Containers are an incredible way to inject colour into our gardens while keeping your designs flexible and portable. When creating seasonal pots these designs can be temporary which allows you to really let your hair down and experiment. Whereas with established borders the pressure may be on to create a more permanent all-year-round display. Have fun with planting your containers with flair and try out some unusual combinations.
Dramatic displays
Planting up a pot is a little like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. Let your imagination run wild with dynamic planting combinations. Choose plants with different colour, texture, size and shaped foliage to create drama.
Go bold. It can be tempting to play it safe with a muted colour palette but why not be brave and try contrasting primary colours with calm green hues to create an eye-catching container.
Utilise height. Use all aspects of your pot from trailing down the sides to exploiting the vertical. Select leafy, cascading foliage like variegated ivy, silver nickel vine (Dichondra argentea ‘Silver Falls’) or creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) contrasted by tall climbers; these can be anything from sweet peas and clematis to black-eye Susan (Thunbergia alata) or fill with the fabulous flower spikes of angelonia, astrantia, saliva and penstemon underplanting with low-growing groundcover plants like Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus).
Fabulous foliage
Tropicals can be used as a flamboyant, architectural centre piece for containers. Banana plants (Musa basjoo) and canna will add an exotic vibe; their large striking foliage can be underplanted with exciting pops of leafy colour like coleus or heuchera or contrast these arching leaves with the upright stems of clump-forming umbrella bamboo (Fargesia murielae).
Add texture, movement and long arching stems by introducing grasses to your designs. Fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum) has tactile fluffy seed heads or Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) softly wafts in a breeze.
Seek out silver-coloured foliage. Plants native to arid regions whether hot Mediterranean climes or coastal dry winds have evolved to adapt to their challenging environments; hairy or waxy silver foliage protects against losing excessive amounts of water and reflects the sun. These drought tolerant plants are apt choices for summer containers and many also boast fabulous flowers. Look out for silverbush (Convolvulus cneorum), silver ragwort (Senecio cineraria ‘Silver Dust’), curry plant (Helichrysum italicum) and cotton lavender (Santolina chamaecyparissus).
Plant spiky sea holly (Eryngium) and/or try the New Zealand native Brachyglottis and Indian native sea cabbage (Senecio candidans ‘Angel Wings’).
Create a kaleidoscope of colour
Combine tropical foliage with vivid colour. The giant leaves of the banana plant make a perfect companion to the bright orange flowerheads of dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’, ‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘Sylvia’ or golden rudbeckia ‘Little Goldstar’.
Combine the tall stems of Verbena bonariensis and Cosmos bipinnatus with colourful petunia, marguerite daisies (Argyranthemum frutescens), salvias, lavender and astrantia. All these plants are low-maintenance and produce a long-lasting display.
Or surround the compact buddleja ‘Buzz’ series, which will have the local pollinators literally buzzing, with a pop of pink, white or yellow from osteospermum ‘Margarita’ or duel coloured ‘Serenity’ each producing a mass of flowers that are compact, neat and long-lasting.
Pick the right pot
There are no set rules for containers but choosing the right pot for your display is as relevant as choosing the right plants. Size, shape and material choices can make all the difference in getting the look you want.
Go large. Large pots are a dramatic statement and mean you can plant more and be bold with colour. Pots do not have to be natural tones; they can be any colour of the rainbow to compliment your colour scheme.
Why not repurpose objects you have around the house or garden. Do you have a discarded chimney pot or Belfast sink? Failing that rummage round reclamation centres or charity shops for star finds like vintage terracotta pots.
Corten steel is an attractive on-trend material giving the appearance of weathered rust but screams opulence. Metal, wooden and glazed containers can provide the ideal backdrop to planting schemes; look out for old storage containers or galvanised troughs.
Square, round or oblong, choose the container shape that is right for your space and a style to suit you whether contemporary or traditional. And don’t be afraid to group pots together and repeat design schemes; often plants displayed en masse look as dramatic as one large feature plant.
Top Tips for Success
Think about where your container is going to be situated and then choose plants that thrive in that environment, whether that is in full sun, shade, dry or boggy conditions – remember you could even make a colourful container garden pond!
Drainage is one of the most important things to consider when planting containers. Most plants detest soggy roots so unless you are using bog plants bad drainage will drastically reduce your container plant’s life span so ensure the base of your pot has drainage holes to allow water to freely run through it and out of the bottom.
New research shows it may be detrimental to line the base of your container with gravel as it can cause water to sit above the gravel line, actually encouraging water to sit in the pot base and rot the plant roots, a carefully placed stone in the base can prevent the drainage hole getting blocked with compost.
Watering is always a balance between too much water and too little; in autumn and winter we worry about waterlogging but we want to retain water in periods of drought!
Be mindful of your growing medium. Heavy clay may be too efficient at holding water within the container which then may become stagnant so ideally use a free-draining peat-free compost and mix with horticultural grit, sand or pumice to create air spaces within the soil.
Mulch and top dress your pot with bark or small stones, not only does this look good but it will keep water from sitting around the base of stems which could cause them to rot.
Using large pots will allow space for plants to grow and make way for more dramatic larger plants. Larger pots also do not dry out so quickly as small as they contain more soil.
Think about viewing your pots from all angles, the sides, above and even 360.
When planting up pots give all your new plants the best start by dunking them in water before transplanting to your feature container, this way the roots will be fully saturated before going to their new home.
