Color, texture, form. When it comes to successful container garden design, these three simple words can be enough to send nonprofessionals into panic mode. But there’s really nothing to be afraid of. While gardening is an art form, you don’t need to be a green-thumbed Monet to achieve great design success. But the more thought you do put into the combination of these three key elements, the more lovely your container garden will be.
When color, texture and form come together, it makes for a incredible planting.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Foliage plants grow with unique forms, colors and heights. Mixing these attributes in a single pot offers variety and interest.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Plants can contrast with or complement their containers. In this example, unusual repurposed containers (all made of industrial drain pipe but cut in different lengths) accent a grouping of succulents with various textures but similar forms.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Sticking to warm-colored hues like blues and purples makes for a charming container garden design.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
You can combine all kinds of plant forms in a single miniature garden to striking effect. Just be sure to combine plants that have similar watering and maintenance needs.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Image Point
Use different foliage textures – including the relative gloss of each plant’s leaves – to play with depth perception in a container planting.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
Color
Finding the right color blends isn’t difficult – especially with the right tools. An artist’s color wheel can help you identify the basic color families. Staying within these groups – hot (red, yellow and orange) or cool (blue, violet and green) – when choosing flowers and foliage is a simple, attractive approach that creates visual harmony throughout a garden. Combining the two families can be also be effective in small spaces, as can adding a singular burst of color to add focus or accent to a garden. (Combining bright hues with pastels is another step up, but it generally works only when flower or plant shapes and forms are similar.)
To develop your own color sense, start with something simple, like a containerized collection of flowers or foliage in your favorite hue. This time-honored approach won’t disappoint when you behold a sea of red, blue or yellow bursting forth from your garden and containers. If you’re happy with that result, then try combining shades of the same color, such as lavender with plum purple or jade with shamrock green. From there, start moving around the color wheel and experiment (keeping in mind that it’s easy to get a little carried away).
Texture
If you’ve spent any time around plants, you’ve certainly noticed the delightful range of foliage size, textures and shapes. And texture becomes even more important with container gardens because they’re often grown so close to seating areas and major walkways.
It helps to understand a few texture basics so you know how to best combine them for the greatest effect: Plants are generally categorized as having fine texture (typified by small, delicate or fine leaves and flowers) or coarse texture (having large, long and bold growth). As a general rule, fine-textured plants are best brought to the front so that their structure can be more appreciated, while large and coarse-leaved plants work best as backdrops because their lines and dimensions offer visibility from a distance, and their deep colors deliver even coverage.
Use texture to play with depth and perspective: Placing a broad- or coarse-leaved plant in front of taller, fine-textured foliage gives the illusion of depth. The opposite arrangement, such as a bed of wild grasses fronting a broad-frond fern, will make your garden seem shallower.
Contrasting various textures, such as framing a fine-textured Japanese maple with an ornamental rhubarb or leopard plant, will draw attention to the tree. But if you blend similar textures, the focus will be lost or concentrated only on the flowers or fruit. The sheen of a leaf also works into its texture. Fuzzy, matte and dull leaves tend to recede visually, while glossier foliage reflects light, highlighting a plant and its blooms or yield.
If you’re arranging small, individually potted plants, create an attractive blend by making subtle transitions from the finest foliage, like from threadleaf cypress, to the broader varieties, such as hosta or lamb’s ear, with medium-textured plants in between. Arranging your containers at different heights will expose as much foliage as possible.
Form
When it comes to attractive garden design, blending plant forms and proportions goes hand in hand with texture and color. Mixing and contrasting plant forms provides dimension and draws attention to each plant, allowing it to be seen. For container garden design, this means thinking about what kind of plant you want to put into what kind of pot for a specific effect: Trees or shrubs in round pots, for example, lends a domed or oval effect, while trailers in round hanging planters creates a conical profile. And upright plants in a square or rectangular vessel imparts a more formal look.
The architectural elements of where plants are placed will help shape your choices. Round containers contrast nicely with straight vertical and horizontal lines such as those found in an entryway, stairs or straight sidewalk. Square and rectangular containers work well to set off a free-flowing curved seat or circular flowering border.
Don’t forget to consider proportion as well – the size and scale of your plantings in relation to other plants and their containers. While it might sound complex, this doesn’t involve anything more than planting tall plants in large containers, low-lying plants in small containers and placing both in areas where they’ll complement their surroundings without getting lost. (It’s also possible to achieve dramatic effects by breaking the general rule with contrasting combinations of plants and containers, such as topping a tall concrete urn with a low-lying trailer. But this technique requires a good design eye and should be used sparingly.)
You don’t need to be a professional to create a lovely container garden design. By putting a little thought into color, texture and form, your potted plants will be beautifully pleasing – whether they’re simple in hue and form or an explosion of color and texture.
