Months of protection from frost helped produce these striking Poor Knights lilies. Photo / Supplied

Months of protection from frost helped produce these striking Poor Knights lilies. Photo / Supplied

When the gardeners of Taranaki throw open their gates next week for another fabulous festival, you can bet every property will boast some form of container planting.

Be it a vase, dustbin, baskets, barrels or a humble boot, containers, when you think about it, are strange places to house any living thing. Isolated and prone to drying out, they constitute some of the most hostile environments for plants, yet gardeners just cannot fall out of love with them.

But Jenny Oakley's pots are as creative and varied as the well-stocked borders she tends in her country property near Manaia. Jenny strikes that rare balance between exuberance and simplicity; boldness and delicacy. Her flair has put her in demand with garden centres here and abroad, who regularly call her in to hold demonstrations on "containing with confidence".

Jenny's garden appears effortless but is, of course, the opposite and her use of pots is varied. In places a single pot plant makes a statement while around the parking bay, great chunky repeated containers step out a welcoming rhythm with a note of grand formality.

In softer corners, different sized pots gather in sociable huddles, sometimes with the same plant in several containers to amplify the effect, and the grand finale is a circular pavement studded with an assembly of Poor Knights lilies (Xeronema callistemon).

Jenny has been rushing out since autumn to cover these every time there is a frost warning. She feeds these temperamental giants with a single dose of tomato fertiliser in autumn but otherwise treats them mean. Her reward will be about six scarlet toothbrushes on each plant, which is the horticultural equivalent of reaching the summit of Everest.

With formal horticultural training and a lifetime tending the same plot, Jenny is full of sensible tips based on years of experience. Though her spring bedding only lasts for six months, she still incorporates eight- to nine-month, slow-release fertiliser into the compost because with regular watering she finds nutrients leach out of the soil extra fast.

Another eye-opener is how she fills her pots (mostly terracotta) with common dirt instead of boutique compost (though this "dirt" happens to be rich and volcanic, so is enviably crumbly and free draining). Compost is shunned, except for the top layer, as organic matter tends to break down and compact after a year or two while soil retains its structure and holds moisture well - especially for permanent planting such as shrubs.

While balls and cones of classy box topiary fringed with mondo are the workhorses of her potted menagerie, there are plenty of bold perennials, chosen primarily for their foliage.

Jenny prefers to use hostas in pots than in the ground so plants get watered properly.