Container garden design can be intimidating for beginners, but it’s not difficult once you learn the basics. In this post, I will show you how to arrange plants so you can create stunning summer flower pots every time.
Container gardening is fun, and a great way to add beauty and color anywhere you want. But arranging plants in pots, and putting together good combos is very difficult for beginners.
But don’t feel intimidated, designing and putting together stunning container gardens is easier than you think!
Below I’m going to walk you through it all step by step, with lots of tips and ideas. In the end, you’ll have the knowledge and confidence you need to get started.
Planning Your Container Gardens
Before you go shopping for container plants, take some time to think about a few things. Location, the container, desired look and feel, size, proportion, and colors are all important factors for successful container garden design.
Step 1: Location – The first thing to think about is where your containers will be sitting. Will they be in full sun, shade, or somewhere in between. Knowing the conditions and sun exposure of the area will really help to narrow down your plant options.
Step 2: Container – Always make sure the container you use has drainage holes. Putting rocks or other fillers in the bottom will not keep them from filling with water.
Step 3: Look & feel – How do you want your containers to look? It really helps to think about the mood you want to create in the chosen space.
Do you want eye-popping arrangements that stand out, or something a little more subtle and calming? Or are you looking to design a container garden for a specific season or holiday?
Step 4: Size & proportion – For beginners, it’s a good idea to match the size and proportion of the container to the plants you want to use.
Arranging short plants in large pots can work, but many times they end up looking out of place. On the flip side, super tall plants will look awkward and clumsy in a small container.
Step 5: Colors – There’s really no hard and fast rule here, and often times color combos come down to personal preference and the mood you’re trying to create.
If you like a lot of color, use a bright pot, and mix in plants with contrasting colors to really add pop. If subtle is more your style, then choose plants with muted colors, or ones that are the same or similar to each other and the container.
Related Post: 17 Top Container Garden Flowers For Stunning Summer Pots
Designing Your Outdoor Pots & Containers
To make this really simple, you can use the popular container garden design technique – thrillers, fillers, and spillers.
You’ve probably heard the term, but maybe you’re not familiar with what it all means. So below I will break it down for you, and explain exactly how it works.
Thrillers
You can think of the “thriller” as your focus plant. This will be the tallest one, and should command attention.
A good rule of thumb is that your thriller should be 1 to 1.5 times the height of the pot, but never more than twice as tall.
Remember, this is your superstar, so you want to find a large, showy plant. Canna lilies, elephant ears, ornamental grasses, banana plants, and penstemon are all great examples.
Fillers
As the name suggests, “filler” plants will fill up the middle area of your container (I like to think of it as filling in the gaps).
Look for plants that are shorter than your thriller, and have a wide or sprawling growth habit.
It doesn’t matter if you choose your fillers before your thriller plant, or the other way around. Just make sure that your fillers are shorter than your thriller so that one can really stand out.
I like to keep my fillers about half the height of my focal plant, give or take. Examples of good ones are geraniums, begonias, verbena, osteospermum, coleus, and vincas.
Spillers
The “spillers” are trailing or vining plants that will spill over the top of the container, growing long and full. Sometimes they’ll even be long enough to vine all the way to the ground.
Your trailing plants don’t have to grow all the way down to the ground, and sometimes you don’t want them to cover up your beautiful flower pots.
So try to visualize the look of the mature plants before choosing your spillers. Plants like sweet potato vine, creeping jenny, asparagus fern, calibrachoa, and petunias make nice spiller plants.
How To Design A Flower Container
Now that you understand the basic container garden design principles, let’s talk about how to arrange plants in pots. The way you choose to place them will depend on how the container is positioned.
You have two basic options: 1. the pot will be viewed from all sides, 2. you won’t be able to see that back of it.
1. Container viewed from all sides – If you’ll be able to walk around the container and view it from all sides, then your thriller plant should go in the center, with your fillers and spillers surrounding it on all sides.
2. The back of the container isn’t visible – In this case, the thriller should go in the back, and you should fill in around the sides and front of the pot with fillers and spillers.
Related Post:
How Many Plants Per Container?
The exact number of plants you should use per container will depend on the size of both the pot and the plants. I think it probably goes without saying that you’ll need more plant in a larger pot vs a smaller one.
First off, you should plant to use at least one of each type of plant (thriller, filler and spiller) per container, and at least 2 of the other types.
As a general guideline, I tend to use 1-2 thriller plants, 3-4 fillers, and 2-4 spillers in large pots. For smaller containers, it’s best to stick with one thriller, 2-3 fillers, and 1-2 spillers.
Designing container gardens is fun, and you’ll be able to experiment up with lot of great combos as you gain experience. It doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming. Just remember to use “thrillers, fillers and spillers”, and you’ll be good to go.
More Posts About Container Gardening
- How To Clean Terracotta Pots (In 3 Easy Steps!)
- Choosing The Best Potting Soil Mix For Container Gardening
Share your container garden design tips in the comments section below.
