Get Growing This Easter

It’s almost Easter and that means serious gardening time. From sowing seeds to laying patio it’s time to lick your garden into shape ready for summer. The pots, troughs and planters you chose can make as much of an impact as the plants you grow inside them. Here’s our top five tips for choosing planters to get growing.

Planters For Maximum Blooms

Whatever the season avid gardeners who love flowers will want pots and planters with the widest rim circumference to pack in the most plants. These Tazzas and small urns allow plants to trail and tumble over the edge, while having enough depth to support taller plants at the center. From petunias and lobelia in summer to cyclamen and viola in autumn these make great displays possible. Fill them until they overflow with flowers.

Chilstone makes a number of classic Tazzas on pedestals to display your blooms.

These small urns are raised on a neck making them suitable for pedestals and walls. They can even be used as finials to maximise the places to add plants.

Add beautiful Elizabethan urns to transform walls and balustrades.

To make an impressive feature for botanical displays, group multiple urns or space them along a wall or driveway and  plants can be changed with the seasons.

Multiple Nuneham urns make a real feature like at The Riverhill Himalayan gardens near Sevenoakes.

Troughs

Troughs are versatile. They can be understated pretty herb gardens or statement features over flowing with plants for that wow factor. Plant them indoors in conservatories for tender houseplants with a mix of foliage, or add them outdoors at the base of a garden wall, or even on top of wall coping. The only constraint is your imagination and the ability of wherever you place the trough to withstand the weight when it’s full of soil.

This Gothic trough comes in a range of lengths and can be open backed to sit flush against a wall.

There are so many styles to choose from, lasting years and weathering to a rich patina. Although you can paint our range to match your property and colour scheme if you wish.

Contrast your spring bulbs with a feature trough or Jardiniere

From ornate period troughs to sleek, simple styles we can make them with or without drainage holes depending on what you’re planting and what the placement needs are. With plenty of root room our troughs work well for bulbs and perennials so you can enjoy colourful displays year after year.

Make the most of every inch of gardening space you have adding planters to walls to make interesting nooks that pop with colour. Our Regency Square Trough is part of the display at Pashley Manor, East Sussex.

Symmetrical Pairs

A smart way to create an impact for your planters is to place them in pairs either side of an entrance or steps or along paths. This makes a focal point that draws the eye and when teamed with a great planting  this can make a wonderful feature  and add classic charm to your garden. Experiment with flowering plants such as agapanthus, that like tightly bound roots and produce impressive summer blooms. For extra impact use planted urns as finials. If these are on a low wall they are the right height to be easily accessible for gardeners and add a traditional county garden feel.

A pair of Chilstone Nuneham urns adds classic charm to a garden entrance.

Mini trough pairs can be mixed with other pots and planters and stuffed full of bedding plants to bring colour and interest to plain garden steps. There are no rules, just ideas to inspire your gardens.

Chilstone’s Gothic troughs come in a range of sizes to suit your space.

Or you can use pots to create a formal garden plan like Kensington Palace Garden using planter pairs with simple evergreen Box hedging to create a framework for your planting scheme. These classic, simple planters are repeated in pairs numerous times along the paths of the whole garden, guiding visitors around the space, past the flowering beds.

Chilstone were commissioned to make these planters bespoke for Kensington Palace Gardens.

Planters for Trees

We also make our planters in a range of sizes large enough to accommodate trees. Perfect for magnolias, bay and olive trees. We can make your planters without a bottom if you want to allow your trees the root room to grow but maintain the smart potted look. We hand make all our stone work  so please just ask and we can modify your order.

Matching pairs of planted trees beautifully define an entrance,

There are many ornamental trees that are prefect for planters, from smaller fruit trees to figs or standard roses with captivating fragrance to make your home smell gorgeous.  You could even plant frost tender plants close to your property to protect them for most of the year and if you plant them in plastic pots within our cast stone planters you can remove them in the depths of winter and store them inside a conservatory or heated greenhouse. Mimosa, gardenia or even a large bird of paradise or banana could add an unusual tropical twist and you can swap them for holly in the winter.

Our sleek Kent Bowl never goes out of style and add kerb appeal to properties.

Potted trees are a great way to enjoy tress with invasive roots that you would normally avoid close to your home such as weeping willows that can damage the foundations. These trees won’t be able to grow large in a confined space, but if you love pussy willow in spring but you don’t have the room for a towering tree in your garden these could be a nice option. Pots are also a low maintenance option for firs, and evergreens for a classic look. These trees grow huge if planted in the ground, blocking out light to neighbouring properties, but look chic in large, contemporary planters.

Chilstone’s Victoria Box Planters are large enough to grow trees in.

Feature Urns

Some urns are a beautiful feature in their own right. Highly decorative and distinctive, these add flair in the depths of winter, sparkling with frost in contrast to the warmth of summer when they are surrounded by flowers. Our products are handmade to really pick out the intricate details. Inspired from an ancient Greek frieze, to Elizabethan weaves and Regency flamboyance these certainly add impact.

Our Harewood Jardiniere on lion’s feet is a show stopper!

Plant around your urns to make them the main event, use spring bulbs, then lavender or lupins in May and rudbeckia or amarines from summer into late autumn and ornamental cabbages or cyclamen in the frosts creep in. Use the urn as the structural element of your garden design to plan your planting around.

Chilstone’s William Kent Urn makes an impressive garden feature.

For highly decorative urns keep your planting elegant with white tulips that will compliment and not compete with the detailing. Trailing ivy can create an textured contrast to these classical styles that act as a foliage base for your planting scheme.

Chilstone’s Middleton Urn is handmade to create the details.

Order Now

Summer isn’t far away. Our products are entirely handmade, the same way they have been for almost 70 years, since we opened on the day of the Queen’s coronation, so you need to order your planters now, ready for the summer. We have a limited number of vintage items in stock that have naturally weathered in our show garden ready to take home. Please call our team 7 days a week to place your order (please note we are not open on Easter Sunday). Enjoy your extra gardening time this Easter!

Chilstone has a limited range of vintage urn available to purchase.