Troughs

[mark smyth]

THanks and not guilty - honest

[Lesley Cox]

All New Zealanders are lovely.

[zvone]

Many thanks Lina and Franz.
A few more images from Harlow Carr that slipped through the net in the previous posts ...

Vau!

Tank's Clif!

Best Regards!  Zvone

[olegKon]

Troughs released from winter protection. The white underground is snow.

[astragalus]

Many cushions and buns in troughs had severe burning due to ridiculous winter weather (80F in February for several days etc).  I'm leaving them alone in the hoipes they may recover but some troughs will need some replanting.  The trough below has been quite colorful, with Phlox 'crackerjack' now in bloom.

[John85]

It is often advised to put the trough on bricks or stones so that the drainage holes can do their job but of course that allows the bottom to freeze easily.
I wonder if putting the trough on the ground and drilling the holes at the base of the sides would be a good idea.Has this been tried and if so what was the result?

[astragalus]

Interesting idea.  Some of my troughs do have holes drilled in their sides but as the holes are then filled with plants, I guess that wouldn't follow your idea.
There has rarely been much attrition in the troughs other than age but this winter's weather was extremely unusual.  Buns and cushions in the garden also suffered burning.

[Maggi Young]

Can't say we've tried that John... but I would think there is no reason why it shouldn't work perfectly well.   
Perhaps a case of us missing the obvious! When making a trough from a polystyrene box, more often than not they already have drainage holes at lower side edges... we fill them up because they are too obviously machine made! Perhaps next time we'll just adjust them to make them look more natural and see how that goes. Thanks for the idea. 

[Rick R.]

When first making your trough, make an indentation from the holes on the bottom out to the edge.  A flat sided dowel (or similar) placed in the bottom of your trough mold does the trick.  If the trough is placed on a flat surface, they serve as little tunnels for excess water to flow through.

[Lesley Cox]

All my biggest hypertufa troughs, (8 of them) have holes in the sides and none in their bottoms. The holes are at base level, immediately above the base, 2 on each side. They drain perfectly, the bottom third of each trough is filled with gravel which no doubt has a quantity of the compost mixed in now, as nothing was put over the gravel to separate the compost from the drainage.

[olegKon]

The troughs started flowering:
1. The second to flower is Androsace carnea "Brigantica"
and some willows:
2. Salix uva-ursii
3. Salix repens St Kilda
4. Salix retusa*pyrenaica

[cohan]

Very nice, Oleg- love the Salixes Dwarf willows are high on my endless wish list 

[ranunculus]

Some of my stone troughs have been in desperate need of a revamp for far too long and this weekend has been sunny (though cold) enough to allow me to get four or five of them replanted and top dressed. Some images taken this afternoon in between the live football matches on the television.

[Maggi Young]

Good work. Cliff. Great to be able to accomplish a makeover quite quickly with troughs, isn't it?

[astragalus]

Cliff, the troughs look marvelous - but what is the plant withred-orange and yellow flowers, please?  I assume all your teams won as a quid pro quo for your virtuous endeavors?