Solarium pot plants

Hi there, new to the forum but have had a holiday home in the Marquesa area for 3 years. Just been told about the site and hope this topic hasn't been covered before.
We are looking for a few ideas on taking the edge of the solarium by dotting about a few potted plants which require little or no TLC as we are only around 4-5 times per year but still offer a good bit of greenery. The solarium wall is about 4ft high, can get a bit windy, gets sun pretty much all day but dont want plants that will attract minibeasts either.
Any ideas would be welcome as well as recommendations for garden centres to aquire them.
And we are not gardeners by any stretch of the imagination!

Thanks, lleecoo.

Hundreds of different type of cactus around which require minimal maintenance. If you can set up a mini-watering system (simply a hosepipe on a timer) then that would be better.
At least 30 different types of aloe which also do well. Most of the plants you see in the gardens are low maintenance like bougainvillea and oleander but, beware, these can get huge. Not ideally suited for pots.
We have 3 different types of aloe (aloe vera, aloe africana and aloe perfoliata) growing in pots. All come out with large flowers at different times of the year.
We also have about 5 or 6 different types of cactus with some you'd be hard put to spot as a cactus. One on the wall has a spikey stem and lovely red flowers, one on the garden table has the same spikey stem with a mass of yellow flowers. Others grow into bushes but all have flowers growing at some time.
You can buy them from the garden centres for about a euro two. Make sure you get ones with a longish root as they are easier to grow. We put ours in a wall pot with just garden centre compost until they outgrow it and then transfer it to a larger pot for the solarium/patio when necessary.
You can get a fairly large jar of sulphur chips from the garden centres for about 3 euro and just add a handful to the earth when potting. No need to add any later on and we save the tea bags and coffee grounds and add them as a fertilizer every few months.
You'll be spoilt for choice at any of the garden centres here as they have a huge selection.
To vary it a bit, also look at dracena and yucca plants. They are very cheap here and again require minimal care but do like watering now and again. The dracena look like mini palms and come in dozens of varieties.
Best of luck

marcliff wrote:Hundreds of different type of cactus around which require minimal maintenance. If you can set up a mini-watering system (simply a hosepipe on a timer) then that would be better.
At least 30 different types of aloe which also do well. Most of the plants you see in the gardens are low maintenance like bougainvillea and oleander but, beware, these can get huge. Not ideally suited for pots.
We have 3 different types of aloe (aloe vera, aloe africana and aloe perfoliata) growing in pots. All come out with large flowers at different times of the year.
We also have about 5 or 6 different types of cactus with some you'd be hard put to spot as a cactus. One on the wall has a spikey stem and lovely red flowers, one on the garden table has the same spikey stem with a mass of yellow flowers. Others grow into bushes but all have flowers growing at some time.
You can buy them from the garden centres for about a euro two. Make sure you get ones with a longish root as they are easier to grow. We put ours in a wall pot with just garden centre compost until they outgrow it and then transfer it to a larger pot for the solarium/patio when necessary.
You can get a fairly large jar of sulphur chips from the garden centres for about 3 euro and just add a handful to the earth when potting. No need to add any later on and we save the tea bags and coffee grounds and add them as a fertilizer every few months.
You'll be spoilt for choice at any of the garden centres here as they have a huge selection.
To vary it a bit, also look at dracena and yucca plants. They are very cheap here and again require minimal care but do like watering now and again. The dracena look like mini palms and come in dozens of varieties.
Best of luck

Hi lleecoo.

Welcome to the forum.

Good advice above but can I just add though - If you get the biggest pot(s) you can find they should not need watering as much and if Cacti/ Yucca plants are planted in them, you may not need a watering system. We have a Yucca in Spain, planted in the ground, we bought it small and it grew very quickly and never needs watering (in winter it gets the rain of course)- So if you buy a small one and plant in a big pot, if it doesn't survive without watering you haven't wasted much money but it's worth a try, rather than having a watering system at first - Generally a plant will only grow as much as the space it has in the pot for its roots but it will grow big and quickly in Spain. Don't think of the Cacti like those we see in the UK, most grow fabulously in Spain like the ones you see in the desert & cowboy films and look really nice, not always that prickly, even flowering sometimes!

Good luck.

Jan

certain succulents are also good if you put stones on the top of the pots this helps to keep moisture in and also collects any condensation to aid with moisture.

Thanks for the replies. I would also like to point out that an automatic irrigation system is not an option as I always turn off the water at the mains when away to avoid the chance of any costly leaks.
Flowering cactus sounds good to add a bit of colour. I searched Yucca plants and think they may get to tall? Don't want them gettin blown over when home.