Hey friends today we are going to plant these beautiful massive Aqua pots here at the nursery
if you have followed Creekside for any length of time you know that we have had these gorgeous
two massive Aqua pots right here in front of our pergola because when you come into
the nursery like you first come around like this is one of the very first things that you see and
we want to make a nice big impact because of course we are a Retail Nursery where we want
to inspire and just give people inspiration on their Gardens so I really enjoy filling
these up with big beautiful color every single year it is just really fun to do and to create
so today what we're going to do is we are going to plant these for our summer season
and these will take us all the way through the fall Now Jerry has already helped me out
and filled up the aqua pots with the great premium winners potting soil that we use and
the compost down at the bottom so if you have an aqua pot and you want to do that method
where we use the compost in the bottom one-third what we like to do first is Put The Proven Winners
potting soil in first and fill up the soil tube that's in the bottom that way it has because this
proven Winter's potting soil has more pine bark in it and so while it soaks up the water it's not
going to become really compacted like maybe the compost would if it were in the very bottom so
potting soil then your layer of compost and then finally finish it up with the rest of the potting
soil now what we're going to do is we're going to go with bold bold colors that you can see right
here we are going to use some tried and true plants that are fantastic but we're also going
to use two brand new introductions that are going to be available next year in 2024 so I'm going to
go through first and I think what I'm going to do is just go ahead and plant it and then talk about
the plants that I'm going to use as I do it so we kind of Follow That Thriller filler Spiller recipe
right so you want a thriller something that's tall depends on where your container is whether you put
it in the center or the back today we are going to use the beautiful Skyrocket grass this is a
beautiful variegated grass that will get nice and tall and full nice green in the center with some
creamy white margins on it you will notice that I do not break up my roots I don't need to break up
my roots These are nice and healthy this is not at all what we would consider a root bound plant and
I do not need to go in there and hack it because these pots are up against these poles I'm going to
put my grass in the dead center you know me I have to get in here because if you stand to the side
it could get off a little bit and once these once these containers have soil and water in
them you're not really moving them because they get so big so I'm trying to make sure that it is
dead center with the pole so there we go Skyrocket grass in there now on each side
I'm going to do the annual of the Year this is the gumfrina this is the truthful of pink really
fun plant in that it has a very different texture than my grass beautiful pink and yellow flowers
on it this will get nice and full and really kind of open and Airy and almost a little bit
of a spike to it this is a huge butterfly attractor really nice if you're looking to
attract butterflies to your garden this is one that you want to put in very drought tolerant
loves loves the full sun and is a really nice forgiving plant if it were to get snapped off
like you if you're like me you have you know a dog that sometimes runs through your flower
beds or you have kids or you know just life in general right and part of this plant gets
snapped off don't worry about it it comes back really nice and will regrow and do really nice
now I'm gonna put this on each side of the grass keeping in mind that my grass is going to nice and
big so I'm going more towards the edge now I am planting this container for longevity
excuse me when we get done today you might go well it looks a little thin yes because we are blessed
with a really long growing season here in North Carolina and I am not having an event this weekend
where I need it instantly full I want to watch this grow and develop and so it's going to have
some space in there for things to grow and develop and that's okay it all depends on what your goal
is as to how you're going to plant it now next for my filler I am going to use the Laguna compact
blue with eye this is a nice deeper richer blue than I believe it's sky blue and it has that white
eye in the center of it nice open Airy look to it and we'll bring a nice color contrast to the pink
and the yellow so I'm going to use two of these and they're going to go in front of the grass
a little bit off to the side so we're going to stick those in there
and then we're going to do another one you can tell with this habit it is very like open and
loose and free that will be perfect to fill in here in the center and basically this container
is just gonna um they're all gonna kind of marry together right everybody's just going
to kind of grow into each other be really um happy one happy little family in here
so we get that shove it in there and you can be you do not have to be super tender with these
plants like they're a lot tougher than people think all right now fun fun color two brand new
for next year this is the supertunia saffron Finch gorgeous yellow petunia now true yellow and what's
really fun is it kind of has that ombre look to it so in the center it's a nice rich rich
yellow and then it fades ever so slightly to like a creamy white Edge it is a gorgeous plant you can
tell it's a very happy vigorous plant we've been growing this in the greenhouse since February I
believe it was so what I'm going to do is I'm going to alternate the new saffron Finch with
the new improved Bermuda Beach so I'm going to alternate back and forth so this is going to be my
Spiller yes it's going to come up some but it is also going to spill over the front of this pot so
just find whatever side looks good tuck that in now the improved Bermuda Beach Bermuda
Beach supertunion Bermuda Beach is not a new petunia right it's been on the market proven
Winters has had it for years they improved it so it's a more richer vibrant color the blooms
on this thing are massive they are huge has a really nice creamy white eye to it that means
the center of the flower is a nice creamy white with a little bit of yellow so it really pairs
quite nicely with the saffron Finch I'm going to plant these pretty close to each other about
I don't know six to eight inches apart because I do want them to grow basically as one plant now
I'm going to let you in on a little secret because right below Jerry and the camera is the flower bed
there we have a flower bed and that's where um we have that nice big it's the Asian water bowl from
unique stone and we have the little lime standard in it well right now it's full of gorgeous violas
but here in a couple weeks those are going to come out because tis the season they're going
to be gone and I'm going to put the brand new super Bells prism pink lemonade so the prism pink
lemonade is a calibercoa a super Bell that has is both yellow and pink together on the same flower
so I am not mimicking but I am complementing these two containers with that same kind of color scheme
so while they are completely different plants the color scheme is going to be very similar
and go together quite nicely that brings that cohesiveness to your garden if you can repeat
some of those same colors maybe it is the same plant I absolutely could have put the
pink lemonade in here however I have these Beauties available to me and the flowers on
this are a lot larger right than a super Bell big container I need big flowers here to make
a nice big impact now yes at this moment are my petunias kind of the a little bigger than
everybody else they are and it's okay um because probably what I'm going to do and that's just the
age of the plant right so that's just that these petunias were planted in gosh like mid-February
we got them really early this year so these are more mature plants than these in the back this
gumfrina we just planted I don't know three weeks ago and so they've got some catching up to do
it's not going to be a problem but what you can do is I would probably come through here
periodically and just kind of pinch the petunias back not all at one time because I don't want to
lose my flowers but just make sure that these are growing this way and not this way so that
everybody can really get nice and happy this is just the beginning of the container right
so again I am planting this for longevity not for instant impact immediately if I was you know
having a party or something then I would probably plant this very differently as far as like making
sure that all my plants are the same size so forth fill it in and not have any holes so I've
got the holes here but everything is just going to fill in this grass is going to get nice and
tall very wispy then I have that heart structure of my gumfrina with that pink popping through
the grass all at the same time nice filling in with some blue and then the pink and the yellow
spilling over is going to be fantastic now what I'm going to do is I am going to to add some slow
release fertilizer just sprinkle it on the top of here and then always with my containers I go
through and I top dress with compost that just helps even though it was an aqua pot right it
helps retain the moisture on the top it helps prevent weeds from coming in it helps the give
the plants some more continuous slow release food because compost is food release that and
then we'll get it all watered in I'm going to show you how to do all of that in just a second
all right so I've got this fertilized and I have got it top dressed with some compost once I get
the other one done then we'll come back in water so we're going to do we're going to move over I'm
going to plant the companion piece to this one the exact same way use the exact same method and
then stay tuned because as we wrap up I want to share with you some very helpful helpful
hints and tips to really ensure that you have great success with your containers all growing
season long because there's a couple of things that you can do throughout the growing season
that will ensure that your containers stay big and beautiful all season so one down one to go
all right my friends so we got both Aqua pots planted very happy with them cannot wait to
see how these grow and develop throughout the growing season all right a couple of tips and
hints on these containers one do not be afraid to pinch back or help manage your plants as they
go throughout the growing season now one thing that I forgot to mention or rather point out on
these petunias the improved Bermuda Beach and then the saffron Finch these are trial plants
right for us they are going to be introduced next year in 2024. Proven Winners sends these to us in
February because we are a grower not only do I want to see how they grow in my garden and
in my containers as a grower I want to see how they grow for us do they have a more compact
habit are they more open and leggy because we don't use growth Regulators do we need to grow
them more colder so they stay nice and tight so we do not really we just kind of let them go we
want to see what their natural habit is going to be so far it seems like they're going to
be very vigorous and very happy so maintain if you need to pinch back your supertunias
or your super Bells do it they bloom on New Growth you are not going to hurt those plants
you want to make sure that you're getting consistent water and fertilizer
these plants your flowering annuals are going to be heavy feeders that is why I put slow release
fertilizer on the top you will notice that I put slow release fertilizer in the water
reservoir because this Aqua pot is quite large right it's at least three feet tall
half of this container is nothing but water that is the water reservoir so when you put that slow
release fertile fertilizer in there you've got some good fertilizer water so that is a tip if
it's not an aqua pot make sure again you add that slow release fertilizer in there I always tell
people use the biggest container that your space will allow a bigger container means more soil more
soil means more room for the roots to grow and it's going to be a happier plant please do not put
like fill your pot halfway up with some sort of you know packing peanuts water bottles you're not
helping your plants because those plants cannot get nutrition from plastic bottles or pine cones
or what have you they need to have as much soil as they possibly can that is just a pet peeve of
mine as a grower because we know more soil means more nutrition more moisture for these plants to
grow and be happy and then of course that regular fertilizing you need to be fertilizing especially
your flowering annuals with a water-soluble fertilizer like proven winners proven winter
says every third watering if you can do it once a week that's amazing if you can't do once a week or
you have to do every other week do that but you will notice a massive difference and when you
fertilize and feed these plants you will have beautiful dark green foliage you will have big
beautiful blooms because that's the one thing that people say when they come to the nursery is that
everything's gorgeous and then Bloom and nice and full it is because Jerry feeds them on a regular
basis food equals flowers you need to make sure that you feed them and so really the consistent
water the consistent food big nice container full of high quality potting soil makes all the
difference in the world of course we'll keep you updated on how these containers do very excited
about it and yep it's a fun day here when we get to plant up our Aqua pots as always thanks so much
for guarding the Creekside y'all have a fantastic day and we'll see in the next video bye friends