TAKING THE GUESSWORK OUT OF CONTAINER PLANTINGS WITH STYLING BY NUMBERS™
In last week’s post, I talked about The One Flower I Never Plant In the Ground (but I plant all the time in containers) – GERANIUMS. These are a garden nursery mainstay, very easy to find and even easier to grow! This week, I’m taking the geraniums-only-in-containers concept one step further by showing you some favorite ways to style geraniums in my favorite planters. I’m using my “Styling By Numbers™” method to make it easy for you to re-create these focal points in your own garden.
GERANIUMS + FRIENDS
In this post, I’m going to show you how to combine geraniums with other plants to make a gorgeous container garden that will last all throughout the summer months. And you can start planting this holiday weekend!
But before I show you the three illustrated Potted Geranium Gardens, I’m going to share a few secrets to creating a fabulous container garden.
THE “THRILLER, SPILLER, FILLER” CONCEPT
If you’re an avid gardener, you’re probably familiar with this concept. If not, that’s okay, too! This easy-to-remember concept is very important to making a balanced container arrangement, and it’s mostly about the principles of shape and scale.
Below is a container planting in my front entry that illustrates this concept. (Here’s a link to a similar gray galvanized metal planter).
When putting together a container garden, there should be three elements:
THRILLER: The Thriller is the centerpiece, or the tall superstar. It’s vertical and it’s dramatic. The geraniums definitely fall into the “Thriller” category.
SPILLER: Those are the plants that do just as the name suggests – they “spill” over the sides of the planter. Ivies, trailing geraniums, sweet potato vines all fit into this category. The “spiller” doesn’t have to grow super-long, either. It just needs to provide a trailing element to the planter, for balance.
FILLER: This can be any plant not tall or trailing, that “fills” in between the Thriller and Spiller. This is a good place to add texture (vs. flowers). I’ll go into texture in more detail with each of the Styling By Numbers™ illustrations.
Here’s the “Thriller-Spiller-Filler” concept illustrated in the planter from my entry container:
- The “Thriller” is the Geranium “White Ivy” (which will obviously grow larger as the season progresses). Notice the shape of the “thriller” – it’s upright. That’s important.
- Next, the “Spiller” is trailing variegated green & white Plectranthus, which I chose not only for its “spiller” form, but also for the variegated leaves, which provides a needed contrast from the dark, glossy leaves of the geranium.
- And, finally, there are two “Fillers” in this container, both chosen for their texture and foliage color. The first “Filler” is a lime green Heuchera “Twist of Lime” (a perennial, and by the way, you can definitely use perennials in container gardens). You could also substitute chartreuse Coleus for the Heuchera for a pop of vibrant green. The second “Filler” is silvery Dusty Miller, again chosen for its gray foliage, to complement the hues of the gray planter.
The best way I can describe successful, beautiful container gardens is they’re like The Beatles: The total is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, all of the plants I chose for this container are nice on their own, but together they become a symphony of texture, shape and color. #bettertogether
PICK FRIENDS THAT PLAY NICE TOGETHER
I should clarify that I mean “Plant Friends” (although your People Friends should also play nice together!)
Think of your container plants as all living in the same house (the container) – their watering and sun requirements should be very similar. Geraniums like full sun (except in warmer climates, where they prefer some afternoon shade). They also like to dry out a bit between waterings, and should only be watered when the top inch of soil feels dry), so I’ve selected companion plants for the Styling By Numbers™ geranium containers outlined below that have similar light and water requirements.
MY FAVORITE SPILLERS & FILLERS
To complement the geraniums, here are some plants to look for that would nicely with the geranium “Thrillers”.
Spillers (foliage): Licorice plant (helichrysum), Alyssum, Vining plants (ivy, vinca major, sweet potato vine), Golden Creeping Jenny, Asparagus fern
Spillers (flowering): White Bacopa, Lobelia, Petunias, Alyssum
Fillers (foliage): Dusty Miller, Variegated Sage, Heuchera, Basil
Fillers (flowering): Calibrachoa, Mini Petunias, Flowering Vinca, Angelonia, Verbena, Pentas, New Guinea Impatiens
Now onto the Styling By Numbers™ container gardens!
TUSCAN TERRA COTTA INSPIRATION
For the first container garden, I was inspired by container gardens in Tuscany, which means a beautiful terra cotta planter. My favorite, drool-worthy planters are made in a small town in the hills outside of Florence, Italy called Impruneta. The most gorgeous terra cotta planters are created there and imported to the United States (and worldwide). I love the look of these planters, but at upwards of $1,000, I wanted to find a more reasonably priced terra cotta planter for my Tuscan-inspired container garden.
CONTAINER 1: “TUSCAN SPLENDOR”
I found the pretty terra cotta planter shown in the image below (and linked in the shopping gallery at the end of the post). I chose this planter because of its size and the beautiful garland motif on the front. Because of its size, I like that this is made of a composite material, so it isn’t crazy-heavy! You’ll see from the drawing and diagram below, the numbers on the sketch (left) correspond to the numbers on the Plant & Planter key (right).
THRILLER, SPILLER, FILLER:
I chose as the “Thriller” a deep pink “Calliope” Geranium. The color of the geraniums (and the planter) are the superstars here, so I selected variegated “Spiller” (Variegated English Ivy) and “Filler” (“Lemon Lime” Helichrysum or Licorice Plant). All of these plants are easy to find at your local nursery.
LEAD PLANTER INSPIRATION
The next container planting is inspired by English cottage style gardens. I’ve always loved the look of English lead planters (shown below), but, again, they’re very pricey (and heavy – they’re made of solid lead!)
In fact, the first photo shoot I ever produced was for Better Homes & Gardens® “Garden Style Projects” book (you can read more about that in this post). One of the projects I created for the book was a faux lead planter. Photographer Gordon Beall shot me (well, actually, my hands) painting an inexpensive container to look like the expensive lead planters I spotted at Clifton’s Garden Nurseries in London.
CONTAINER 2: “PRETTY IN PURPLE”
I love the container in this next plant plan – it has a traditional shape, but it comes in a pretty gray color (that looks like stone/concrete, but again, is a composite material which is also frost-proof, for all my winter climate readers). You could also follow the faux lead planter instructions in the above photo to transform this planter. Here’s the link to the planter. I also found a faux lead square lion’s head planter, linked here and in the shopping gallery at the end of the post. The planter shown below is 14″ diameter, but if you wanted something larger, here’s a similar option.
I chose a white and purple plant color combination, accented by variegated light green foliage, which looks striking against the gray of the planter.
THRILLER, SPILLER, FILLER:
I chose as the “Thriller” a variegated White Geranium (if you can’t find the variegated leaf geranium, a regular white geranium would also work here). The “Spiller” is a rich, deep purple-black Sweet Potato Vine “Jet Black”, which provides a nice contrast to the white flowers. I chose two “Fillers” here: variegated “Perpetua” Basil and “Homestead Purple” Verbena (which could actually qualify as a “Spiller” or a “Filler”).
THE CLASSIC GARDEN URN
I love urns for their classic shape, and for how they add height and an air of grandeur to an entry or garden. They come in a variety of materials – cast iron, stone, lead, fiberglass and other more lightweight composite materials. Below is an image from a photo shoot I produced for Better Homes & Gardens® “Garden Shed” magazine which featured one of my favorite antique garden urns styled with a variety of ferns, photographed by Quentin Bacon.
CONTAINER 3: “ENGLISH GERANIUM GARDEN”
The third container garden features a beautiful fluted urn with an aged finish, and I created an English Geranium Garden to accent the planter. The geranium garden in the sketch below would look lovely as a focal point in a more traditional garden (or flanking a sunny front entry). Again, the urn I chose for this container garden is frost-proof, and looks like a much pricier stone planter. Here’s the link to the urn planter.
THRILLER, SPILLER, FILLER:
I chose as the “Thriller” a zonal geranium “Daredevil” in a gorgeous salmon hue. The “Spiller” is an easy-to-find trailing variegated vinca vine. And, lastly, the “Filler” is a trailing ivy geranium in a pink hue (but you could also choose another salmony-pink flower, for a more monochromatic look). The trailing geranium serves as a combination of “Spiller” and “Filler”.
THE DIRT ON DIRT
I’ll just say this: The Dirt Matters. It’s actually called Soil and there are two different kinds: Potting Soil (or Potting Mix) and Garden Soil. Potting soil is amended (sometimes with fertilizer) and is used specifically for container gardening because it’s lighter weight and drains well (an important consideration when planting in containers). Garden Soil is what you use when you’re planting directly into the ground, to amend the existing soil. I like this organic potting mix for containers. Whatever brand you buy, just make sure it says “Potting” in the title.
A QUICK NOTE ON FERTILIZER
Most flowering plants (especially geraniums) are heavy feeders, which means they need to be fertilized every couple of weeks to promote big blooms. I only use organic fertilizer in my gardens, and Dr. Earth’s “Bud & Bloom” fertilizer is a long-standing brand that I’ve had good results using. Just incorporate a little extra TLC into your watering plan to make your container gardens look their best.
FAVORITE PLANTERS
When I started gardening, I only used garden containers in natural materials (terra cotta, stone, cement, etc.). That is, until I did a couple of long haul moves and realized how heavy my collection of planters became! Nowadays, planters are made of very realistic looking terra cotta and stone – but at a fraction of the weight. So I don’t turn my nose up at the composite materials (even though I’m not anticipating another long haul move!)
Below is a shopping gallery of the planters featured in the sketches above, as well as a few more of my favorites – all at reasonable price points.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW FOR THE PRODUCT LINKS
I hope this post has inspired you to create a lovely “Geranium Garden” in a focal-point-worthy planter – with Styling By Numbers™ making it easy for you as 1-2-3! Happy planting – summer is just around the corner!
