Container Gardening

Cities are packed with millions of people, and civil engineers have long-solved the problem of housing for such a dense population — build up, not out. Save ground space by creating taller structures, with higher capacities. If you are one of these teeming millions and you happen to have some interest in gardening, you know how difficult it can be to garden in the cramped conditions that urban life demands.

Take a hint from the engineers who designed your living space — build up, not out, and save ground space. On a small patio, balcony, or rooftop you can increase your harvest exponentially by using containers, trellises, arbors, and innovative growing techniques to maximize the space you have.

There are plenty of new plant varieties that lend themselves to small areas: climbing plants and dwarf varieties of popular fruit trees and flowering shrubs. I found a few people online who are benefiting from the new vertical gardening trend that is becoming a necessary adaptation for urban gardeners.

A kumquat, two limes, two lemons, and one big, juicy navel orange: an impressive array of citrus trees are available from Wayside Gardens this season. And these aren't just any citrus trees — each one is a unique specimen of it's genus, a rare and impressive variety. Like many of you, I love citrus trees and citrus fruit, especially limes. Lime is my favorite flavor and probably my favorite fruit.

Limes 'Bearss' and 'Mexican Thornless' are very different, but each serves its intended purpose well. 'Mexican Thornless' limes are edible ornamentals, perfect for the patio or home, and they produce wonderful tangy limes great for flavoring drinks or salsa. 'Bearss' is a serious culinary lime, preferred by professional chefs and bartenders — they have a perfect lime taste that's not too acidic, preferred by many over keylimes and other mainstream varieties.

I have one of the 'Bearss' Lime trees in a big pot that moves all around the house and sometimes in and out the back door. The limes are amazing — sometimes I will just eat them straight off the tree (don't do that — it's bad for your teeth).

I'm very excited about my next houseplant project.  This year Wayside Gardens has one of the most stunning and hard-to-find bamboo varieties you'll ever see, Phyllostachys nigra.  It is a deeply colored black bamboo, and I've always heard that it makes an excellent large indoor plant.  I've got a perfect spot for it this year, left empty when I finally planted my container-bound Japanese maple tree outside. 

Black bamboo is a great choice for indoor planting for a few reasons.  Most obviously, the dark culms are very dramatic and interesting.  It is a relatively slow-growing bamboo, so it requires less pruning and thinning to keep it looking wonderful.  It is also a larger bamboo than most varieties commonly grown indoors, so it will grow taller and with a straighter upright habit, which is great for a very impressive effect and can give an entire room, even a large room, an amazing exotic feel.  I'm hoping that, as it gains height, it will draw the eyes upward and emphasize the tall ceilings in my living room.  Of course, as with any large houseplant, it can dominate a small room, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  This bamboo in a smaller room could create a wonderful meditative feel of being in a perfectly calm outdoor temple somewhere in China.

Bamboo is never a houseplant requiring no care at all, but it is a relatively easy plant to care for.  It is important whenever growing bamboo indoors to keep it trimmed, but with taller varieties, such as Phyllostachys nigra, it is especially important to keep it from overgrowing the ceiling.  Trim the tops of the culms (they're technically not "canes" until after they've been cut) just above a high branch.  This pruning shouldn't harm the plant at all.  You'll also want to thin it, cutting off most of the smaller new shoots and culms at the soil, especially once the plant is well-established (though you'll probably want to keep some of them, as the green of the new shoots looks wonderful against the black of the older culms).  Trim the branches from the lower third or so of each culm to emphasize the shape and wonderful ebony color of the bamboo, and prune the branches above that to the second or third branching.

If black bamboo indoors isn't for you, keep in mind that it thrives in zones six to nine, and makes a fantastic privacy or border plant, or it can just be grown as an interesting grove.  It is one of the best bamboos for landscaping not only for its beauty but also because it is a less invasive variety of bamboo, requiring less work to keep.