A pot teeming with petunias or a basket bursting with verbena is beautiful in its own way, and many gardeners like the unified look that comes from using one type of plant, often in one color, in a container. But combining different plant varieties in containers is easy and fun and never fails to satisfy the creative itch that all gardeners share. These days, container combinations, also called container bouquets, are very much in style, as you can see by visiting any botanical garden or garden center. Creating container bouquets is not at all difficult, because the design guidelines for success are simple to understand and put into action.
You can place as many different plants together as you like, but it's usually best to begin by combining only two or three plant varieties. When only two plants are involved, the goal is to create a pleasing partnership of form, texture, and color. This is easily accomplished by pairing a tall or upright plant with a smaller one that has a mounding or cascading growth habit, which creates a sense of balance and fullness. Another important consideration is that the two plants share similar preferences for sun and soil; this is essential to assure good health for both plants. Finally, plants that form the strongest duets must look good at more or less the same time. Long-blooming plants are better choices than those that bloom all at once and then must be replaced. Use the list that follows as a starting place for can't-miss partnerships between care-free plants. Then experiment with other possibilities of your own devising. When you find yourself wondering if two plants will make handsome companions, it's easy to try the liaison on for size by growing them first in individual containers placed side by side.
Ten Can't-Miss, Two-Way Partnerships
- Zonal geranium and petunia
- Caladium and impatiens
- Rose campion and ivy-leaved geranium
- Salvia and sweet alyssum
- Petunia and lobelia
- Fan flower and narrow-leaf zinnia
- Tulip and pansy
- Globe amaranth and portulaca
- Ornamental grass and sweet potato vine
- Japanese maple and English ivy
Working in Threes
Combining three or more plants in a container is a bit like flower arranging, in that you begin with a tall, upright plant to structure the design, add a second plant that will fill out the picture with foliage and color, and connect the arrangement to the container with a cascading plant that will gently spill over the edges. Creating container bouquets in this manner is tremendously rewarding, although it is also full of surprises.
The lists below sorts 50 popular care-free plants into uprights, fillers, and cascading plants, but there is substantial crossover between categories because of the crowded nature of container combinations. When several plants are packed into a container, their roots compete for moisture and nutrients, and above the surface, the leaves and stems compete for light. As a result, stems are often somewhat lax and rangy, which is usually a blessing. For example, although you may not like to see coreopsis or rose campion flopping over in your garden, when the same thing happens in a container the effect softens the edges of the container. Still, to maintain the height needed to keep a container combination balanced, it may be necessary to stake the tallest plants.
Shade is often a factor in container combinations, because window boxes and other containers placed close to the house usually receive a maximum of a half day of sun. Light limitations often cause otherwise compact plants to stretch out, becoming much more vinelike or trailing in habit. This often happens with nasturtiums and petunias, making them do double duty as cascading plants.
Vining plants, such as English ivy, vinca, and sweet potato vine, always cascade, and their foliage persists all season.
Uprights: Caladium, calla lily, carina, clematis, coreopsis, cosmos, flowering tobacco, geranium, globe amaranth, hydrangea, liriope, ornamental grasses, phormium, rose campion, salvia, scarlet runner bean, snapdragon, sweet pea, and yucca provide height.
Fillers: Ageratum, artemisia, begonia, browallia, coleus, dianthus, dusty miller, fan flower, heuchera, impatiens, lady's mantle, lantana, nasturtium, pansy, periwinkle, petunia, portulaca, rose campion, Swan River daisy, and verbena soften pot edges.
Cascading plants: Candytuft, dead nettle, English ivy, Licorice plant, lobelia, petunia, sun rose, sweet alyssum, sweet potato vine, thyme, and vinca will trail gracefully over pot edges.
Container Creativity
Much of the fun in creating container bouquets is letting your imagination run wild, and the longer you garden, the more combinations you'll want to try. As you continue to grow as a container gardener.
keep in mind a few simple guidelines that will help you devise pleasing plant pictures in small spaces, where every element counts.
One of the easiest ways to achieve a harmonious design is to use plants with the same or similar colors. A pot with all red plants, or plants in red and gold, can be striking in its simplicity. You can also go for a bold contrast, combining frosty blue flowers with fiery yellow ones. Remember that "hot" colors appear to advance, while "cool" colors recede. So place red, orange, and yellow toward the back of the container and the blue, purple, and green in front to balance the arrangement.
Also take into account the size, shape, and texture of the flowers and foliage. Big. bold leaves can easily overpower companions plants that have delicately cut or feathery looking foliage, just as large trumpet or saucer-shaped flowers will overwhelm neighbors with dainty little pompon or starlike blossoms. Contrast adds interest, as long as the various elements share a common theme or are balanced visually. A tall, spiky phormium, for example, would pot-hugging dwarf sweet alyssum but the phormium would provide drama and look balanced when it is paired with heuchera, begonia, or any other plant with equally prominent foliage.
Planting Container Bouquets
The tallest plants in a container combination usually have correspondingly large root masses, so it's best to set them in place first, and then to surround them with the smaller and easier to handle plants. The angle that the container will be viewed from ultimately determines where these plants will all be placed. If the container will be viewed from all sides, such as when it's displayed on a table or when it is hanging from a porch, you will want to place the tallest plants in the center of the container. If the pot will be placed against a wall, hedge, or other background, then you can set the tallest plants toward the rear of the container, and fill in around the sides and front with shorter plants.
Plant the fillers next, allowing sufficient room for these medium-height, bushy plants to spread out as they grow and mature. Because you want these filler plants to be very bushy, consider pinching them
back lightly after transplanting, by snipping off stem tips, even if this delays flowering by a few weeks.
Finally, you should tuck cascading plants just inside the rim of the container. Your aim is to create a lush, overflowing floral bouquet, but you should not completely cover up the pot. Fine-textured cascading plants, such as lobelia or sweet alyssum, form such flowery masses that you may need only one or two to balance a container planting. When using plants that grow into long, sparce tendrils, such as licorice plant or vinca, plan to include three or more of them in your masterpiece.
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