No Place Like Home -- Karen Wight

I’ve been laid back (a.k.a. lazy) about my garden this winter. Aside

from pruning the roses and pulling a few weeds, it’s been neglected. And

it looks like it.

I’m not quite ready to take on the spring face-lift with flats of

flowers, adding good soil and fertilizing, but I am prepared to take on

some small-scale jobs. I need to build up to a crescendo and starting

with my outside pots seems to be the about the right speed.

A few of my containers are filled with “no-brainer plants,” God love

‘em. Things like clipped boxwoods are low maintenance and so far, I

haven’t been able to kill any. But occasionally, the boxwoods look a

little lonely and like to invite a few blooming friends to spend a season

with them.

If you have a perennial that longs for companionship, add a little

color. I like simple combinations such as white flowers planted with some

variegated greenery. If you’re feeling perkier than I am, go for a burst

of color, but make a plan. Don’t buy 10 different things and expect a

good show. Plant one or two types of plants, they get along better that

way.

If you want to try something different this year, think about making a

tiny vegetable garden in your outdoor containers. Lettuces are beautiful

plants and come in a huge variety of colors and sizes. Plant an upright

tomato in the center with a decorative support of some kind, and add

lettuces and trailing rosemary around the perimeter. Edible beauty.

I’ve been experimenting with some succulents. So far, my favorites are

the green “string of pearls.” Do you remember those from the ‘70s? We all

had them hanging in pots with macrame supports. Macrame. Doesn’t that

bring on a few flashbacks?

Another friendly succulent is the Christmas cactus. These plants are

very easy, and I emphasize easy. They grow with almost no attention, have

interesting stems that arch up and over the pot, and come in a great

variety of colors.

I have the white version, but there are fuchsia, coral and light pink

specimens as well. I clumped several together for impact and have the pot

on a table under a covered patio. They seem to be happy no matter what I

do.

One of my favorite container plantings lately was a mound of

ornamental kale -- which comes in white or purple -- surrounded with

cascading string of pearls. A friend and I planted this combination in

her very large rusted urns that sit on pediments at the front of the

house. The whole effect is dramatic and a little unexpected.

Sooner or later the kale will get too leggy and she’ll have to replace

the center plants. And when she does, we’ll come up with something else

unexpected. That’s part of the fun.

* KAREN WIGHT is a Newport Beach resident. Her column runs Sundays.