Gardens give you such pleasure. But that doesn't mean the pleasure has to be short lived, especially when you're talking about a container garden. Container gardening is a great way to create a transition between the indoors and the outdoors. It also gives you a few more options for year-round planting. Plan a container garden that you can enjoy through the seasons.
Start with the Containers
You have different options when it comes to selecting containers for your garden. They need to form a sense of cohesion, but they don't necessarily need to match exactly. Indeed, it's better to get different sizes of containers to accommodate all the plants in your year-round color. You'll need at least one big container for your show plants as well as some mid-sized and even small planters. For cohesion, try to stick to a design scheme. For instance, choose containers in a palette or style, such as modern.
Make a Plan
According to Home and Garden TV, the key to successful container gardening is choosing thriller, filler, and spiller plants. This is true whether you're placing them in the same container or in a container tableau. The thriller plants are those with architectural interest, usually larger plants. These serve as both the backdrop and the foundation of your garden. Spiller plants are those that grow over the lip of the container. In between are plants that fill the gap between the thriller and spiller. Decide how you're going to approach aesthetic, meaning which containers get thrillers and spillers and which containers will get all three.
Choose Winter Plants
Winter is the hardest month for gardening. Therefore, you'll want to dedicate at least one thriller to this season. Euonymus, a staff vine, shows year-round variegated leaves that can serve as a thriller plant in one of your containers. Any kind of evergreen works well, too. Snow-drop flowers bloom in late winter—these can serve as one of your filler plants. Winter pansies are another filler option. Glacier ivy are good spiller plants for winter interest.
Select for Other Seasons
Your winter-loving plants are a good foundation, but you don't want to neglect the other seasons. Golden creeping Jenny is a good spiller plant that does well in containers, as is heauchera. Flowering kale and cabbage are attractive filler plants. For showy color, consider snapdragons, calendula, florist's chrysanthemum, and nemesia. Any of these work well as either thrillers or fillers. Opt for nursery plants so you can plan out your containers visually.
A well-planned container garden can provide year-round beauty. Talk to a company such as Bob Williams Nursery Inc. for more information.
