English trough containers are stone-like garden containers you can make at home from common materials. Here, Hannah Rohn and Heather Sherwood show us how to make a garden container from Portland cement, peat moss, perlite and water. These troughs are great for shallow-rooted hardy perennials, dwarf alpines, herbs or annuals. Examples of these versatile troughs can be seen in the English Walled Garden and Heritage Garden.
Nancy Clifton teaches trough-making and other garden workshops through the Joseph Regenstein, Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Look for her classes online and in the catalogs. For registration information, visit www.chicagobotanic.org/school.
Download detailed instructions on another technique for making English garden troughs here:
http://www.chicagobotanic.org/downloads/trough/cbg_trough.pdf.