 inches of the existing compost by teasing around the roots is a tedious job, but if done with care can be quite successful in re-generating pot bound plants, at least in the short term.
Re-potting is an important job for those of us with patio gardens or just a tiny garden with lots of potted plants. Most re-potting is relatively easy, however you might consider staggering your re-potting over several seasons if you have a large number of pots to cope with. As for the plants themselves, they rarely object and on the whole greatly benefit from this occasional treat.
Camellias are superb flowering shrubs for containers. Growing them in containers neatly overcomes the problems of limey soils. They do need a decent sized root run though and ericaceous compost for preference or at least a neutral to acid potting compost. March is the beginning of the fairly long camellia season, which can last well into May. Frost is their biggest enemy. Positioning your potted camellia so that early morning sun does not catch the plant is important. Overnight frosts will regularly occur at this time of year and if frosted blooms are exposed to the sun, they will soon turn to mush.
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