Versatile Container Gardening Ideas – After being buried under snow for weeks, my Seattle garden is finally green again—with splashes of yellow, blue, pink, and white as spring-blooming perennials and shrubs wake up. It is so exciting to see colors! It’s inevitable that some things look worse after winter – especially some of my containers, but rather than look up at these winter-weary pots for two months, I’ve decided to give them a mini-makeover, but do it on a budget.
That doesn’t mean compromising on design or quality. It simply means working with versatile elements that can be reworked into my summer designs or transplanted into the landscape.
Versatile Container Gardening Ideas
Colorful foliage and flowers that get better every year – a wise investment for spring containers. Spring show at Terra Nova Nurseries Inc., Canby, Oregon
Types Of Planters For Your Garden
If you usually fill your pots with “spots of color” in the spring, this might be a new idea for you. But instead of being long-term investment pieces, the tempting pansies and primroses are discarded after they bloom. Here are some ideas for spring blooming interest that will continue to offer value for months or even years after your first container planting. And there are so many more….
Whether your container is large or small, you’ll find a variety of andromeda to suit. From smaller, tall varieties with variegated foliage like Little Heath (my personal favourite), to dwarf but upright and green-leaved Brookside and wildly flamboyant Flaming Silver – a much bigger girl – they all offer colorful new growth and fragrant spring flowers. Many can also be purchased as small as a 1-gallon pot (6″ diameter), so they can be included in a mixed container design and then transplanted into the landscape to reach their full potential.
In pots or in the landscape, variegated winter daphne goes perfectly with pink hellebores. Design by Bellevue Botanical Garden, WA
Who could possibly resist the scent? Not me! And the variegated foliage of this winter daphne is year-round perfection. I recommend transplanting it into the landscape before it becomes completely root-bound in your pot. Put one near your front door.
Choosing The Best Outdoor Potted Plants: Container Gardening 101
Is it a bush? A perennial? A bottom cover? A rock plant? Who cares—perennial candytuft is an old-fashioned spring-blooming favorite, often available for purchase as a 4-inch pot. Stick it into the front of the spring containers and add it to the landscape to start a nice, wide-spreading ground cover for next year.
Goldheart bleeding heart quickly fills in the shade garden to form a golden carpet studded with hot pink flowers.
While the classic pink bleeding heart may be too large for all but the largest pot, there are many more compact varieties that are well-suited to containers – and then the landscape. From the gold leaf of Goldheart, to the deep red Valentine and the pure white form of Fringe Bleeding Heart (
‘Alba’), the ferny foliage and delicate dangling flowers make a sensational spring container before transferring them to your shade garden to enjoy forever. (Bonus – these are deer resistant)
Best Fall Container Plants
Perfect for dry shade under conifers, but why not enjoy them in containers for a few years first? Many varieties to choose from with flowers ranging from yellow to white, orange, lavender and red. The new leaf growth is also spectacular (Rubrum is my favorite for leaf color). Here are some landscape design ideas that use them.
A colorful medley on the Terra Nova Nurseries Inc display. with Heuchera ‘Fire Alarm’ with Winter Jewels hellebore ‘Golden Lotus’ and Goldheart bleeding heart in the background
Although these are all deciduous plants, many begin to bloom in the spring as well, attracting hummingbirds and adding another dimension to the display. So many colors to choose from! Which is your favorite?
Silver flecked leaves, dancing flowers in shades of pink and blue, a hummingbird siren, drought tolerant, easy to grow – why don’t you have more of these?! Add lungwort to your container this spring. After it blooms, cut it back hard (leaves and flower stalks) and it will quickly come back in two weeks with big, healthy leaves to outshine the best looking hostas (and much cheaper too!).
Container Gardening Tips For Your Outdoor Space
Underutilized but such a rock star in the garden, pasque flowers have beautiful flowers in shades of red and purple, whipped seed heads and fern-like foliage that lasts almost all year. Adding them to a container is a great way to start your collection!
This old-fashioned perennial, known as perennial forget-me-not in England, is loved as much for its heart-shaped leaves as its flowers
One of the earliest perennials to leaf out, Jack Frost remains a firm favorite of mine with its silver and green heart-shaped leaves and sprays of forget-me-not flowers that make perfect mini-bags for the table. This is a perennial plant that can also hold its own in the container for your summer designs, as the leaves are so decorative.
I’m not a fan of the jellybean colors of grocery store primroses, preferring ones that look more natural in a woodland setting. The Wanda primroses are true perennials, but I also love the classic wild English primrose with its pale butter yellow flowers. (I grew mine from seed). They look lovely in the woodland garden mixing with Georgia Blue veronica – why not use these two companions at the front of a container instead? By the way, these were among the first flowers I introduced my daughter to over 30 years ago…start them young!
Update Your Garden With This Versatile Shrub
It’s never too early to share the love of gardening with children. My daughter Katie was about 9 months old here!
Do you learn best by watching rather than reading? Many of us do, which is why I’ve created this new online workshop for you:
Watch two videos of me planting two unique designs for spring that highlight using versatile, affordable or FREE elements, download the planting plans and get the planting lists – all from the comfort of your own home. There’s even a downloadable bonus excerpt from my new book Deer-Resistant Design – a winter/spring container design for shade that’s also deer-resistant!
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged birds, books, combinations, container design, deer, foliage, scent, ground cover, perennials, shrubs, spring, Terra Nova nurseries, wildlife
Container Gardening Ideas To Inspire Your Beautiful Planting
Use the help of the best home decorators to choose matching bedside tables and a new lampshade for your own bedroom design.
Collect and share images of bathroom tiles, bathroom vanities, shower curtains and bathroom mirrors to create your perfect home decor style.
Annual species artist bark berries birds books Christmas climbers combinations conifers container design cut flowers deciduous trees deer design drought tolerant edible England event autumn First editions Focal points foliage fountains fragrance grass ground cover indoor plants Monrovia Nature trails patios perennials Proven Winners seeds springs succulhrenub seeds spring water gardens wildlife winter Today I share all the details of a hobby I’ve really started to delve into this summer: container gardening.
One of the things I love about container gardening is that it allows more room for play. You can often go completely outside the box with your choices and can change things more easily than with a garden in the ground. For someone who loves to experiment when it comes to creative endeavors, this aspect is a definite bonus.
Container Gardening: Thinking Outside The Box!
Informative for me as I planned my own container gardens this year. You will see me refer to some of Arthur’s guidelines below. If you’re interested in taking his course yourself, you can use the code WIT&DELIGHT15 for 15% off your purchase.
When considering what kind of container garden you want to create, the first thing to keep in mind is variety. To get the look I wanted, I knew I had to have planters in a variety of heights, sizes and shapes. If you don’t have a mix of tall and short planters, you can also use step risers, plant stands, or even a chair or bench you already have to prop up some of the planters. Whenever possible, I like to pair odd numbers of planters together (three or five tends to be the sweet spot in my experience).
In terms of materials, you can go with an eclectic look complete with many different materials, or you can start with one material like terracotta. If you live in a colder climate, I would suggest making sure the planters are okay out in the cold if you plan to store them outside all winter. I would also recommend choosing planters with drainage holes if possible.
Here’s something I took away from Arthur’s course: If you want to create a truly intentional container garden, decide on the layout/moodboard you like
Colorful Plant Ideas For Shaded Containers
. Arthur suggests creating a layout for both spring and summer. You can do this digitally or on paper, but the idea is to get a feel for how the plants will work together in their designated planters and what color schemes you want to highlight. I think the container gardens I like best look best with contrasting shapes in a complementary color scheme, while keeping in mind which plants work best for a given planting zone.
Granted, I didn’t have a chance to do this step this year, but next year
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