One of my favorite topics as a garden designer is the container garden.
Who does not love a container filled with colors and flowers, and overflowing with happiness and exuberance?
I was gathering some ideas of beautiful container garden designs, and just could not stop!
The best part is: we can recreate each of these stunning container garden designs.
Get ready for some botanical Latin and let’s decode these magic recipes!
This will be part one of our container garden series, which are plantings for sunny locations. In a few weeks I will share with you some amazing shade gardens.
There is an magic formula in almost all these beautiful container gardens: Thriller + Filler + Spiller.
The ” thriller” is usually a big focal point plant in the center. The “fillers” are secondary plants that make the planting look full and vibrant. The “spillers” are plants that offer added dimension and interest by spilling over the containers.
1 & 2. Sculptural center plants.
The sculptural forms and foliage of the “thriller” plants in these containers offers a structure for all the filling and spilling plants.
Recipe 1: Canna ‘Australia’, Canna ‘Tropicanna Gold’, Infinity Orange New Guinea Impatiens, ‘Hot Shot’ Orange portulaca, Begonia boliviensis, ‘Orange Marmalade’ Crossandra, Sweet Caroline Bronze Sweet Potato Vine.
Recipe 2: Dracaena or African Iris (center spike), Pink Geranium, Mixed color Trailing Petunias, green Sweet Potato Vine.
3 & 4. Have your container garden and eat it too.
Many edible plants have gorgeous and colorful foliage, plus delicious tastes! Here are two great examples of how edibles can be mixed with ornamental plants.
Recipe 3: Red Swiss Chard, Helleborus ‘Sunmarble’, Heuchera, Fern
Recipe 4: Artichoke, Kale, Light pink Verbena, Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’, White Petunia
Related post: The easiest way to grow indoor plants – in water!
Related post: The easiest way to grow indoor plants – in water!
5 & 6. A star trailing plant
Talking about spilling over, Dichondra is an easy to grow plant that just spills, and spills, and spills…
Recipe 5: Mexican Feather grass, Orange Gazania, Dichondra repens, Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’
Recipe 6: Succulents- Kalanchoe ‘Fantastic’, Sedums, Echeverias, Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’
7 & 8. One Color Magic
A stunning container garden does not have to have all the colors of a rainbow. Sometimes variations of one color, such as the yellows or burgundy colors below, can look drop-dead-gorgeous.
Recipe 7: Durango Dahlia, Great Balls of Fire White Ivy Leaf Geranium, Yellow Petunia, Bidens ferulifolia ‘Bidy Gonzales‘
Recipe 8: Cordyline fruticosa ( Ti Plant ), Burgundy Petunia
I never know what to plant with each other to make some look as beautiful as your containers look. Now I can copy really well!
I can’t wait for the warmer weather to return. Thinking about gardening makes me happy. I love the silver falls. You offer some great ideas.
beautifullll. I live in an apartment so I need to get creative with my gardening.
Thank you for sharing this! I needed a little color in my life plus your choices are stunning!
These container gardens are absolutely gorgeous! I love them all! Pinning to save for when it gets warmer.
Ahh, this is making me want spring and summer so bad!! Gorgeous!
I am pinning this for spring. Way too cold and snowy here now, but I always sturggle to make them look balanced.
These are so beautiful! I have to admit that I buy plants for container gardens every year…..then they die within a few days. My neighbor though? Hers thrive and last all spring and summer long.
These are all so gorgeous! Mu husband has the green thumb in the family. I think I will show these to him so that he can use these ideas!
Happy New Year Ananda.
OMG! LOVE. LOVE, LOVE these containers.
I can’t decide which one to start with. But love the mix of herbs and flowers. I’ve not tried this before. Will plant some now.
Thank you for this treat. xx
I saw thei dea of planting vegetables among the flowers at the Arboretum at PSU last summer. I love it!
OMG !!!! Love this site. I have lots of planters and every yr. I have to make a decision on what flowers to put in them. They certainly dont look as beautiful as these!!! now I can go flower shopping and put together an arrangement. Thank you sooooo much !!! The only thing is I wish you had an icon so i could print these up.
thank you deb! you can copy and paste the text and images into a word document and print it! 🙂
I love these colorful floral arrangements plus the recipes for creating them! I’m going to take the info along to several nurseries to fulfill the beautiful arrangements you have posted! Thank you soooooo much!
have a great time at the nurseries judy!! =)
Thank you for sharing these lovely container ideas. Thay are both beautiful and inspirational. Some of my most beautiful creations are things that are left over, and put in unusual or extra containers. I do have to say, that since my discovery of “potato vines” I put them everywhere, and find they just make a window box or container. When I pull them out in the fall, I have potatos on them. Does anyone else ?? Are they edible?? Thanks again!!
sweet potato vines are related to the edible kinds, but i read they do not taste very good! skip them! =)
أعمال رائعة ونتمنى أن تكون هناك طريقة شرح مبسطة حتي يستفيد الجميع. مع خالص إعجابي
Beautiful container combinations.
I am interested in mediterranean plant combinations similar to the one with rosemary and lobellia. Maybe, Salvia officinalis with Helichrysum petiolare or Pelargonium graveolens with Thymus vulgaris.
Do bear in mind that lilies can kill cats! The pollen and water that had lilies in it, al parts of the plants can kill cats!