Containers add color, interest

Thriller, spiller and filler! Such descriptors sound like I'm switching to a movie review column. But don't panic. This does tie into gardening, and knowing about these terms will help you add color and interest to this year's planting.

If you are looking for ways to bring quick beauty to your garden, consider adding containers. This is one of the newest gardening trends, and it can help you in your quest for an "instant" garden.

To bring you some expert advice, I visited Shauna Call of Call's Produce & Greenhouse in Layton. She and her husband, William, and their two children operate the family farm and greenhouse.

She describes herself as a city girl from North Ogden who married a farmer. She started out in the school of experience and later completed her horticulture certificate through Utah State University Extension.

"I guess the way it started is that we grew vegetable plants in the greenhouse to grow on the farm," she said. "We had a little space left so we planted a few marigolds and petunias. On West Gentile Street we are all related, so we started to sell to relatives. More people saw them and started asking for them, so we started growing for them.

"When my father-in-law died six years ago, he had a couple of small greenhouses here. He had said leave them there or tear them down. We left them there and added another, bigger one, and so I quit substitute teaching and went to work."

When I asked her how she started specializing in container gardens, she said, "I just like doing them. That is the fun part. I just like to see how things grow together.

"I see container gardening as part of the changes in life everyone is experiencing. We are becoming a fast-paced society. They want color, but they don't have time for huge flower-filled beds that take lots of time to plant and weed.

"Consequently, people go to containers . . . People in condos will do tomatoes in containers. They still like their fresh fruit and vegetables. People are looking for maintenance-free landscapes in their yards. They put in their bushes and their shrubs and grass, but they still want instant color, and I want to give it to them."

When I asked her what containers she recommended, she was quick to emphasize one point. "The kind of container really does not matter as long as it drains. People come in and complain that they cannot grow anything. We look in the container and see all of the holes are plugged, so the plants are swimming and they end up rotting."