Greenery for the deck

[BustedThumbs]

I've got a 15m x 6m deck area that's in need of some greenery. My wife thought she'd put a couple of pot plants out there but they were doomed from the start. The pots were too small and the plants just cooked. I want to put some big pots out there but have a couple of hurdles.

1. Weight. The deck is built like a fortress and make from hardwood but i'm still cautious about putting too much weight on it. We'd like something light weight but not plastic.

2. We want bushy plants with flowers but don't want to have the deck covered in leaves and petals etc.

3. The deck gets sun from about 8am to 4pm, so it can get pretty warm out there. The plants need to be fairly hardy.

4. No thorns!

5. We only have tank water, so we don't want the plants drinking all our water.

With my limited gardening knowledge i could only think of some sort of dwarf bougainvilia that doesn't have thorns (does such a plant exist?).
If any of you have an idea i'd love to hear it.

Thanks.

[echnidna]

use plastic flowers

[addo]

Could some of the smaller Gardenias stand the heat? What about rosebushes?

What about some herbs, too? Lemongrass can grow in a nice big bushy "head" if you get the right pot, while oregano tends to go well in sunny places with minimal attention.

Choose lighter coloured pots, or paint them. That makes a significant change! I'd also look at making up some boxed "benches" from decking, that doubled as potplant stands for smaller pots. That stops you putting pots all over any existing furniture, and means not everything is growing up from floor level.

Regards, Adam.

[BustedThumbs]

The missus would love the roses but are there any that don't have thorns? The lemon grass is a fantastic idea. I had been planning on putting some herbs out there. The main purpose of putting plants on the deck is to define the two levels of the deck and fill in a little of the open space.
Light coloured planters are definately on the cards.

[addo]

There are roses without thorns. They're called possum tucker. More seriously, they are around - ask a few nurseries - however the blooms (in my experience) aren't as fragrant by half as the traditional malicious varieties.

Regards, Adam.

[Mcblurter]

Hi
It will be hard to have a bushy plant with flowers but have no petals or leaves on your deck!
We have forgone the flowers and gone with Monsterias, happy plants, elephant ears, umbrella plant, tall thornless cactus and aspidistra's, all for their nice green leaves, but they may crinkle in the sun! Other options are some of the flowering cactus, that don't have thorns, but the flowers will eventually drop off.
You could try a hoya or hibertia but again the flowers will fall off. You can train these along some lattice etc and both cope well with very little water. Even some orchids may do alright out there too.
Cheers
McBlurter

[Bin J]

What about suculents? Agave etc.
I think they look great in pots

[BustedThumbs]

I'd like succulents but i thought they have fairly high water needs. Am i wrong?

[Timed Out]

On the contrary, they are low water use plants - they store water in their fleshy leaves. However if you are concerned about thorns agaves may not be for you. They have a sharp spine at the ends of their leaves.

[pharmaboy2]

agaves in pots need no care at all, few pebbles on top of the soil and your home - maybe as they get a bit tall every 4 years or so, rip em out cut off the root ball and bury them back in a foot lower (they will simply re sprout roots - they are simply impossible to kill!)

Given the sahpe of the deck, i'd go planters, say built out of TP sleepers and clad in the decking or you can buy terrazzo ones that look sleek. the other option is murraya if they grow in your area (seem to grow everywhere in oz), they are tough and as long a teh planter is big enough shouldnt require watering except after 4 38c days in a dry spell.

All plants except the murrayas will drop something, but its all relative - you have gum trees - anything coming off a dozen pot plants will pale into insignificance compared to the gum trees on a windy day..

the bigger the root area the better plants cope without water, so I'd recomend big planters say 1200 long 400 deep 500 wide