I’ve put this combo together in a pretty blue glazed patio pot and I’m loving it and so are the two hummingbirds visiting regularly on my deck due to the Black & Bloom Salvia in this container gardening combination. I wrote about it a couple weeks back, and thought I’d share some updated photos:

The Sweet Potato Vine (Sweet Georgia Heart Light Green) is doing fine except an insect has been making some holes here and there. I kind of just ignore that or snip those leaves off with my fingertips from time to time. The exposure is part sun here and this vine adds a nice punch of vivid color, working well with the adjacent Coleus. The vine can be planted in sun or part sun and is a vigorous grower.

To compare, above is upon planting it. It shows off the pot more at that time, now the pot is practically covered by the Sweet Georgia Health Light Green Potato Vine which is an annual plant in our planting zone in Connecticut. Genus is: Ipomea.

The dark maroon colored plant to the right of the sweet potato vine is a Coleus, also an annual plant here in Connecticut. It is starting to flower now. I don’t bother with removing the flowers. Anything to give pollinators more harvesting considerations is kept usually. This plant adds a beautiful contrast and makes the other adjacent plant stand out more. It prefers conditions of full sun or shade. Latin name for the Coleus is Solenostemon scutellarioides. The Coleus shown here is called Vino.

Tucked in the back and on the side of this combination is a Salvia plant. As I have noted in prior posts, if you want hummingbirds, plant Salvias. Hummingbirds love these blooms. I see them come by every day in the mornings and late afternoons. Currently having two regular hummingbirds. They fight a little from time to time. This variety is the Black and Bloom which thrives in sun or part shade and grows tall stems with beautiful blooms. Latin name is: Salvia guaranitica. Many stems have reached out beyond the deck’s railing and I love that look. I’m sure the humminbirds go to those and I don’t see them at that location as much, but I’m sure they do.

In the center is a Alocasia (a Jumbo Upright Elephant Ears plant) which usually gets gigantic, but it has experienced a slow start. I love the incredible thick shiny glossy leaves pointing upwards. It was started from a tuber earlier this season and will last through frost of fall. It likes partial shade. This tuber was actually from an original mother plant I got back in 2019. From one plant, I got many off sets and keep them going by overwintering these and regrowing each spring, but they seem to always take their time to get started growing. I still haven’t figured out the secret to get them to move faster out of dormancy. Anyhow, they are a keeper. They rarely get any problems and put on a good show especially this season with our humid wet tropical like weather patterns between the sun and heat.

To see more details about these plants, see my prior post:

Salvias – Plant Them if You Want Hummingbirds

Thank you for visiting!

Cathy Testa
An avid container gardener located in Broad Brook, Connecticut, US.

Cathy Testa