Bluemagnolia unless you get a very large pot and a fruit tree on dwarf stock it is not gonig to be a happy tree. Stick to shrubs and trailing plants.

as im new to this as well i have bought some small lavendar plants from dobbies and 4 climbing rose (iceberg climber) and their in large tubs and i have placed them at the base of the pillars of my pergola and hope to see them running up them soon. i.e. you see them in homebase web site under grape planters .

Also bought 1 of these strawberry pots and put cambridge plants in theres -seem to be going well.
variagated evergreens are good against a wall or fence.9 see my piccys)

The list is wide as to what you can put in pots, look at the container page on Goypeadia for some great and varied ideas. Do think about how much care you want to give the container plants and how long do you want to keep them in the pots. I tend to grow bored with my plants in pots and move them on into the garden and put something new in my pots every 1-2 years.

Thank you all the advice