Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: The ‘illers of container planting
We’re staring down Memorial weekend! WAHOO! Gardeners mean business now. We are about to plant with abandon!!!
That also means meandering down aisles of flowers and plants, taking hours to figure out what to put in containers! Or maybe that’s just me! If you get plant-love overload at your local nursery, it can make it difficult to choose plants! There are some basic rules to follow that will help you create that eye-popper every time.
Thriller – big, bold and beautiful. This plant is the tallest and is your main accent. Could be outstanding foliage, fantastic flowers or both. btw, you can cut the flowers off of coleus… they don’t really add much!
Filler – complimentary to your thriller, these plants are generally smaller flowers that can be monochromatic or contrasting flowers.
Spiller – the trailing plants that tumble over your container to soften it. Great trailers include sweet potato vines, vincas and ivies.
First rule, make sure you choose plants that like the same conditions, in particular sun/shade preferences. Watering requirements are not quite as critical in containers.
Here’s a recipe I created for a 14 inch pot at Wagners Greenhouse in Minneapolis:
1 plant Purple Millet, 2 orange (purple eye) Osteospermum, 1 purple Osteospermum, 1 purple sweet potato vine, 1 Swedish Ivy and 1 ‘White Nancy’ lamium (which is a perennial here and can be planted in the ground this Fall).
Random containers for fun, some first planted, some gone nuts!
