Decorating with container plants is an easy and highly noticeable way to express your personal style, and it fits well with every taste and skill level. With all kinds of plants and pots (for indoors and out), the possibilities are endless! You can even take container planting a step further by adding your own decorative touches to a container or by mixing different types of plants in unique combinations of colors and textures that express your artistic style.
Potting a cluster of containers in similar planters focuses your attention on the plants instead of the pots.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
A pair of potted trees stands guard at the front entrance to a home, complementing the formality and symmetry of the architecture, while adding life and color to the scene.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
And one of the best parts of container gardening is that you can tinker with your arrangements whenever you feel the urge – much more easily than you can with plantings in an open garden. Mixing, matching, swapping or relocating pots are all options for your container garden.
When it comes to creating a successful arrangement, however, there are some basic design rules to keep in mind. First, containers look best when grouped in odd-number patterns, such as in threes, with one large container anchoring two smaller ones in a triangular form.
Such trio arrangements can include containers of different shapes and materials, but be aware that this will make for statements that are more about the containers than the plants they hold. On the other hand, grouping containers made from similar materials, such as terra-cotta or wood, will focus more attention on your plantings. You can add interest by choosing containers cut from the same cloth, so to speak, but of different styles, colors or textures.
A happy medium – and one that attracts attention to both pots and plants – is to use similar species in different types of planters. This also works for a symmetrical arrangement (like a pair of box planters, or cone-shaped pots or urns flanking a long, low-slung planter). Such formality is best suited to architecture of a similar symmetry and works best with English Tudor, Colonial, French mansard, Georgian and other formal home designs.
Planting different species in matching containers gives a more casual effect. The pots get lost in the foliage and flowers, giving them a backdrop rather than standing on their own. This planting style fits well with ranch, Spanish, Victorian and similar architectural styles.
If your goal combines aesthetics with practicality, such as lining a path or walkway to lead folks to your home’s entry or a particular garden location, use identical containers. Your imagination can run wild with plantings here. Create an arrangement with short plants graduating to tall, use flowers that present a spectrum of color, or simply establish a glorious expanse of your all-time favorites. However you plant it, a container garden is a wonderful way to lead guests anywhere in and around your home.
If you’re not quite sure how to get started in container gardening, it’s a good idea to take a simple route: Choose compatible planters with similar color tones. Take the steps shown in the following photos and described in their captions to learn how to use tall and short plants to create a lovely unified arrangement. Then plant on!
Arranging Containers
Container Arranging - Step 1
To create a pleasing arrangement of planters, set them all in the area where the group will stand. Note where the plants seem to run together or stand distinctly apart.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
Container Arranging - Step 2
Build a background tier with the tallest plants. Swap containers until the row is pleasing and full. While it’s traditional that this tier be arranged with the tallest in the center descending outward, experiment with other choices, such as having two peaks between lower plants or a U-shaped pattern.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
Container Arranging - Step 3
Using medium-height plants, construct a second row using their foliage to mask the containers behind. Here the taller plants should oppose the lower ones in the background tier, rather than build ranks of peak and valley pairs.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
Container Arranging - Step 4
Flank the sides of the arrangement with still smaller plants, each with distinctive blooms or foliage. The taller plants focus attention, while the smaller ones on the edges help return the eye to the center of the composition.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
Container Arranging - Step 5
The completed container arrangement flows in a swath of color from the low plants at the front and sides to the tallest members in the rear, unifying the entire display.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
