Whiskey Barrel Plantings

My two half whiskey barrels are my favorite containers because they have a large surface area, which makes it easier to design creative plantings.

They can also be expensive to fill. I was trying to see what I could do without spending any money, so I dug up some perennials and used some dahlia tubers and cannas that I already had stored from previous years. One Sedum Autumn Joy plant, a Black-eyed Susan and one clump of chives overwintered in the barrel from last summer's planting.

This year I added a Russina sage plant that I had in my Arbor garden for the past five years. It never grew more than about 8 inches tall and had only 2 or 3 branches. I also stuck a hosta or two in the front.

Here is what it has grown into:

I am pretty happy with it. The only real disappointment was the canna did not grow big and tall as I had planned. But just look how tall the silver Russian sage grew! It's the best that plant has ever grown.

The chives are spilling nicely over the sides. The hosta got buried underneath everything else, but next year it should be better able to hold it's own.

The Sedumn Autumn Joy from last year is HUGE.
It should be turning pink soon, which will be a major clash with that bright orange dahlia. That orange was a surprise. I thought I had planted a more mellow 'peaches and cream' dahlia in these containers. I recently did a little rearranging on the whiskey barrel area of the deck. I love to group containers--there are three containers here.

I have two of these half barrels and I tried to make the groupings very similar.