There's something magical about visiting fellow gardeners and seeing how they've adapted their passion to unique spaces and challenging conditions. Our recent trip to Chicago to collaborate with Bethany, known as @ChicagoGardener on social media, proved to be one of our most inspiring garden adventures yet. What we discovered was a true testament to the power of container gardening and creative problem-solving in urban environments.

Meeting the Container Planting Queen

Bethany gardens exclusively in containers across multiple levels of her Chicago home, transforming rooftops and courtyards into stunning spaces filled with cut flowers, productive vegetables, and innovative design solutions. Located in zone 6A, her garden faces challenges that many urban gardeners will recognize: intense sun, scorching heat, drying winds, and limited space. Yet what she's accomplished is nothing short of extraordinary.

The Rooftop Gardens: Maximizing Vertical Space

Dealing with Challenging Conditions

Bethany's west-facing rooftop deck presents some of the most challenging growing conditions imaginable. The space receives full morning sun starting around 6 AM, but by 3 PM, half the garden is in shade. However, the intensity of that afternoon sun is brutal—hot enough to burn hydrangeas that can handle full sun in our upstate New York garden when grown in-ground.

This difference highlights a crucial lesson for container gardeners: plants in containers are far more vulnerable to heat stress than their in-ground counterparts. The pots heat up quickly, essentially cooking the roots, while also drying out rapidly despite having an irrigation system. Bethany has learned to position heat-sensitive plants like hydrangeas as close to walls as possible for protection.

The Bucket Planter Innovation

One of the most creative solutions in Bethany's garden is her repurposed bucket planter system. Originally designed as flower display buckets for florists, she drilled drainage holes and transformed them into stunning combination planters. Her secret to success? Aggressive petunias paired with upright plants that won't get overwhelmed.

This year's winning combination features Super Tunia varieties with Tiara Pink coleus, proving that when you find plants that work in your specific conditions, it's worth repeating and refining the formula. The key insight here is choosing companion plants carefully—in previous years, smaller plants got completely buried by vigorous petunias.

Cut-and-Come-Again Philosophy

What sets Bethany's approach apart is her focus on cut-and-come-again flowers. Nearly every plant in her garden serves double duty as both garden beauty and cut flower source. She's harvested over 50 dahlia blooms since they started flowering, creating countless bouquets for neighbors and street-level displays.

Her top performers for cutting include:

• Angelonia (particularly Wedgwood Pink) - thrives with minimal care until frost
• Wine Eyed Jill Dahlias - incredibly productive in 7-gallon grow bags
• Zinnias (Queenie Lime series) - her most productive cut flowers
• China Asters - reliable bloomers in containers
• Gomphrena - low-maintenance flowers that dry beautifully

Container Dahlia Insights

Bethany's dahlia strategy reveals important timing lessons for container gardeners. Her dinner plate dahlias grown in 7-gallon grow bags showed dramatically different performance based on starting method:

• Indoor-started dahlias (started in April, 6 weeks before last frost): Began blooming in early July
• Direct-planted dahlias (planted after last frost): Just beginning to bloom in late summer

This timing difference of several weeks can be crucial for maximizing blooming season, especially in shorter growing zones.

The Innovative Garage Deck Garden

The middle level of Bethany's garden showcases her expansion into a new space above the garage—a project we'd brainstormed during our previous visit. This area demonstrates how gardeners evolve, with Bethany creating a more structured, designed space compared to the "cottage garden chaos" of her rooftop.

Shade Gardening Success

This partially shaded space allows Bethany to experiment with plants that would burn to a crisp on her rooftop. The pergola provides crucial protection, and the white tile flooring (though challenging to keep clean) helps reflect light while staying cooler than darker surfaces.

Her shade plant discoveries include:

• Angelonia performing in part-shade (despite being labeled full-sun)
• Rockapulco impatiens series thriving in containers
• Various begonias loving the protected environment

Vertical Growing and Privacy Solutions

The genius of this space lies in Bethany's privacy wall creation using climbing sweet potato vines. A single plant in a 12-inch pot has created an impressive screen that completely blocks the view of neighbors. The combination of upward-growing sweet potato vine with traditional trailing varieties creates both height and density.

Her privacy plant combination:

• Coconut Appeal sweet potato vine - climbing variety for height
• Traditional sweet potato vine varieties - for fullness and coverage
• Supporting cast of petunias and bidens - though they struggle to compete for space

The Ground-Level Challenge: A Collaborative Design

The most exciting part of our Chicago visit was tackling Bethany's newest challenge: a ground-level courtyard with extremely tricky conditions. This space gets only 2-3 hours of brutal afternoon sun, features a tall brick wall creating a harsh backdrop, and sits partially on the neighbor's property—meaning any permanent installations are risky.

Understanding the Conditions

The space presents multiple challenges:

• Limited sun exposure - only 2-3 hours of intense afternoon sun
• Heat reflection from white tile and brick walls
• Property line issues - part of the space belongs to neighbors
• Scale problems - tall walls make everything feel small
• Wind protection - more sheltered than rooftop but still gusty

Our Design Philosophy: Peaceful Repetition

When Bethany described wanting a "peaceful" space, we immediately thought about design principles that create serenity:

Peaceful garden elements:

• Limited plant variety with lots of repetition
• Soft color palette - gentle pinks, purples, and whites
• Textural plants that move gracefully in the breeze
• Layered heights from ground covers to mid-level perennials

The Plant Selection Strategy

Our collaboration led to a three-tier planting scheme designed to work with the challenging light conditions while creating year-round interest:

Ground Level - Ajuga (Burgundy Glow)This spreading perennial will carpet the soil with attractive foliage and blue-purple flowers. We chose two six-packs to ensure faster coverage, acknowledging Bethany's preference for immediate impact over patience.

Mid-Level Structure - Amsonia (String Theory)This native perennial provides the wispy, textural movement Bethany admired in downtown Chicago's gardens. The feathery foliage creates beautiful motion in breezes, while spring flowers and golden fall color extend the season of interest.

Accent Plants - Coleus ('Dark Side of the Moon')The dark foliage of this coleus variety will provide necessary contrast against the light-colored walls while blooming pink in early summer, perfectly matching Bethany's peaceful color scheme.

Annual Integration - Surefire White BegoniasFor next spring's planting, white begonias will complete the peaceful palette while thriving in the part-shade conditions.

Container Strategy for Uncertain Territory

Since part of the space sits on neighbor's property, we recommended container planting for any larger structural elements. Cone-shaped boxwoods in containers can provide needed height without permanent installation, plus they can be moved if property issues arise.

The Shopping Adventure at Chalet Nursery

Our plant selection expedition to Chalet Nursery in suburban Chicago perfectly demonstrates the collaborative design process. Even late in the season, we found excellent options that fit our design criteria:

Key finds:

• Amsonia hubrichtii (String Theory) - perfect for creating movement and texture
• Ajuga reptans (Burgundy Glow) - ideal spreading groundcover
• Heuchera (Dark Side of the Moon) - providing the dark foliage contrast we needed

The Bonus Discoveries

Sometimes the best design elements come from spontaneous inspiration. Bethany's eye was caught by a Baby Blue Ice Sawara Cypress, leading to our wild idea for training Kinsley Ghost Honeysuckle up her new staircase. This demonstrates how shopping with fresh eyes can lead to inspired combinations.

Container Gardening Lessons Learned

Bethany's gardens teach valuable lessons for anyone dealing with challenging urban conditions:

Heat Management is Critical

Container plants face unique heat stress:

• Root systems cook in hot pots
• Plants dry out faster than ground plantings
• Even drought-tolerant plants need more water in containers
• Positioning near walls and structures provides crucial afternoon shade

Irrigation is Non-Negotiable

With 80% of Bethany's garden on irrigation systems, she still hand-waters many containers daily during peak season. This reality check helps set expectations for container gardening commitment levels.

Choose Aggressive Plants for Impact

In challenging conditions, plants that might be considered "thugs" in garden beds become heroes in containers. Bethany's success with vigorous petunias and spreading sweet potato vines shows how embracing aggressive growers can create stunning displays.

Seasonal Color Strategy

Container gardening allows for complete seasonal makeovers. Bethany's approach of treating most plants as annuals gives her freedom to try new combinations each year and adapt to changing conditions.

The Value of Gardening Friendships

What made this collaboration so special was the opportunity to problem-solve together and see familiar plants performing differently in new conditions. Bethany's hydrangeas needing shade while ours thrive in full sun, her compact dahlia blooms versus our oversized ones—these differences teach us about the complex interplay of soil, climate, and growing conditions.

Learning from Different Approaches

Bethany's container expertise offers insights for all gardeners:

• How to maximize small spaces through vertical growing
• The importance of choosing plants suited to specific conditions
• Creative repurposing of materials for garden solutions
• The joy of sharing garden bounty with community

Planning for the Future

While we couldn't return to help plant everything, the planning process itself demonstrates the value of collaborative garden design. By thinking through plant placement, considering mature sizes, and planning for seasonal changes, we created a roadmap for success.

The implementation plan includes:

• Fall planting of perennials for spring establishment
• Strategic container placement for height and structure
• Spring annual additions to complete the design
• Flexible elements that can adapt as the space evolves

Urban Gardening Inspiration

Bethany's story proves that gardening passion can flourish anywhere. From repurposed buckets to three-story container displays, her creativity in working with challenging urban conditions inspires us all to see possibilities rather than limitations.

Whether you're dealing with rooftop heat, limited space, or tricky light conditions, the principles she's mastered—choosing appropriate plants, embracing container growing, and focusing on performance over perfection—can transform any challenging space into a productive, beautiful garden.

The collaboration also reminds us that gardening is inherently social. Some of our best ideas come from visiting other gardens, sharing challenges, and learning from different approaches. Every garden visit teaches us something new, whether it's a clever design solution, a plant combination that works, or simply a different way of thinking about familiar challenges.

‍

Thanks for growing with us!