No Room For The Weeds

Putting plants and flowers inside pots has traditionally been the tactic of cooped-up urban dwellers, who have to rely on window boxes to express their inner farmer. But even people with proper backyards are now keeping their gardens contained. So-called container gardening is growing at almost 20% annually, twice the rate of gardening sales overall. Gardening in pots is popular because of its ease: a whole vegetable or flower garden can be designed and planted in an afternoon, and pots require less weeding than conventional flower beds. The pots are also coming in increasingly bold and varied styles, to add color to your garden even before the flowers bloom. --By Lisa McLaughlin