As a designer, I create many containers for people and try to do something different each time. There isn’t a formula that I use over and over because each situation is different, and the plant I want might not be available. That means I might try something a bit different that I don’t normally use and the result frequently surprises me by being better. I browse a lot of nurseries to find unexpected and wonderful combos.

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.

Choosing the Right Focal Plants

There are always new plants to try and some work and some I end up disappointed with.  One that caught my eye was Salvia Skyscraper which comes in orange and purple and I was hooked. Performing very well in a container, the hummingbirds feast on this.

Your focal plant is the one that you will build your container around. Pick a good one and the few plants that pair with it will be easy.

I ordered  a half dozen of each and I know they will make spectacular focal points in many containers, including my own. Monrovia introduced  ‘Skyscraper’ a few years ago and describes it on their website;  “A true breakthrough in breeding, with beautiful coral-colored blooms on tall, sturdy stems that will enliven any patio or garden bed. This prolific bloomer has flower power from late spring until fall. Easy care, durable, water-wise, and tolerates summer heat”. I found this to be true and will be using this again.

Since this is a salvia, I guessed that it is also deer resistant as salvias are the one plant I can count on that deer leave alone. Sure enough, deer didn’t touch it.

When I was picking up my order at the nursery that included a bunch of the skyscrapers, one of the growers exclaimed , “You will be fighting off the hummingbirds with that one!”  the butterflies love it too! Orange is one of my favorite flower colors to use. Many people are afraid of it but it really adds some zing to any container combo.

Shade

For shade, the best technique is to showcase your foliage colors. Yes, flowers are important in the design, but foliage makes your container stand out from the rest. Caladiums are a very useful foliage plant as they come in an array of colors. Caladiums will languish if there is a bit of chill in the air, so make sure the chilly weather (40 degrees or below) is gone before creating with Caladiums. Sometimes Caladiums will flop in a container and you need to prop them up a bit with a stake. Once they get going though they should behave.

Don’t forget to pot out your houseplants in containers. So many of them  are shade lovers with colorful foliage, that I use every houseplant that I have as a combination in containers.

Actually, I prefer doing shade containers because of the variety of foliage that you can play with. The most commonly used flowers for shade are begonias, impatiens, torenia, coral bells, fuchsia, and lobelia. By far the most useful are the begonias, as they come in trailing, hanging, upright, tuberous, rex, etc. But one thing to remember for begonias, is they like it on the dry side. Any wet feet, and the plant will stop blooming and rot. So, be careful in planting it with other water loving plants.

Sun

For sun containers, chose very large pots so that your plants don’t dry out as quickly. I don’t want to be a water slave to a pot that wilts in the heat!

Cement or heavy ceramic/pottery containers will keep your soil better insulated than plastic, but are much heavier, so create your container where it will remain. Also, limiting the variety of plants simplifies and makes the design cleaner and more restful. You won’t end up with a ‘busy’ pot.

Resist stuffing in too many plants ( I am a big offender of this!) because the plants will fight it out with the most aggressive becoming dominant and the others will disappear. You can help this out by pinching and cutting back the ‘thugs’. Coleus is a big offender of this. I am constantly pinching coleus back to remain small and in scale with the container.

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. I want to do a container with parrot colors! The problem is coming up with a cobalt blue as I can’t think of many annuals in that particular color. The closest plant would be a delphinium, a perennial,  but they don’t last long and we have trouble growing them here in the mid-Atlantic as it gets too hot. Yellow and orange are easy-peasey! I need to source a good blue.

Mechanics

Here are pointers to keep your container healthy and beautiful all season long.

1.  Make sure there is sufficient drainage by elevating your container with pot feet and allowing large enough holes in the bottom. The larger the container the more holes are needed.
2. Remove the top 6 inches of soil when creating a container from a pot used before and refresh the soil with new. Make sure the drainage holes are unclogged by using a metal rod to pierce through any old root masses.
3. Fertilize regularly with a liquid fertilizer and pinch back your plants as they grow to make them fuller and avoid spindly stems.
4. If you have a very large container, you can fill the bottom third with empty nursery pots (maybe the ones your plants came in), place a piece of landscape cloth on top and fill the rest with soil.
5. Always use potting soil with a good mix of compost. Never use garden soil as it will compact too much.
6. Tilt the plants along the edge of the container towards the rim when planting, as this will encourage the plant to cascade downwards.
7. Split up the root ball with a trowel to loosen the roots before planting.

 

 

Originally published in 2023, updated April 2024