Easy Container Garden Combinations

Hello everyone this week I am sharing a few easy Container Garden combinations that do not disappoint, perfect for your patio or front porch!

Spring and summer planting season is one of my favorite times of the year, I feel like I can actually pay back the earth in some small way for letting me live here, or at least that is how I like to think of it. There are so many great reasons to spruce up your yard, or patio to make it bright pretty and cheerful, if not for yourself, for your community.

Today my focus is going to be on container planting, since not everyone has a yard or a green thumb. Container plants are perfect for those that live in the city or country and are the quickest and easiest way to add a little bit of seasonal color, curb appeal and decor to your home. They take very little effort and maintenance, so if landscaping is not your thing this is an easy way to make your home instantly prettier. It also is pretty much fool proof and can easily be changed out with the season so if you are commitment phobic or do not have the ability to make decisions easily this project is for you.There are many types of container gardens you can easily plant ,like this lovely herb garden seen above which can be housed in a kitchen or on a patio. This type of container garden will enhance your cooking and cocktail creations and will not take up much space at all. Here we have 5 types of popular herbs planted into a window side garden for easy kitchen snipping. You can check out my Outdoor Vertical Herb Garden DIY here.  Maybe you are lucky enough to have a small porch or patio that you can add a great double basket variety like the model seen here, which will provide you a lot of bang for your buck. Keep in mind the amount of sunlight that your patio will receive throughout the day and purchase plants accordingly. Some nice colorful shade plants, like this trailing coleus that will grow throughout the spring and summer, can add a lot of interest to your space.  Also succulents will pair nicely in a container with these plants too, or they can be placed into separate specimen planters and nestled inside of your containers to create a stacked look for visual interest. Another fun tip is you can add a lime style of paint wash to a basic clay pot to give it an aged rustic patina to look like these.

Another common place for container planters is as a growing table centerpiece. You can see how I created this Umbrella Container in my DIY here. This is the perfect way to always have fresh flowers on your outdoor patio table. Depending on where your table is located will depend on your variety, I opted for full sun loving Zinnas, hearty Lantana, Dahlias, Salvia, and Vinca. All in bright colorful tones for summer fun in the sun.  Another thing you will hear a lot about is adding thriller, fillers, and spillers. This is a common term for the shapes of the plants and how they will grow in the containers. This is an easy way for you to remember what to buy when you are at the store looking at all the pretty things, but don’t think that you have to have them all in every container, you can do your own thing too.  Below are trailing petunias so they would be spillers, since they also spread and bloom, they can also be considered a filler as well. These are perfect for hanging baskets, of tall pediments you want to have draping dramatic foliage trailing off.n Always remember to dead head your petunias to encourage contestant blooming throughout the season. One of my favorite brands for massive blooms are the “wave” petunias, in the pink pots at your local garden centers, which will bloom all summer long, with no disappointment.

I should honestly have a thriller in these containers, but I do not, it would be a taller eye catching item like a grass, or focal bush or even small tree like a lemon or lime tree would be great. As you can see below the blood glass, would be considered a perfect thriller, paired with a spiller/filler like lantana, which will spread as the season moves forward.

This container below is missing a spiller and is all thrillers with red salvia and has a focal filler with the gazing ball, but I need to add in either a green ivy, lime green creeping jenny, sedum, or purple sweet potato vine. Which one do you think? I was leaning toward the purple sweet potato vine if I could find it, but that is the other part of the equation, buy what looks pretty and what is in season. A cool trick for sweet potato vine is to just cut the end off of a sweet potato and bury it into you soil, and voile instant vine in a few weeks. In my experience they usually grow in a lime green color but you might get lucky with a purple. Do not get fixated on an idea of a specific plant because it quite possible may not have been grown for that particular year and you end up going without it. Which is fine you can see the salvia grew in and took over for the most part anyways, and I never actually found that purple sweet potato vine I dreamed up in my head.  As you can see in years past I have put many types of annuals in this very same urn, and they vary for year to year based on what looks pretty and healthy, and is available. I also love to use herbs mixed in like rosemary or pineapple sage which has really pretty red blooms and attracts butterflies like crazy. Keep in mind is get really big so make sure you place it spot that can accommodate a tall lanky plant.This year I planted a mix of marigolds, pineapple sage, a hummingbird favorite, and begonias. Which just goes to show you that you can mix it up from year to year to give your yard a fresh and fun facelift, and herb are always a nice way to add in different textures which you can also clip for culinary purposes as well. That reminds me, marigolds are great if you have a mosquito issue, they are a natural repellent. Marigolds are great for keeping away mosquitos, so if you are having an issue with a lot of mosquitos or live near creeks or water keep this annual in mind for it’s natural ability to repeal those bloodsuckers. For that very reason they are always a great choice to add into containers. A few others natural mosquito repellent plants are:

• Citronella
• Lavender
• Nasturtiums
• Rosemary
• Mint
• Basil

You may have noticed that I have a mix of marigolds and rosemary in these patio containers. Not only will that help to deter the mosquitoes around my fireplace, but I can also use the rosemary for culinary purposes as well. Just a tip if you have not planted rosemary or mint before they are both very vivacious and will take over where you put them, so contains are recommended to keep them in check. I had several rosemary hedges at my previous home.Another container tip I have is to go with flow as the seasons change. What I mean is, you may find that while some of the plants you choose do well like my Wave petunias seen here in the above picture, as the summer wore on the lamb’s ear melted in the summer heat and began to die off. Be sure to dead head your plants to promote new growth , you can just pinch off the dead piece of snip it off with some gardening shears. Knowing that would happen I planted lime green sweet potato vine, which happily grew into those spots and took over where the lambs ear left off. While the Wave petunias just kept going right on into the fall with just a little dead heading, meaning to remove the dead blossoms. If that sounds like more work than you are willing to put into your containers, you may want to consider doing a perennial container. I planted these containers autumn 3 years ago, they now reside on the side of my home flanking a basement door. They come back every spring with Purple Liatris, Black Eyed Susan’s and the Pink Passionate Gaura. I have since added in rosemary plants for some evergreen year-round. Talk about your easy gardening, this is the lazy man’s potted plant right here!

Want to see more great gardening ideas and tips? Check out my other fun garden posts here:

Growing Your Own Perfect Peonies

Growing a Shady Fern Garden

Creating a Four Seasons Garden

Planting a Perennial Garden

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Jen @ JENRON DESIGNS