Cool Container Combos
November 1, 2016 | By webadmin
We're always grateful for a shift to milder weather, particularly when it finally cools off after a hot summer. With cooler weather comes a burst of energy and suddenly it's time to replant your containers so they'll look great and remain hardy through the winter. It's fun to combine a variety of elements together to create a dazzling focal point that won't rely on just one element to look perfect all season. Blending in colorful foliage lends interest with or without flowers.
Pansies and violas are the most reliable bloomers, easily lasting through the winter into spring. Try incorporating a bright chartreuse Lemon Cypress with simple variegated ivy, for instance, and you gain much more excitement than just a pot full of pansies. Bold Osteospermum or beautiful Nemesias love the cool weather, but since they might not survive a severe cold snap, they're perfect for combining with succulent sedum, ornamental kale and vibrant Swiss chard that hold up the planting in case one element fades. Other considerations include herbs and vegetables like curly parsley, oregano or mustard greens, and shapely branches and twigs.
A variety of sedum, Lemon Cypress, Nemesia and Swiss Chard can be combined with other seasonal color and perennials to create gorgeous cool season displays in the garden or in containers.
Got shade? Try foliage.
Foliage combinations are especially effective in shady areas where fewer plants bloom non-stop. Coral Bells come in many colors and make a striking contribution when brought together with blooming Cyclamen, Japanese painted ferns or Holly ferns and ground covers such as Creeping Jenny.
Heuchera and ferns are planted for their foliage in shaded gardens.
Design notes:
The "Thriller, Spiller, Filler" idea has been around a while, but when you're wondering where to start, it's a design method that's easy-to-remember. Thrillers are often height elements or something with large, showy flowers. Self explanatory are fillers, that pump up the main space. Spillers cascade over the sides of pots providing a sense of overflowing abundance.
It sometimes gets overly busy to have a lot of complicated combinations when you have a group of containers. Using single specimens such as an evergreen shrub like basic boxwood, 'Blue Point' Juniper, or grasses like Maidenhair or fountain grass simplify container groups and create a backdrop for other associated pots. Classic symmetry looks wonderful in formal settings, but feel free to play with asymmetry as well, starting with taller elements to one side, fillers rounding out the center and trailing plants on three sides.
Starting each day with the sight of beautiful plants improves you overall outlook and your neighbors appreciate it too. Container combos are a quick and easy way to brighten your entryway, your patio and your life.
