Container Gardens – Creating Beauty in Pots, Baskets and Boxes

It seems that container gardens are cropping up everywhere, from a single container at the front door to a cornucopia of pots, troughs, and boxes adding successional seasonal interest to the patio or the deck.

Versatile container gardens are easy to create, and add much to the landscape. They can hold not only ornamental plants, but edible ones as well.

Container Garden Benefits

What are some of the benefits of gardening in containers?

• Portability – containers, especially smaller, light-weight ones, can be moved at will. Tired of an arrangement, or need more sun at certain times of the year? Just pick up the garden and move it. Even relocating larger, more bulky containers is practical as some container stands come with wheels.
• Instant Curb Appeal – well-designed container plantings placed strategically at a home’s entrance can make an elegant statement, proclaiming “Welcome Home!” to guests and residents alike. Carefully chosen containers and plants should complement the architectural elements of a home.
• Accents – containers like pots and urns can act as focal points or directional elements in the garden.
• Seasonal Succession – container gardens can be replanted every quarter, showcasing entirely new planting arrangements that fit the seasons.

Containers for the Garden

Containers come in all types, shapes, sizes and materials.

• Types – pots are most familiar, but there are also a great selection of window boxes, troughs, and hanging baskets. And creative gardeners will use anything – even old boots – to hold their plants, if it fits in the general theme of the garden.
• Shapes – anything goes, from the classic pot shape to urns, vases, boxes, rectangles and cones.
• Sizes – container enthusiasts can find containers in all sizes, from tiny clay pots to giant concrete containers suitable for large-scale commercial projects.
• Materials – the classic is terracotta, but there’s also glazed terracotta, ceramic, wood, plastic, fiberglass, stone, foam, composite, and metal available on the market

Container Plants

Gardeners can choose from a great selection of plants suitable for all seasons, from annuals to perennials to woody stemmed shrubs, even small trees. Plant types range from heat-loving tropical plants to succulents to shade-hardy hostas.

All of these plants come in various heights and spreads. Choose thrillers (tall plants suitable for the center or back of a container), fillers (plants best used to fill in around the thriller), and spillers (trailing plants used to flow over the edge of the container).

Container Garden Culture

Water is important for container gardens as containers dry out quicker than ground plants. Drip irrigation is a good way to ensure the proper amount of water is applied every day.

Container plants like a good potting-type soil, like Miracle Grow moisture retentive mix with a timed-release fertilizer. Gardeners shouldn’t use typical garden soil as it dries out quicker, and tends to shrink and pull away from the sides of the container, allowing water to flow between the container side and the soil instead of nurturing thirsty roots.

Designing a Container Garden

A container garden should be in scale with its surroundings. The smaller the building, the smaller the containers. Accents can be larger, as they’re meant to draw attention to themselves.

Materials should complement the building architecture. Container arrangements can be either formal or informal, and should balance symmetrically or asymmetrically. A design can be as simple as two matching urns filled with matching plants on either side of a door, or three containers of varying heights placed in a grouping, or a collection of dozens of containers of various shapes, sizes and materials, staged at varying heights.

A garden can showcase unique thriller plants, high species with specimen appeal. Pair these with blooming filler plants of complimentary or contrasting colors, and spillers of contrasting textures. The combinations are limited only by a gardener’s imagination.

Want to liven up the garden? Try a well-planned container garden, and brighten the landscape with elegant vessels filled with beautiful plantings that can provide year-round, never-ending interest.

Sources:

1. Container Gardening: 250 Design Ideas and Step-by-Step Techniques; by the editors and contributors of Fine Gardening; 2009, Taunton Press, Inc.
2. The Container Gardener’s Bible; Harrison, Joanna K., and Smith, Miranda; 2009, Rodale