Container Design Simplified

Whenever I see a fantastic container combo that stops me in my tracks, I study it and visually take it apart to figure out how a designer came up with the recipe. Each designer has their own way of putting together colors, textures, and styles, to come up with a winning formula, so I thought I would reveal my techniques. Some combos are serendipity but more than likely, I obsess and fiddle with a container until I come up with something that satisfies me. Go to Containers With Pizzazz to see some examples of Wow containers.

Winning Combos

Have you ever taken a swatch of fabric to a wallpaper or paint store to match the colors? Or been inspired by colors found in nature? I love tropical bird colors, like parrots and peacocks and when I see something l like, I take a photo and hope to duplicate it to come up with a winning combination.

This parrot inspired me to come up with containers reflecting these colors

Parrot Design

Signature Plants & Containers

My starting point is to find that signature plant. This means a plant that I love and want to build on the colors and textures of the special plant I have chosen. The combo below started with the Flap Jack Succulent, also known as paddle plant (Kalanchoe thyrsiflora) which has a ruby-red coloration. Picking up that red color from the flapjack plant with the ‘Red Head” Coleus was my next step and then I picked a lime Coleus to add contrast. Follow that with the rest of the plants, choosing something that contrasts well with the color combination.

Mix and matching colors at the nursery; here I was going for shades of pink with a limey yellow accent

Here I started with this fabulous gold and green bromeliad and starting to add purple tones; this is a partial shade container

I started with the Coleus plant and worked from there with Rita’s Gold Fern and a trailing begonia

Likewise, if you have a special container and want to work off of that, then choose your plants to match and/or contrast. My favorite color containers are orange and blue. Both colors seem to set off plants with a big boost. But if your plants are really striking, you might want to go with a container that is an earth tone color and doesn’t dominate.

Drilling holes in an old bundt pan made this a perfect container to use orange hued plants

A great container is set off by the trailer — A great container is set off by the Vinca trailer; very few flowers but good foliage choices makes this shade container stand out

Signature container makes these succulents shine

The signature plant used here is Croton and that is all you need

Signature plant used here is begonia vine

Light Requirements

Choosing each plant was also predicated on similar light requirements. Below, I was designing a container for partial shade so made sure that I used plants that needed about 5 hours of sunlight or less. I spread the plants out in a carrying crate that I transported them in and picked the ones that worked.

Mix and matching colors; Lime – Rita’s Gold Fern – is one of my favorites

Spring container with glass ball, frizzle sizzle pansy, alyssum, trailing orange snapdragon, and orange pansy

Another technique I use is to pair bold gigantic leaves with fine foliage. It always works!

What makes this combo works, is the large Elephant Ear foliage

The bold leaves of the Colocasia and the begonia are contrasted with the fine frilly Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’

When you have a bold plant such as this Honeybush, Melianthus, you just need one other contrasting plant

Mix & Match

Usually when I arrange a container, I pick out more than enough plants that meld well with the signature plant. Once I am at the job site I like to pick and choose from my selections to fit the container size. Extras are used for different containers to make other combinations.

For early spring, I laid out my plants that I collected and picked some for a container

I rejected about 10 other plants before coming up with this

Accessories

We all love our flowers, but think about other things that you can add that make a container special- glass balls, sticks, drift wood, and statues. Accessories can calm down a container with a lot of flowers, and give the eyes a place to rest.