The pots are all in the patio outside the kitchen, the biggest group are on one side and get a few hours of shade in the morning, plus one big pot on one side of the kitchen door. And then there are two more big pots by the other side of the kitchen door that get the most sun. I want to keep watering to a minimum and I've watered this lot only two or three times this summer.
The shadier pot by the door has done really well. These are almost the only targetes that haven't dried out or been eaten by slugs. The other plants are petunias, cineraria and helychrum petiolare.
The osteospermums have also done very well, and the purple and the orange calibrachoas in the semi-shady group too. And so have the pelargoniums. The night stock that I sowed in spring is flowering and petunias look happy in this spot (but hated an earlier shadier place where I put them first).
I love the orange diascias. But I'm not sure about the trailing silver leaved plant (forgot the name already), it grows too long and looks untidy. I've been mearning to trim it for ages!
The silver plant is another helichrysum petiolare, I think. It looks great but it's quite vigorous. I should have planted it on its own, maybe. It's dwarfed the other plants in its pot (I do love it though).
But the pots in more sun have struggled. A chalibrachoa and some targetes have almost disappeared. The mesembryanthemums flower very nicely, but the foliage/stems are not that pretty - I think next year I should mix them with some pelargoniums, which are the toughest of them all in heat and drought.
The pelargoniums by the front door were only watered when I planted them and haven't stopped flowering since!
