7 fast-growing perennials to plant in pots

Heucheras

Heucheras from their Latin name or coralbells, their evocative nickname referring to their stippled flowering, these perennials have everything for a pot planting on a terrace, beautiful from their very first year of planting. They are, moreover, really suited to a pot planting that enhances them, to be placed in partial shade, or even in full shade or sun.
With evergreen foliage for most, displaying endless colours from lime green to caramel, to purple and almost black, including silvery varieties or leaves marbled and veined with cream to varying degrees, one is sure to find the heuchera of dreams among the countless options on the market.

They will look stunning planted in a pot garden, pairing different leaf colours, each in its own container, either by itself in its container, or alongside perennials that thrive in shade or partial shade, such as fuchsias, hostas, ferns, or a few pansies and violets.

See also: Growing heuchera in a pot.

On the left, Heuchera ‘Glitter’, on the right, the light and graceful flowering of a pink-flowered variety

Erigeron karvinskianus

We love the Erigeron for its unpronounceable name and rustic charm. If you often find it in the garden by the house wall, basking near the walls, it’s often planted in beautiful stone troughs, which can be placed right in the middle of the garden, as long as they receive plenty of sun.
This adorable perennial is reminiscent of daisies, with pale pink on the reverse of the petals, and the ability to bloom for a long spell, sometimes into autumn.
The typical form is fairly low (around 25 cm in height) and spreads freely, with that somewhat wanderer-like quality we love in it. It has given rise to several varieties, white, pink and mauve-to-blue, some of which are taller, perfect for more classical pots.

→ Read also: Growing Erigeron in a pot.

Erigeron karvinskianus

Hardy Geraniums

Adapted to a wide range of garden uses, from groundcover to generous clumps in borders, vigorous, floriferous and hardy as we like them, hardy geraniums are also very easy to grow in pots. They will, depending on the variety, either spill over and trail gracefully, or stay neatly rounded into coloured cushions.

The choice is truly wide in the endless range of hardy geraniums, and should be considered mainly by the location, from very sunny to shaded, also taking into account their greater drought resistance for pot culture, such as Geranium cinereum, cantabrigiense, sanguineum ou macrorrhizum.

We present here three beautiful varieties: : ‘Rozanne’, undoubtedly the best known nowadays, a blue-flowered hybrid that flowers tirelessly through to autumn, the Geranium x oxonianum ‘Orkney Cherry’, with bronze foliage and pink and white flowers, and ‘Dreamland’, another hybrid, whose pale pink flowers are truly delicate.

→ Also read: Growing a hardy geranium in a pot.

Hardy geraniums ‘Rozanne’, ‘Orkney Cherry’ and ‘Dreamland’

Russelia equisetiformis

Perennial plant prized in mild-climate gardens, as it does not tolerate temperatures below -3/-4°C (it originates from Central America), Russelia equisetiformis is, too, capable of rapid growth in a pot, where you can therefore plant it in other gardens a little less favoured by the climate. This beautiful plant, also known as coral plant or blood-drop, has a very distinctive growth habit and flowering: it will gradually form a beautiful trailing cascade, its flexible stems giving it a weeping silhouette. The flowers are a vivid coral red, long, tubular, attracting butterflies and other pollinators. Russelia will be smaller in a pot than in the ground, but plan for a generous container so that it can spread at least a little.
Another plus for this remarkable plant, it flowers for months on end, from May to November! Remember to bring it in as temperatures cool in autumn to overwinter it year after year (in a greenhouse or conservatory, ideally). It will be perfect grown on its own in its pot, alongside other exotically-inspired plants, on a very sunny terrace: Agapanthus ‘Black Jack’, Kniphofia ‘Red Rocket’, banana plant or Alpinia, or at the top of a staircase to cascade down.

→ Also read Christine’s tips in Growing Russelia in a pot.

Russelia equisetiformis

Astilbes

Fluffy plants par excellence, astilbes delight us with their wonderfully fluffy inflorescences. Grown in pots, they enable anyone with soil that’s a little too dry in the garden to welcome these superb perennials into soil that stays cool with regular watering. You will position your pot-display in a partial shade exposure, with no direct sun, but they will also tolerate sun in the northernmost regions of the country.
They come in very soft tones, from white to salmon pink and delicate mauve, through to brighter colours such as pinks or crimson reds, up to purple.
If it’s for their flowers that these perennials are invited to the garden, their foliage remains just as interesting, from chartreuse-yellow or olive to bronze-green, or downright chocolate, dentate and slender like a fern, which sometimes reddens prettily in autumn.
Staying fairly compact in pots, most cultivars of the most common species (Astilbe arendsii) grow to between 40 and 60 cm tall in pots, and there are also dwarf Astilbes among A. chinensis and A. simplicifolia, in particular.

→ Read also: Astilbe: planting, growing and care.

Astilbes, so refreshing!

Oenothera speciosa 'Siskiyou'

Evening primroses are sun-loving plants, perfect for a south-facing garden, a rockery, or… a balcony! Compact in size, they are indeed perfect for brightening up pots and planters with their pretty colours, especially as here they will stay tamer than in the ground where they tend to spread a little if you are not careful. They will delight you if you have a south-facing terrace or balcony, as they adore it and will grow up to 40 cm tall, spreading more widely. Their evergreen foliage will redden in winter (or in very hot summers), another small but notable attraction.

If you’re familiar with the yellow species, the Oenothera speciosa ‘Siskiyou’, all rosy-coloured, is a small jewel truly floriferous all summer. It pairs perfectly with nearby shades, between pink, blue, mauve and purple, like a pretty lavender planting, nepeta, perovskia or stokesias, or airy gaura that we present below…

→ Also read: Designing a pink garden.

Pink evening primrose

Gaura lindheimeri

Finally, here is Gaura, the garden star for several years now, for its incredible long-lasting flowering and its drought tolerance. If it works wonderfully in a naturalistic border or in a border with other flowering plants as airy as it, it can quite happily put on a show on a balcony or a sunny, well-exposed terrace. Despite its delicate appearance, it is very hardy, except for the pink varieties which are somewhat more sensitive to cold, but which remain a good choice as long as the location is not exposed to strong, cold winds. Anyway, gaura in a pot requires the same conditions as when planted in soil: a very well-drained planting medium, little watering once established… and sunshine.
Plant it alone in a large container (a pretty zinc trough, a sufficiently deep enamelled pot, as it has a taproot) – it deserves to be showcased, and it will fill it quite quickly!
Place it close to other large pots of grasses, Penstemon and salvias that will flower for as long as Gaura does.

→ Read also: Growing Gaura in a pot.

Gaura lindheimeri (left-hand photo, ©Cultivar 413)

But also...

Let’s not forget foliage such as Alocasias, the leafy acanthus such as ‘Whitewater’ and Aralia cordata ‘Sungold’, hostas, and among groundcovers the dwarf Veronica umbrosa ‘Georgia Blue’ or periwinkles, or Erysimum ‘Bowles’ and Delosperma… among others.

Michaël debunks the myths about perennial plants in 4 Misconceptions About Perennial Plants, a very informative article.

N.B.: Note that, as with all pot-planting, perennials, even those that thrive in full sun, require a little more watering than those planted in the ground. See our ABC of pot-planting for more information!