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Pots, check! Potting Mix, check! Trowel, check! Gloves, check! Plants, checking….!
Finally we can safely plant our annual outdoor containers. Ogling online our favorite garden center offerings, we put together ideas in our heads and roll! Arriving at the garden center, we see WAY more options and overthink it. Or maybe that’s just me!
Remember the easiest recipe: Thriller, Filler and Spiller
For full sun, I LOVE strawflowers. They just don’t quit on me. There are yellows, oranges, reds and white too. One combo I really like is red strawflower with red and yellow calibrachoa and lantana.
Lantanas are beloved by butterflies. You can mix it up with celosia and grasses that add height and a softer look. Another sun combo I love includes rudbeckia, bloodroot, grasses, dusty miller and gazania. There are multiple yellow and orange shades of rudbeckia flowers. Gazania also offers multiple colors.
I tend to like hot colors to add pop but there is one combo for shade that I created with caladium and coleus along with ivies for the spiller.
There are so many varieties of coleus now along with those created to thrive in sun also!
Another spiller I really like is wire vine but I’ll warn you that it grows.. A LOT. There are a multitude of annual grasses that add so much to any planting. Spikes, tufted grass, Purple Fountain grass, which you can see in one of my pots, and the list goes on. Be sure to check what size they grow to.
Coleus is another group of plants that you need to check what their mature height will reach. Another source for planter recipes is Proven Winners. Here is a link to their website and what parameters I placed. Keep in mind, they’re all Proven Winner plants but the ideas they give can help guide you.
Remember, creativity is in the eye of the beholder! If YOU love it, that’s what counts most. Of course, if you don’t you can always change it. Wahoo, let’s get planting.
