Hello friends welcome to Gardening with Creekside I am Jenny and today we are going to be planting up
the huge AquaPots here in front of the pergola at the nursery uh Jerry's behind the camera for
uh two seconds just to help me get set up and there's a lot going on here today and I told him
I said this is going to be fun because Jenny had two cups of coffee this morning and then
Jackson's birthday is later on this week so Megan and I took him to breakfast and jenny had a latte
so you're on three cup coffee Jenny today so we're going to have a lot of fun we are getting set up
here at the nursery it is a windy day um we're going to be open tomorrow so we're restocking
the nursery we've got a delivery of soil coming so there's just a lot going on so we're just going to
be really informal just some friends gardening together aqua pots massive huge aquapots if
you're not familiar what an aquapot is it is the self-watering containers from proven winters these
are gorgeous creations from michael carr who is the artist who designs the pots jack barnwell
is the landscaper who created the the technical system of the pot we've had these here this is our
fourth season third or fourth i don't remember whenever aquapot's came out we got them and um
man now this is part of the professional line so they are huge so don't freak out but they have
served our purpose really well here we love them remember we are north carolina zone 7b
i will plant these now and they will go for all season all the way through the fall and if i
want to take them out to put a fall arrangement in i can but they will be very happy in here um
let's see full sun conditions right now where sun comes up over here so we're in a little bit of a
shade which works for the camera but yes full sun conditions right here and yeah we're just going
to get planting okay so what we're going to use this year i've kind of set it up for us to look at
my main thriller is going to be the prince tut grass all of these are annuals just going to
say that right off the bat they're all annuals prince tuck grass is also the annual of the year
from proven winners if you keep up with that so that is a lot of fun they always highlight
an annual um each year and so this year it is prince tut prince tut is a fantastic grass
that you cannot over water the more water you get it the bigger it gets last year we had them
in the water trough in front of the barn and they just got massive and huge because there was
tons of soil there for them and there had lots and lots of water so if you're going
to put it in a container make sure it is the a very large container because it will just go
and go and go you can put it in the ground you can even put it in like a pond bog situation
but yeah if you see those roots right there these are this is a very happy plant we had it in the
greenhouse in an area where it got tons of water i am not really going to break up this much i'm just
going to like come in here and fluff my roots a little bit and that's it it is perfectly fine
um just like that i bless you yeah the not only is the wind blowing but the pollen is flying today
uh for those of you that follow us and have been with us for a long
journey you will remember that i planted these aqua pots with tulips in the spring i pulled the
tulips out tulips for us are annuals our winters do not stay cold enough for long enough for them
to overwinter and be perennials for us so i pulled those out i did not switch out the soil because
the root systems were not so extensive that it ate up all of my soil so i left the same soil in here
and we're just going to plant our annuals in here so i'm trying to make sure that prince tut is
centered with the pole get it in here but prince tut will get nice and big like i said the more
water you give it the bigger this plant will be so it'll get nice and tall and it will get wide
so it will fill up this whole space and just go that's the great thing about aqua pots is that
the plants have as much water and nutrients available to them throughout the growing season
so this is going to be my thriller now for my semi thriller filler we're going to use the some
sun patients sun patients are great this is sun patients compact white i did this in the landscape
last year over at our house and man they were happy they'll get nice and tall let me look at my
tag 16 to 30 inches tall so here in the aquapot i would say they're going to go more on that 30 inch
side and then they fill out as well so this will give me a nice pop of white they're continuous
bloomers they are very low maintenance bugs do not like them which is always a really good thing
and then it'll give me some white so it'll give me some nice contrast with my other plants and i'm
planting them close together because essentially let me move these out of the way essentially
i want them to look and grow as one big plant so that is why i planted them as close to each
other as i did we are ignoring minimum spacing on this container for sure so we've got those in now
to be a little bit of an accent plant and to give me some color we are going to use
new introduction from proven winners really fun gorgeous purple color on it foliage it is stunning
so not only do we love this purple queen because it's going to be a fantastic foliage plant but
we also love it because it can do sun or shade and it's going to be a filler and a spiller all in one
so i'm going to really kind of keep them in line with the sun patience that way everybody's going
to grow together and be nice and full because in the front we're going to have the new supertunia
vista jazzberry and that jazzberry is probably going to take up a lot of room in the front and
as i dig i find tulip bulbs so i just toss them i know some of y'all are like jenny you're tulips
y'all it is just we're 7b north carolina hot and humid they don't last so we treat them as annuals
so keep that in mind i was talking with a customer um this weekend and she is from minnesota and um
we were talking back and forth stunning garden by the way oh my heavens um but we were talking
about our different growing conditions and she's showing me pictures and i was like
oh i would love to grow that it was a um it was like a blue evergreen tree it was gorgeous and
she was like you can't grow that and i was like no i can't grow that it just doesn't it doesn't work
in our conditions we're too hot and too humid she grows hostas in full sun i was like oh honey they
would last to like may and then they would like burn to a crisp so i think that's really important
when we're gardening and when we're watching um like videos like this and we're watching gardeners
and growing conditions that are completely different than what you garden in is to remember
that what works in your garden may not work in their garden so there is no room in gardening to
be judgmental people so just you know keep that in mind especially like i said if you're like a zone
very much zoned different from each other just remember
that what they're doing may actually work in their garden if it doesn't work in yours so that's my
little soapbox moment teach your mama jenny coming out in me all right now jazberry these are gallons
and i know that like right now when you're looking at the container it looks like it's going to be a
little bit on the empty side but this aqua pot is uh i would say is like three and a half feet tall
and the opening on this thing is maybe 30 inches so this is really big this was a gallon prince tut
gallon jazz berries so the plants themselves that i'm putting in are nice and big but when you put
them in a large pot at the beginning they look a little small and i forgot to say that on the um
on the purple queen it's not only going to get a little bit tall
and it's going to trail and the wind is coming we're also expecting thunderstorms today
it's always something here at creekside oh my word so yeah so i want to get these in before the uh
one the uh the rains hit and then two before we open tomorrow because i want it to look really
nice uh for when we open tomorrow and it was time definitely to get those tulips out because i think
i had like i don't even know if there was even a full bloom on that thing um so we're putting two
of the jazz berries in here um and they are gonna get nice and full and they are gonna spill over
because remember this is the new vista so the new vista jazz berry with that fantastic
raspberry pink color on it um we first saw these well we had it as a trial plant
but really where it was in olive's glory was when we went to go visit pleasant view gardens
in loudoun new hampshire and oh my gosh if you all remember that video it was just a stunning display
so here we go we've got everybody in here prince tut my thriller two to three feet tall on that guy
like yeah three feet tall two feet wide my um sun patience the compact white is going to be
also 16 to 30 inches tall it's going to two of them are going to grow together as one so a
nice big mass of white also has a darker green foliage than the prince tut does and it has a nice
wider leaf then we have the purple queen that is going to have that gorgeous purple foliage
that is not going to grow tall about 12 to 18 inches tall but then it's going to spill over
so i have one on each side and then of course the jazz berry here in the front center it's going to
get some height to it and it's going to spill over as well okay another little tip that i'm
going to share with you about when you're putting a container together is i've said this before is
to save your tags because i don't know if you're like me um like i'll put an arrangement together
anyway it's just a great way to remember exactly what's in that pot even from like year to year
now here at the nursery it also serves a purpose because as customers walk by they can look at the
tag and see what the plants are so all that little information and i don't make it super visible
i just kind of stick it like this so that um now that customers can see it but when i'm gardening
at home i will stick the tags all the way down the container so that i'm not looking at tags um
in in my garden and in my containers now what we're going to do now yet another little tip
is because all of these are going to be pretty heavy feeders so i'm a huge fan of course of the
time release fertilizer from proven winters so if you want to shake it you can it has a little flip
top that you can shake it out here i'm going to use the scoop that also comes with it so go
ahead and apply your slow release fertilizer to the top of your soil there's another tulip
get that out of there so go ahead and add that to the top of your soil and then you can work it in
some people were asking me you know can you add it to the planting hole um sure why not
you know whatever whatever method works for you now i am putting a good little bit in here
because there's a ton of soil and all these plants are nice heavy feeders so i give it a little juji
judge to work it down in the soil and then there we go now another tip for you when we're doing
an aqua pot i learned this from mr jack barnwell himself is to take your slow-release fertilizer
and go ahead and drop it directly into the um water tube that is back here in the back so what
it does is as the temperature heats up that's how the fertilizer is released with this time release
so then it has fertilized water so all of these plants are getting that delicious fertilized water
and the reservoir on this thing is huge so i can add i think i added four scoops on that
um so what i will do is i will grab a hose i'm gonna water these in and then fill up the
reservoir on the aquapot so it's nice and full and ready to go and i will go ahead um in a little bit
after i plant this other one and grab some extra mulch and top dress because that is just a way
especially now as we're waiting on the plants to fill in i love to add a top layer of mulch my mama
even uses land and sea she uses land and sea to top dress her containers clean it up help retain
the moisture and just gives it a nice clean look while we're waiting on the plants to fill in so
clean up my mess water and then we're going to start on the other aqua pipe
alrighty my friends i have got both aquapots planted um super excited and very happy about
this arrangement i know that these are going to do fantastic i cannot wait to see how
the purple queen does it is going to be a lot of fun to watch this as this is a trial plant for us
everything else i pretty much know what it's going to do and i can envision it in my head and it is
going to be glorious so of course we will keep you updated on these aqua pots and how they grow
and develop throughout the season but they should take off pretty good we're going to have some nice
warm temperatures which they're going to be very happy about that as far as the maintenance on this
it's very minimal of course i have the time release fertilizer in there so that is a great
buffer not only do i have it in the soil i also did it in the water reservoir i still will want to
come through every 7 to 10 days and do a liquid fertilizer fertilization regimen because that
gives that great kind of instant shot of food to these plants and especially my jazz berries they
are a very huge heavy feeder and they need that food to produce those flowers so i will do that
as far as the aquapod itself and watering that all i have to do is i just kind of set a date and
do it every whatever my day is so if it's every monday morning then i know to come and fill up the
aquapot every monday morning that's the beautiful thing about these aquapots is that they are so um
forgiving and full of grace in that you know in the beginning i don't really have to probably
water it that much because there's so much water the water to root ratio is is very different
um but then of course as i go into like july and august and the plants are a lot bigger and more
vigorous and the temperatures are out the roof maybe i do have to do it once a week so whatever
it is just set it on your phone and just hit a reminder you know fill up aqua pots and just
do that of course you fill it till the hole in the back squirts out some water and you know that your
reservoir is full and then the only other kind of maintenance that i could envision having to do on
this is if later in the summer my jazz berries get really long and they start to look a little
thin up top then i will come in and trim them i call it giving them giving them a haircut so we
just give them a haircut because they bloom on new growth that rejuvenates the plant and causes
new growth to happen up top and not just at the bottom so that works for all supertunias and super
bells if they start to get too long and leggy and they look thin up top get your scissors out
and cut them you can cut them pretty severe and they will respond beautifully so other than that
she's maintenance free uh so i hope you've had some fun today with me i hope that you have
maybe found some plants that you're interested in learn some new tips and tricks when you're
planting up a container whether it's an aqua pot or not but as always thanks so much for gardening
with creekside y'all have a fantastic day and we'll see you in the next video bye friends