We Wanted a Plant to Keep in a Pot.....

As we have a large side area of garden (a sort of paved patio area) to fill with a 'nice plant in a pot', a medium sized plant, not a tiny one.

So we went to a local independent garden centre and were looking at all their plants, not having a clue what would actually be suitable! When we found a Virburnum Plicatum 'Shoshoni' Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Shoshoni' - Plant Finder which really needed rescuing, as the soil in the pot was very dry and the plant was almost bursting out of it's pot and the poor thing looked like it was starting to suffer and urgently needed a new home! It said on the label that it was a medium sized shrub, so we thought we'd take pot (Pardon the pun!!) luck on it as it was a very pretty looking shrub and it really needed a home quickly before it died. :( Anyway, we managed to get quite a good discount on it and brought it home. But when we looked it up online at home, it says it grows a max of 5ft by 8ft (It's currently about 1.5ft high by about 2ft wide)! So I don't think we'll be able to keep it in a pot, which is a shame as that's what we wanted it for. Plus the fact our garden is almost full!

Do you think we'll be able to keep it in a pot for a year or so and then transplant it to the garden, or do you think we should just put it straight out and then look for something else to go in a pot, for the paved area at the side of the bungalow??? We just don't know what would be good for a pot though. We want something that would grow about 6 ft tall max and not spread out too far as the path isn't very wide and also, it doesn't get too much sun there, so we would need to be able to move the plant and pot around a bit sometimes, if it needed more sun etc. We haven't got a lot of money to spend either, so that needs to be taken into account when choosing something.

 

Yes Sally, for a season or two it will be fine in a pot.
How about a camellia in a pot? They are totally suitable for pot culture.

 

Thanks Verdun, I will look into the Camelia option. Only problem could be if they don't do well in cold weather, because we won't be able to bring it inside if it gets quite big.

 

Thanks Marley Farley for the Pheasant Berry suggestion, which I will look into.