It’s about more than just buying a specimen plant or container, its the journey and experience it offers along the way. Let me explain, through Worth and Wonder.

Growing large plants in containers can be hugely rewarding, whether you’re looking to create an eye-catching floral focal point or simply provide some seasonal screening. Once you’ve found your specimen plant however, selecting the right container can become a trying task due to the seemingly infinite selection on the market. Furthermore, should design, depth and diameter of drainage holes not present enough challenge, the high cost just might, often nudging that idyllic pot solution into the ‘out of reach’ zone.

Putting aside aesthetics for a minute, one judgement we need to make is whether any given pot is sturdy enough to stand the test of time. In that respect it’s worth remembering that it’s not just the ageing process that dictates longevity, but damage from

day-to-day knocks too, repotting for example. The impacts of weather should not be ignored however, where considerations around sun exposure, frost resilience and stability come to the fore. Indeed, the most costly pot can be rendered useless in a heartbeat should it shatter if toppled by a freak gust of wind, or should frost penetrate its core through a cracked or chipped surface.

Whilst we shouldn’t veer too far from practicalities, aesthetics is an especially important consideration for large containers too, where a singularly brilliant container and plant combo can give a bland space instant character and pizazz. To that end, it’s worth considering a pot’s material, colour, style and decoration, as we might a household ornament, deciding whether it is to compliment or contrast its surroundings: to blend in or stand out and be noticed, that is the question!

I was faced with these dilemmas recently, as it happens, being lured by a batch of bamboo plants that arrived at a local plant shop; specimens that played right into my Japanese planting palette at home. The presence of said plants so close to home was clearly a message from the gardening gods: that my own garden oasis would become infinitely richer and more oriental should I acquire at least one!

Before the pack of plants there was much pacing around, chin stroking and holding of breath I can assure you, but after quietly apologising to those plants I’d have to leave behind, I selected my specimen and carried its ticket to the till. In no time at all I was out through the gate and proudly whisking my leggy beauty away across the car park. I shall not dwell on the huffing and puffing whilst threading said plant between the seats in my car, or driving home along the Warwickshire lanes peering through a bamboo forest, as the less said about that the better.

My trying task arrived when considering the fact that my green grove or crook-stem bamboo (Phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’) is something of a spreader; and yes I knew this before I made the purchase. I could have planted direct and used a root barrier of course, but as my favoured location is tight against a fence and I consider myself a responsible gardener and neighbour, I chose to play it safe with a container.

Pushing all other types aside, the wooden half-barrel, my chosen pot in this instance offers sturdiness, and is constructed from a material that matures beautifully. Additionally, when its final days are done, it is good to know that its bulk will decay and return to the soil, and it’s quite moderately priced given its solidity too. Granted, this pot of choice may not suit some super-slick designed garden space, but to bring a touch of rustic charm to a gravelled corner of my garden, a barrel planter will do nicely.

My pot is medium size, so rather modest compared to some, but is more than sufficient for the task in hand and will provide a home for my old bamboo for a good few seasons until I need to lift and divide its contents. Costing under thirty pounds the barrel’s structure is solid, not having dried out to the point where its wood shrinks and bands slip, it also has a good weight to it, which will help its stability given the lofty nature of my bamboo. As an additional precaution, I shall tie some of its top stems into the fence for a while until it has firmly established in its pot.

I must say, however, that unlike an equivalent sized terracotta pot or similar, which is pretty much good to go as soon as you get it home, the wooden barrel planters do need a little preparation, often not coming with pre-drilled drainage holes. Nevertheless, there’s often a treat in store for those willing to drill a few holes, so please let me explain…

When boring begins, you see, you’ll be exposed to the spiciest aromas from the liquor that once lived in the cask back at the distillery: a sniff-able experience for sure. Intriguingly, whilst breathing deeply and drilling my upturned planter, I also noticed some print marks on the bottom surface, the first line ‘Jim Bea’, and the second ‘Bourb’. It’s not like I couldn’t figure it out, but a quick search later suggested the barrel is likely to have lived its first decade or two at a Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, USA, where they’re produced from American White Oak (Quercus alba). Being the history aficionado that I am these details, along with the barrel’s scent went straight to my head, the intoxicating blend clearly too rich and wholesome for my soft self. I might just have to treat myself to a bottle for Christmas, I thought!

All told, whilst apologising for hardly scratching the surface of pot selection nor mentioned the finer details of planting, I really should bring this garden offering to some kind of profitable end for you. I guess, then, having lashed out on a specimen and chosen my pot, after falling under the influence of my container’s heady aromas, I ought to say something about the real value of my containerised bamboo journey.

The real value I believe was delivered during the voyage itself, from dreaming of how this particular bamboo could work in my garden, to the plant-hunter like discovery of a green grove on sale nearby. An unfolding discovery of the need I was creating to corral my specimen plant and to protect the neighbourhood from it, plus the ensuing exploration that triggered to source a suitably formidable and appropriately themed receptacle in which to house it. Mixing the planting medium even played its part, peat-free of course, and employing my bare hands to massage and manipulate its roots and shoots into their new home. All of this and more has brought worth and wonder, to me and to my garden space.

Already, the tall golden stems with little green splashes and their lance-shaped leaves are busy playing their part, concealing an awkward corner space and piercing the sky with a new leafy silhouette. My potted selection, now with a box alongside for company has brought instant presence and movement to a previously bland garden corner, a corner where a beating bamboo heart now lives.

My planned, if slightly opportunistic investment may not be the largest pot or project in the history of horticulture, it doesn’t even sit as the biggest pot on my plot, it is however a perfect plant, in a perfect pot, in a perfect spot – for me. My new bamboo may take a little while to establish fully, but it’ll settle in nicely, I shall make sure of that. I shall also enjoy looking out upon it each morning, listening to it shake as I work in the garden, and will sit beside it when next summer’s heat returns, and transport myself to a faraway land. I’d say that is time and money well spent, wouldn’t you?

If you’ve potted-up something that you’re proud of do send me a photo and show it off, I’d love to see it! Kind regards, Gary Webb.