Hardy Container Plants
Not every plant in your garden has to be in the ground. You can still enjoy gardening by planting in containers. Some people love container gardening simply for the art of it, while others may be container gardeners due to limited space, time, or other factors. Luckily, there are several options to choose from if you want a plant that is both a container plant and a hardy plant.
Choosing hardy varieties does not mean sacrificing color or texture. By selecting hardy plants that handle upstate South Carolina’s growing zones of 7b to 8b, you can enjoy a low-maintenance plant display no matter the season. With over 50 years of horticultural experience, here are some of our favorite hardy container plants at Head-Lee Nursery.
Plum Yew
The plum yew is a great plant for shady areas. So, if you have a shady porch, covered patio, or space that doesn’t get much sun, then a plum yew is for you.
This slow-growing evergreen has dark green, needle-like foliage that brings texture to a container. Unlike traditional yews that struggle in Southern heat, plum yews handle summer humidity well, yet they are cold-hardy enough to survive upstate South Carolina’s winters.
Plum yews look great standing alone in an urn or acting as a permanent evergreen anchor in a mixed container arrangement.
How to Care for Plum Yew
Plum yews are tough and thrive in conditions ranging from partial shade to deep shade. Plant them in a well-draining potting mix and ensure your container has drainage holes to avoid letting the plant sit in soggy soil.
Why You’ll Love a Plum Yew
People love plum yews for their deer resistance, drought tolerance, shade tolerance, pest resistance, and disease resistance. This is a reliable shrub that holds its color all winter, and it requires little pruning to maintain its tidy, architectural shape.
Yucca
Add a yucca plant to hot, baking spots on your deck that receive intense afternoon sunshine. Known for its sword-like evergreen leaves and striking form, yucca infuses a modern flair into any container display.
In mid-to-late summer, mature plants produce tall stalks of white, bell-shaped flowers. Best of all, yucca varieties, such as Yucca filamentosa (Adam's needle), are native plants to South Carolina, meaning they are perfectly attuned to our local weather shifts.
How to Care for Yucca
Yuccas need a spot that receives full sun for the majority of the day. They require well-draining soil, so give them a sandy or succulent potting mix. Water yuccas sparingly.
Choose a heavy container for yuccas since these plants can become top-heavy when their flower stalks bloom.
Why You’ll Love a Yucca
South Carolina gardeners love yucca for its extreme heat-tolerance, drought-tolerance, and summer blooms. Also, if you want a plant focal point that needs little attention, then you’ll love a yucca. The plant even stays vibrant during upstate South Carolina’s cold snaps in January.
Canna
Use a canna to help transform your patio into a lush oasis during the peak of summer. This plant brings summer color because its banana-like leaves come in shades of green, bronze, or stripes, and the plant is topped with blossoms of red, orange, yellow, or pink.
Cannas bring height and drama to container gardens, and they work well as the centerpiece, or "thriller" plant, in a mixed pot.
They thrive in South Carolina’s summer humidity, and they push out continuous blooms from June until the first fall frost.
How to Care for Canna
Cannas love full sun and moisture, which makes them one of the few container plants that tolerate overwatering. So, feel free to water them daily.
Plant cannas in rich potting soil and keep the soil moist throughout the warm growing season.
While they die back to the ground after the first hard freeze, their hardy rhizomes will rest safely inside the container and will grow back the following spring.
Why You’ll Love a Canna
You will love the canna for its bold color, rapid growth, and tropical aesthetic. Plus, local pollinators love canna flowers, so having canna at your home helps bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
Canna works well as hedges, background plants, or borders. Canna is also a great choice for adding high-impact visual style and a splash of color to your outdoor space.
Ice Plant Succulent
Ice plant succulents (a.k.a. delosperma) are beautiful low-growing plants that love to spill over the edges of your pots. This hardy groundcover plant features fleshy, bright green foliage that creates a cascading carpet of texture.
Many varieties of ice plants are cold-hardy down to zone 5 or 6, meaning they will not turn to mush with a sudden South Carolina frost.
During late spring and summer, ice plants become covered in bright, daisy-like blossoms that open with the sun and mostly close during the nighttime. If you want a fun and interactive plant, then ice plant succulents are for you.
How to Care for Ice Plant Succulents
Give iceplants full sun and well-draining soil since stagnant moisture will damage or kill the plant. Water them deeply but infrequently, and allow the soil to dry out between waterings. To prevent winter root rot during wet winter snows or rains, ensure your container is raised slightly off the ground so water drains away freely.
Why You’ll Love an Ice Plant
People love ice plants’ bright blooms and adorable charm. They soften the hard edges of ceramic pots, and they look like delicate annuals but act like rugged perennials.
Curly Leaf Ligustrum
Curly Leaf Ligustrum is a dwarf upright evergreen shrub that brings character to container gardening. It has an upright growth habit and closely packed, glossy, dark green leaves that curl and twist. This growth pattern gives the plant a bonsai-like appearance, thereby making it a conversation piece for your porch or patio.
The ligustrum plant thrives in South Carolina’s summer heat and maintains its structural form throughout the winter months.
How to Care for Ligustrum
Ligustrum grows best in full sun to partial shade, and it thrives in a variety of soil conditions (except for constantly wet soil). Plant it in a standard potting mix with good drainage, and water it thoroughly whenever the top couple of inches of soil feel dry.
Curly Leaf Ligustrum grows at a slow pace, meaning it will not quickly outgrow its container.
Why You’ll Love a Ligustrum
Gardeners love ligustrum for its texture and low maintenance. You’ll also love that this plant will add a dense evergreen element to your outdoor living spaces year-round without demanding frequent pruning.
Nandina
Nandina (a.k.a. “heavenly bamboo,” although it is not a true bamboo) is a drought-tolerant, reliable, compact evergreen that provides gorgeous fall color when its leaves become copper, bronze, and red. Some new varieties also have reddish color on the new growth during the summer. Some varieties produce small white flowers in the spring and clusters of bright-red berries in the winter. So, you’ll have year-round color with nandina.
How to Care for Nandina
Nandina is a fairly indestructible plant. It can adapt to full sun, partial shade, or even full shade. However, it will grow best and give you the best winter color if it is in full sun to partial shade.
Give it well-draining potting soil and water it regularly during warm weather. When pruning, prune the stalks in the plant’s interior and avoid cutting the outer foliage.
Why You’ll Love a Nandina
You’ll love nandina for its year-round color and low maintenance. It will keep your porch, front door, or patio looking fresh throughout every season.
Visit Head-Lee Nursery for Hardy Container Plants and More
Ready to transform your patio, porch, or deck with low-maintenance greenery and hardy container plants? Stop by Head-Lee Nursery in upstate South Carolina to find quality pottery and hardy plants tailored for your home.
We know South Carolina gardening, and our friendly and knowledgeable staff will help you select the perfect plants for your space so that you can sit back and watch your container garden thrive all year long!
