Spillers

By: John Degroot

May 26 2012

Spillers - Garden Clippings for May 26, 2012

Today we’ll begin a three part series on the ingredients for successful container gardening: spillers, thrillers and fillers.

Spillers are the lowliest of annual plants.  Planted on the outer edge of the container, spillers are expected to cascade over the side of the pot.  Every container should have at least one spiller, unless of course the container is so beautiful that you don’t want to hide it.

My top choice for spiller is Sweet Potato Vine.  This vine is a vigorous grower that can easily overpower accompanying more timid plants.  Only one plant is required per container, and by midsummer it may be a good idea to prune the plant in order to contain its aggressiveness.  Potato Vine can readily trail 5 feet or more.

Sweet Potato Vine is planted for its foliage rather than flower.  The original varieties were lime green in colour followed quickly by purple and almost black foliage.  If you plant both light and dark Potato vine together, you can expect to see a sharp display.

The more sun, heat and humidity Potato vines are exposed to the happier they are.  Sweet Potato will grow in partial shade, but will have less aggressive growth and slightly less vibrant colour.

Sweet Potato vines are closely related to the sweet potatoes found in the produce section of the grocery store, but their growth habit cannot be more different.  The vines actually produce tubers which have the same shape as their cousins, but are much smaller with very poor taste.

Gardeners looking for a better behaved trailing vine should consider Vinca Vine.  This vine has variegated leaves about the size of a quarter.  Blue flowers appear in spring and summer.  I find the plant’s foliage so pretty that its flowers are quite superfluous.  Vinca Vine is related to the common Vinca or Periwinkle, but less hardy and therefore grown as an annual in our northern climate.

Creeping Wire Vine is a cute trailing vine with tiny green leaves that appear along wiry stems.  If Wire Vine was planted in the grass it would look like a weed, but when grown at the edge of a container it becomes a delightful, well behaved, slow growing plant.  There are no instructions for growing Wire plant because it will grow wherever it is asked to.

Creeping Jenny or Lysimachia is another good choice as a trailing plant with bright yellow foliage.   Leaves are smaller than a dime, and provide a tidy contrast against green foliage or dark coloured containers.  Creeping Jenny grows as an annual in containers but is also effective as a perennial groundcover.

For additional spillers consider Licorice plant, Wandering Jew, Spider plant and the many varieties of English Ivy.