Exuberant Container Plantings
We’ve all heard that containers should be filled with a “thriller, spiller, and filler”. But what colors do you choose? What happens when your container doesn’t allow for all three of these design elements? Or when your container is as large as some people’s garden? How do you decide which plants to use?
During a recent pre-tour of gardens on Garden Walk Buffalo, containers of all kinds were on full display. Everything from enthusiastic celebrations of vivid colors and unusual shapes, to simple, subdued collections of similar plants and colors. Window boxes, hanging baskets, and urns were found in nearly every garden. But more unusual containers could also be found, from old washtubs to Woolly Pockets to fungal growths. With a little imagination, there’s no limit to what can be used as a container!
Old washtubs provide a colorful display
Various shades of green create a stunning picture
The gardener at the house below had a real touch for the unusual. The driveway was filled with containers overflowing with plants of every kind – the containers were so closely packed that it looked like they were planted in the ground. But the most unusual part of the garden were the ‘containers’ on the fence…
Not your typical container...
One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make when planting containers is to plant too far apart. Most container plants are annuals so plant them close and fertilize regularly so that they grow quickly into lush, colorful plants that make an impact in the landscape. For more tips on growing gorgeous containers, click here.
Stuffed so full you can't even see out the window!
Another thing to keep in mind is that the container and plants should go with the style and color of the house. An uber-modern container in front of a Victorian house would probably look a little strange.
A calm, simple planting the complements the house
A colorful house needs a colorful container
It makes me smile to see how often you and I took pictures of the same plantings! Those fungal containers were way cool and I intend to find some to do my own versions!
I was hiking in the woods last week up in Maine and came across some very cool fungal growths on the side of a dead log. But they looked so perfect there that I just couldn’t bring myself to break them off and try to turn them into containers (which I’d probably forget to water anyway and then there’d be nothing but dead plants in a fungus – probably not too appealing).