So, what size container to choose for growing Hedging Plants?
Not for the first time in gardening, you’ll find contradictory advice. Many sources will recommend you DON’T plant in too big a container. Instead, you should choose a container that will keep the plant happy for up to three years after which it can be replanted in the next size up. However, this is somewhat illogical as anything planted straight into the ground is, effectively, in a pot of infinite size.
The solution, as so often, can be found in common sense and sensible compromise…
Small Hedging & Edging Plants
Smaller hedging and edging plants (I’m thinking of the Lavenders in particular) can be planted into pots suitable for their final size. This is also beneficial because the smallest of pots are the most likely to dry out in summer and freeze solid in winter.
Medium-sized Hedging & Edging Plants
Medium-sized plants (or those you wish to restrict to a medium size) should can either be planted in their final home or started off in a pot suitable for the first three years.
Large Hedging & Edging Plants
If you have, or want to grow, a large plant, then they will need a large container, though, again, it can be started off in something a little more modest. Large containers do have the space to include an additional internal layer of insulation. But remember, large, full pots are difficult to move and so once your Yew or Hornbeam is in its final container, it tends to stay where it’s put.
Lavenders
Lavenders are designed to grow in constricted places so choose a pot that is just (1”-2”) larger than the root ball – remember that the root ball will be larger than the plant itself. All but the smallest dwarf varieties will need to be replanted into a larger container after two-three years while large varieties will, eventually, benefit from being planted into the ground.
While in containers, Lavenders should be top dressed every year and pruned lightly in the spring before buds appear and again in the summer.
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