Simple Tips to Plant Beautiful Containers

Want to plant flower pots but are not sure where to start? I have simple tips and a fool-proof strategy, to plant beautiful containers!

Do you ever walk through the flower and plant section of stores and marvel at the amazing containers full of beautiful flowers?

Do you ever wonder if you could make a container like that yourself?

Guess what? You can!

All you have to do is follow my simple tips and a fool-proof strategy to plant containers!

Yours will look just as beautiful as the ones in the store and cost less too!

Gather

Gather or purchase the following items to complete this project:

• Container(s)
• Potting soil
• Trowel, transplanter, or scoop
• Coffee Filters
• Empty plastic bottles (optional)
• Flowers/plants

How to Prepare the container

Clean

If your container is dirty, clean it with dish soap and water.

Update

If your containers look as bad as mine do, you should consider sprucing them up a bit!

I can’t believe how faded they are, so I’m going to pull out the spray paint!

Wow! Here they are after two coats of black spray paint! Don’t they look amazing now!!!

Provide proper drainage

Check the bottom of your pot. If there is not a hole for the water to drain out, you will need to make one!

Cover drainage hole

You want the excess water to drain from your pot, but you don’t want the dirt to come out and get on your patio!

To keep that from happening, add a coffee filter (or two) to the bottom of your pot!

Tip for large containers

Good potting soil is not cheap, so when I have a large container, I add plastic bottles to the bottom to take up space.

I like to move my planters around and this keeps them from getting too heavy!

Choose plants that complement each other

Choose plants that will tolerate the same amount of light and water.

• Shade -plants require less than 3 hours of direct sun per day.
• Partial Sun -Plants thrive with between 3 and 6 hours of direct sun per day.
• Sun -Plants need at least 6 hours of sun daily.

Choose colors that go well together and look cohesive.

Fool-proof Strategy to plant a container

Want to know the trick to planting a beautiful container? Use the Thriller, Filler, Spiller strategy!

Your containers will look like a professional planted them if you use plants of varying heights!

• Thriller-tall plants that give vertical height to a container.
• Filler- plants that have medium height and fill the center portion of the container.
• Spiller- plants that spill over the edge of the container and hang down from the pot.

How to plant a container

Add soil

Use the best potting soil for the type of plants you are using. Potting soils like Miracle-Gro are made from a special mix that fertilizes your plants for up to six months! Soils like this help retain moisture.

Succulents need potting soil that drains very easily. So, don’t use a potting mix that retains moisture!

Loosen roots

remove plants from the pot (be sure to save the tags with the name of the plant and info on it) and loosen the roots with your fingers. Place in the new container.

Plant flowers

Plant your thriller first! If you can see all sides of the container plant the thriller in the center of the pot. If you can only view the front of the container put the thriller in the center back position.

Next, add the filler plants. Plant them around the thriller, making sure to leave just enough room for the spiller plants.

And last but not least, add the spillers. If you can only view the container from the front, plant one or two spillers on the front edge. If you can view all sides of the container, plant up to four spillers around the outside edge.

Fill in the empty areas with potting soil. Do not fill to the top, leave at least one inch of room between the soil and the top of the container.

Water your new container!

Enjoy and watch it grow!

keep records of plants and growth habits

Put the tags from the plants in a zip lock bag or folder.

Take pictures of your container through the growing season.

Make notes on what plants thrived and which ones did not.

The next year you can look back at notes and pictures to determine if you want to repeat what you did or what changes you need to make!

I hope you will be able to use my simple tips and plant some beautiful containers for your porch this season!

Blessings, Donna and Rich

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Items to help you with this project

Click on the picture for the item you wish to purchase.