Create a Table-Top Display

Just as you might place a vase of flowers on a dining room table, why not decorate your garden furniture as well? This pot, planted with scented alpine pinks and pretty sea heath, Frankenia, makes a drought-tolerant table centerpiece that will provide color and interest throughout the summer months.

When to Plant: Early spring
At Its Best: Spring to autumn
Time to Complete: 1 hour

Materials Needed:

• shallow bowl
• broken clay pot pieces
• soil-based potting mix and grit

• pink, Dianthus 'Devon Flores'
• sea heath, Frankenia thymifolia

Prepare the Pot

Choose a pot that is slightly deeper than the plants’ root balls. Place a piece of broken pot over the drainage hole, and add a layer of gravel. Mix two parts of soil-based potting mix to one part of horticultural grit in a bowl.

Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-DK - How to Grow Practically Everything © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited

Plant Up

Water the plants well. Add a thin layer of soil over the gravel and position the plants on top, with the pinks in the middle. Use the soil and grit mixture to fill in around the plants.

Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-DK - How to Grow Practically Everything © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited

Caring for Your Display

Place your display on a table that is in full sun for at least half the day. Water and feed it regularly, and the plants will perform well in the same pot for a number of years after planting.