If you would like a really stunning, tall plant in a tub, you can't beat a Rhodochiton, which is a climber.

You need an obelisk and a large tub in which to put it. I grow these from seed which need to be set indoors in early February, as they take a while to germinate (my seedlings are now about 3 inches tall, but will romp away come June when they're planted up).

Here's what they look like:



and a close up:



They flower for ages and ages right to the first frosts and after the first year you can save your own seed.

Other climbers which are very striking are Morning Glory 'Grandpa Otts' and a yellow flowered plant known as Canary Creeper.

AAAAW, it's lovely. I am due a visit to the garden centre, so I shall certainly be getting one one. Thanks Monika!

Isn't that beautiful.
I will be getting one, too.
I had been wondering what I could put in pots on the patio.

I got a Japanese Acer cheap at a Garden Centre, last year. It looked a bit sorry for itself.
It has now done me proud - it is beautiful.

Monsy - take a look HERE

I went to B&Q yesterday and looked for it. Nothing much in the way of plants, but they did have some Acers, Emm.

I did buy 24 petunias, 24 geraniums and 24 lobelia for £9! I thought it was a good bargain. Trouble is, it has poured ever since and I can't get them planted out - yet!

Petunias are lovely.

I filled my troughs with Geranuims last year - but the flipping slugs played havoc with them.

I go out in the dead of night Emm, and pour salt all over them!

I heard a tip for slugs but havent tried it yet... coffee grounds! Apparently the caffeine buzz is just too much for them!
Being so close to the river, it's impossible to keep the slugs and snails under conrtol, (altho' the frogs in the pond are wonderful allies!) so I tend to steer clear of slug-prone plants......
Happy gardening!

I have put vaseline under the rims of the pots with Hostas in.
That never fails to stop slugs. You just get into a heck of a mess doing the job though!!!

This is the Acer I have. It stands about four feet high.

You can also get copper tape to stick around tubs and this stops slugs and snails in their tracks.

The radio gardeners were on local bbc last Thursday and they said that the Germans have done some research on slug pellets and found that birds only tend to eat slugs which are live - and when they fed some birds only with slugs which had been killed by slug pellets they found they did not do any harm to our feathered friends.

Also, hedgehogs would have to eat hundreds of poisoned slugs before they came to any harm.

They say use slug pellets by all means but don't make the ground blue with them; people use far too many at a time, apparently.

(Lovely Acer, Emm, I've also got one in a tub and have an imitation snake on the top of the soil to stop the squirrels from burying nuts in them ... it works too!)

Will this bliddy rain ever stop! It's like someone is standing in the sky and tipping water, it's so heavy! I think half my plants will be drowned, and the other half will float off!

Did anyone see Alan Titchmarsh on the preparations for the Chelsea Flower show last night?

Rained all weekend here too - what rain too - it was torrential.

We'll all develop webbed feet

Monika - the blue on the top of my pot, is nylon. I put it there to stop the birds throwing the soil all over the place.