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Show The Serious Gardener By Ben Freestone CONTAINER GARDENING AN ANCIENT ART GETS RENEWED INTEREST Container Gardening is as old as civilization itself. The ancient Egyptians Egyp-tians and Chinese cultures took it up almost as soon as they began to build permanent housing, and by the time of the Greeks and Romans, the art had progressed to the point of elaborate indoor and outdoor gardens and courtyards festooned with plants collected from all parts of the known world. The good guys were not always the talented gardeners you'll remember Nebuchandnezzar's Hanging Gardens of Babylon! The Chinese and Japanese, due to the sizeof their populations, which resulted in confined, small gardening spaces, turned to the reduction of nature which eventually led to the art of the Japanese garden and. to Bonzai, which is the miniaturization of trees in containers. Container gardening has had its ups and downs reaching definite peaks during the Renaissance and the reigns of the Louis' of France, and again during the Victorian period. By the end of the 1960's in America it became apparent that there was renewed interest in-terest in all aspects of container gardening. gar-dening. By the mid-1970's indoor and outdoor container gardening was experiencing ex-periencing a rebirth unparalleled in history. Now, at the beginning of the 1980's it seems that this trend will contine its grown indefinitely. More and more people are asking nurseries for outdoor containers and plants that can be established in them permanently, as well as for annuals for summer display. Mixed or solid plantings of geraniums, petunias, alyssm, lobelia and a host of other annuals grown in attractive clay or wood pots can add a portable, seasonal parade of color to brighten patios, entries, courtyards and other outdoor living areas. Hanging baskets of ivy geraniums, impatiens, ferns and cascading petunias can add interest to outdoor areas under roof overhangs, patios and in the lowest branches of trees, just to mention a few possibilities. And, once the initial investment in-vestment is made in quality containers, . they can be used year after year with little or no maintenance. Even garden , vegetables such as patio tomatoes and ' cucumbers varieties especially developed for the confines of con-tainers con-tainers can be grown successfully. If you want to establish permanent plants such as junipers or small trees in containers you'll want substantial containers at least 2 feet in diameter to provide for moisture retention and to prevent the rootball from freezing and thawing too rapidly in winter; and, they'll need to be moved to a protected area near the house in winter if necessary. Container gardening has many rewarding aspects for the serious gardening enthusiast who is ready to expand her or his horizons. |