Shallow pots for small treasures

Seed pans, wicker baskets and basins make ideal homes for small plants. Choose these containers for succulents and seaside plants, which won’t mind if the shallow soil dries out from time to time on hot sunny days.

A stone Venus gazes across a sea of low pots filled with a selection of rockery plants and small succulents.

A terracotta box (1) houses a clump of late-flowering Angélique’ tulips, while a basket (2) of low-growing sedums and pinks makes a pretty outdoor table decoration. Bonsai trees (3) need very little soil for their roots and grow best in shallow pots.

Bowls and low troughs show off the smaller treasures of the garden, such as small succulents, mat-forming plants and low-growing bulbs, to their best advantage. A group of shallow pots of just one type of plant, such as houseleeks (sempervivums), set out on a patio becomes a textured ornament.

Stone troughs are rectangular and about 15- 20cm (6-8in) deep. They are expensive (and not easy to find), but old Victorian sinks are a popular alternative — and come complete with plughole drainage. Most plugholes, however, are so large that water and soil will drain rapidly away so it is best to cover them with broken crocks or a piece of fine wire mesh.

Ceramic sinks can be used as they are or coated with a cement mix to produce a more traditional weathered look. If weight is an issue, it is easy to coat a light plastic or polystyrene base with the cement mix or make a mock stone trough.

Troughs should be raised off the ground on bricks to improve drainage and to keep the bottom free of slugs and other pests.

Small plants, such as pinks — Dianthus alpinus, D. deltoides and D. neglectus — grow well in shallow containers. Thrifts are also good choices, and form softly textured foliage mounds with flower stems rising up out of the clump.

Mat-forming plants such as houseleeks, saxifrages and creeping thymes with their subtle range of foliage

Colours are well suited to shallow containers, where they spread in mounds and rosettes, as well as in ground-covering mats.

Seed pans, popular wide, shallow terracotta pots, which can be round or square, provide a shapely setting for spring bulbs. Because they are small and easy to carry, they can be brought into position near the house just as the flower buds start to open.

Low-growing bulbs such as Iris reticulate, closely planted and in a single colour, look like jewels set in these shallow bowls. Tulips growing out of a sea of blue forget-me- nots will also provide good spring colour, as will collections of dwarf, multi- flowered and species tulips.

When the spring bulbs have finished flowering, plant delicate pink or white Cyclamen coum for autumn and winter pleasure.

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