Fast & Easy Decorating for Every Season
Sometimes full-on DIY landscape projects and planting are more than your schedule allows. And not everyone considers themselves a ‘gardener.’ But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a gorgeous porch or patio with personality. An area that defies your busy schedule, says who you are and welcomes you, your family and guests. Busy people deserve beautiful plants, too.
Container Gardening has gotten a lot of press in the last few years as a way for busy people to reap the rewards of gardening. It’s fast, it’s confined to a small, manageable space and it’s affordable. It also gives you a lot of flexibility. You can move your plants, your color and containers wherever you want them: in or out of the sun, in or out of the house or onto the patio for a party. And you can change the whole look of your porch or patio with plants for every season.
Where do you begin? We thought you might ask.
Thriller, Filler & Spiller
We love to encourage creativity when people plant. Seriously, let your inner artist out. But the same way recipes are guides to delicious outcomes in the kitchen, container recipes are guides to beautifully planted pots that will thrive.
It goes without saying that before you follow any container recipe or recommendation, check the plant’s tag. It will tell you what your plant needs, including light requirements (full sun, partial or shade) so you can place your pots and plants where they’ll be happy.
Ok, so you’re ready to plant. We recommend sticking to the Thriller, Filler, Spiller recipe to guide you. It will help you plant a pot with height, texture and interest and you can get creative with your choices. Here’s how to get started:
1) Thriller
Once you have fresh potting soil in your pot, start with your focal point, the star of your container. This is normally the tallest part of your pot, but you can also mound the soil in the center to give it added height. Thrillers are bold and beautiful, they may be surprising, filled with texture and/or the only one of its kind in the pot.
2) Filler
Everyone loves a container that’s full and lush looking. Fillers are low-to-mid-height plants that mound and spread, filling in spaces, holes and leggy thriller stems. They can echo the color and shape of the thriller or be a counterpart (round to the thriller’s spikiness or tiny and delicate to the thrillers large, bold silhouette).
3) Spiller
You can probably guess that these are the tendrils overflowing the sides of the container and softening the edges. You don’t need to reserve a lot of room for spillers, we often wedge them into tiny spots where they make the biggest splash. You can unify the look of the planting by weaving in complimentary colors or leaf styles or you can go for big contrast in the color or shape of the spiller.
People are surprised at what a difference even a lively container or two can make. And when you see what you can do, what you can grow and accomplish in a container, you might feel brave enough to move on to bigger projects.
Watch for our next installment on the best plants to use in container gardens!