The Container Garden Guide
Containers, urns, pots and hanging baskets are a lot of fun to put together and they can add a lot of pizzazz to your garden.
I love using these two small pots to brighten up an area of the garden that looks a little empty once the spring bulbs fade away.
This spectacular arrangement was in one of the gardens on the Toronto Botanical Garden’s Through the Garden Gate Tour one year. It was huge and truly fabulous!
Planters are a big deal for me. I create a lot of container plantings for my own garden every year, along with a few for clients. On my office wall hang a few first place and second place ribbons from the Canadian National Exhibition’s Garden Show in the Patio Planter category. And one of my very favourite volunteer jobs was the three days I would spend each March, from 2008 to 2014, creating gigantic planter arrangements that would line the walkways at Canada Blooms–the show’s horticultural director dubbed me “Planter Queen”, gave me thousands of dollars of plants to play with, and I let me create–it was a riot.
Friends have sometimes asked me to go with them to help pick out plants for their planters. When I’ve been able to do this, we usually end up talking about the basic concepts of good planter design, including the use of thrillers, fillers and spillers, but then also delve into the other aspects of combining plants in a way that really “works.”
Another planter from the TBG tour. It’s beautiful but you could create something equally gorgeous for your garden, once you understand container gardening principles.
I started to think about how I might share the tips and guidelines I gave my friends and came up with the idea of a simple two page guide–one page on how to create exceptional plant combinations a one page worksheet to be filled in. My idea was that you could print off one worksheet for each of your planters, and one guidelines page, and then work through the process at home and at the store. It’s a way for you to take me with you when you head to the garden centre (and I won’t take up any space, so you’ll have more room in the car for plants!).
To get the free container garden shopping guide all you have to do is subscribe to my blog. Please note that subscribing is a two step process–you’ll need to click “confirm” on the email that will be sent to you. Once you do that, you’ll be provided with a link to download the PDF document.
I hope you find it helpful and that you have fun creating beautiful pots in your garden!