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A Guide to Container Gardening

No garden? No problem with container gardening!

Closeup of a vibrant blooming succulent plant.

If you don’t have a garden but love gardening, then container gardening is a great option for you! These mini-gardens let you to bring a touch of life into a variety of spaces, whether it’s your front porch or a window box.

Colors

Before starting your container garden, it is best to consider colors. One route is mono-culture planting, where you choose a single plant variety for your container. These plantings are great to highlight a piece of pottery or to create a pop of a specific color.

Monochromatic planting is another possibility. It uses a range of shades in a single color. In this situation, you want to use at least two different shades of your selected color for added dimension.

To best include multiple colors, you could choose analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel), complementary colors (colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel) or a triad (using 3 colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel).

Flower combination color pairing chart.

 

Foliage and Texture

Experiment with different types of foliage to add dimension to your container garden. Dark foliage can create drama and contrast. Silver foliage can work as a colorful element to complement a vibrant petal color. Chartreuse blends well with hot and bright colors. Using differently sized plants and flowers can also help create contrast to spice up your container garden.

Flower arrangement of foliage and textures within teal pot.













 

The Best Plant Options

Lots of plants can be grown in container gardens. Good fits for this setting include annuals, perennials, shrubs, ornamental grasses, vegetables and herbs. When deciding what to plant, keep in mind your climate and sun or shade conditions. Make sure all the plants you select have the same light and water requirements.

Vibrant flowers planted in bright yellow pot.

Variety of plants planted outside on an apartment balcony.

 

Choose Your Container

A few things to remember when choosing your container:

  • make sure it has drainage holes

  • terra cotta isn’t frost proof

  • unglazed pots dry out faster than glazed pots

  • small pots dry out faster than larger pots

Get creative! Try using metal buckets, teapots or watering cans for your container gardens.

Flowers planted in a tin flower pot.















 

Arrangement

There are two basic ways to plant a combination: the living flower arrangement and the traditional planting. The living flower arrangement is when you place as many plants as you can into one planter. Traditional planting is when you allow enough room between plants for it to fill out as the plants grow. Deciding how many plants you want in your container should be determined by both your arrangement style, the size of the planter and the size the plants grow to. Once, you’ve decided, you can get to work planning your plant placement after you add your soil.

If you want some additional help with your container garden, reach out to us at Selmi’s! Write down the combination of plants you want to use or your color scheme. Then bring us the container you want to use so we can design a custom planting for you.


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