04 Apr 2026 Plant Talk with Brett Battle

Spring has arrived, inviting everyone outside to play in the dirt. It’s time to freshen up those flower beds, make new ones, and start creating beautiful containers and pots for the pools, patios and decks.

Planting in containers: These are always the most stunning as they are full of annual plants that bloom all season until the fall frost. The great thing about containers is that you can create something different every year. A few things to think about when creating containers:

Use good soil: This includes premium bag potting soil with peat and vermiculite. Do not skimp on this part. Good soil has nutrients, drainage, and aeration to help your plants grow beautifully.

You need a filler, a thriller and a spiller: Pick a variety of plants for the container. A filler is something that takes up a good amount of the container with some height and density. This could be an evergreen, ornamental grass or a tropical plant like Hibiscus. The thriller is a few small plants with lots of color and sparkle. The spiller is a few trailing plants to hang down the side of the pot. Remember, you do not have to buy everything in big, ready-now pots; they will all grow, and annuals grow fast.

Add fertilizer to your soil: A granulated time-release fertilizer that will supply nutrients for six months.

Add fresh peat and vermiculite to the soil: Vermiculite is a lightweight, sterile, and porous mineral that improves soil structure, enhances moisture retention and boosts nutrient absorption. It acts like a sponge, storing water and nutrients for plant roots, while aerating the soil and assisting with seed germination, propagation and soil aeration.

Remember to water: This is very important. Containers are not like plants in the ground. They cannot draw water themselves, so you have to be kind to them. How often you water depends on the type of plants you have and the outside temperature. As it warms, most containers will need some water every day. Do not rely on rain; one inch in your container is only one inch of water.

Another thing to consider in April is mulching your flower beds and fertilizing trees and shrubs.

Mulching does three things. It helps retain moisture in beds and plants. It reduces weeds in the beds and gives an aesthetically pleasing look. Many people are switching over to rock in their beds, so they do not have to mulch as often. This gives you two of the three benefits, but it does not address moisture. In fact, once it gets hot, the stone heats the beds, which dries them out and requires more water.

Fertilizer is a must at this time of year. Everyone wants to fertilize their lawns but forgets about the trees and shrubs. Fertilizer is their food. Do not use liquid fertilizer; instead, use a time-release fertilizer. They make three-, six- and nine-month options. The longer the feed time, the higher the cost. Most plant material needs a well-balanced fertilizer, so we use a 12-6-6 at the nursery for all our material.

Good luck with your container gardening, mulching and fertilizing. It can be so much fun to create and watch it grow and develop