Almost anyone who has grown container plantings has experienced the frustration of planters that look great for the first couple of weeks, but then start to decline. Not to worry. With a little understanding of how plants grow in containers, what to use for soil, and how to feed and water properly, you’ll have the tools to keep your container plants looking great throughout their growing lifetimes.

Unlike plants growing in the ground, container plants don’t have the luxury of endless soil in which to stretch out their roots. Containers only hold a small volume of soil in a defined space. And we often further reduce this available space by putting a number of plants in each container.

Success with container plantings, whether you’re planting in window boxes or in old work boots, begins from the ground up. Garden soils or purchased topsoils intended for garden beds aren’t appropriate for containers: they are too heavy, and tend to drain slowly, so roots confined to small spaces run the risk of rotting and dying. Additionally, the gardener who fills large planters with soil from a garden bed will find the planters excessively heavy to move.

For the ancient Romans, taking a bath was a very special occasion. Because they considered bathing a social opportunity, they constructed huge public baths that put our modern-day indoor pools and spas to shame.

Not only were the baths themselves lavishly decorated, they were also surrounded by shops, libraries, and lounges so that a person could shop, read or chat after bathing. The famed Baths of Caracalla, for example, offered Roman citizens massages and saunas in addition to a gymnasium and gardens for after-bath walks in lovely surroundings. Art lovers that they were, the Romans also frequently built art galleries into their bathing facilities. There were also kitchens, where food was prepared to serve hungry bathers. Although initially men and women bathed separately, mixed baths became the fashion until 500 A.D., when the coming of Christianity brought the public baths to an end.