Making a garden wheelbarrow display

Flowers laid out for planting (copyright Jaipi Sixbear 2012)

A few years back, I made an awesome floral display in an old wheelbarrow and wrote about it. At that time, our garden consisted of a few raised beds and the wheelbarrow with flowers pictured. All the perennials except, ironically, the lavender that inspired the project, are still thriving in the wheelbarrow to this day. (The lavender bit the dust after some heavy rains.)

Our gardens will soon be expanding to include most of the back yard and a large area in the front. It just goes to show you, growing a gradually bigger garden is entirely possible if you have the patience and choose the right plants. What follows next is my original article post.

My adventure with planting a garden wheelbarrow display started simply enough. My daughter gave me a beautiful lavender plant. Who knew serendipity would follow? I should have. Isn't that the way everything happens to gardeners? I imagined my lavender surrounded by flowers in an old wheelbarrow. Unfortunately, I didn't have one.

Wish granted!

So, I decided to get some cull lumber for a proper bed. Guess what? I didn't find any cull lumber to suit my needs. Surprise! On the way home, what do I spy? An old rusty wheelbarrow with a free sign on it. I'm not kidding. This is absolutely true! It was, as they say, destiny.

Another dilemma:

How do you choose filler flowers for your garden wheelbarrow? Not only, that, but where do you find enough flowers cheap enough to fill a wheelbarrow and make a nice display? Well, I figured that out too. You don't.

Here's what you do:

*Buy just a few flowers. Let them spread to fill the wheelbarrow over time.
*Color coordinate with your primary feature flower, or buy random multiple colors.
*Buy flowers of varied heights, shapes, sizes and leaf types.
*Give them a good soaking.
*Let them rest a couple days.

Meanwhile, prepare the wheelbarrow for planting:

*Drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage.
*Line it with landscape fabric.
*Fill it with nutrient rich potting soil.

Don't be in a hurry to plant:

*Set your starter flowers on top of the soil in the wheelbarrow.
*Arrange them until you like what you see. (Don't forget to put the taller flowers in the back or center of the display.)
*Plant them one at a time where they sit.
*Water and fertilize as needed.

Bonus tip: When choosing flowers for your garden wheelbarrow display, Use mostly perennials. Fill in the gaps with cheap annuals. As the perennial flowers spread, they'll fill those gaps. By doing this you give your perennials room to grow. You save yourself from having to divide your perennials for a year or two, as well.

Part of this post was previously published by this author on Yahoo!