Better Homes & Gardens Mix & Match Farmhouse

Jill enjoys cooking, abstract painting, stewardship & learning about gardening through the MD Native Plant Society.

One of the Lovely Mixed Containers in My Garden

Jill Spencer

Unleashing Your Creativity in Your Container Garden

I vividly remember a wonderful morning of wildly abandoned finger painting in kindergarten. Katy Perry, my teacher, had wrapped me in some sort of plastic poncho, then given me a palette of gooey wet paints—red, yellow, blue—and turned me loose on a big blank sheet of white paper clipped to a wooden easel.

There were no rules, just messy, uninhibited expression.

It was wonderful.

Inspiration From a Workshop

As I listened to Fran Scully, a horticulturist at Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, MD, present a workshop on container gardening, I felt like that little kid in front of the easel again.

I wanted to experiment—to get my hands dirty and feel free through creating something; I wanted to try my hand at boldly mixing plants in containers. A few days later, after a series of rainstorms passed through our area, I did just that, following Scully's advice, which is basically, "Break the rules boldly! It will be beautiful."

We placed the first mixed container containing turtlehead in partial shade under a crape myrtle. Nearby are some of the same plants in the pot, as well as hosta, astilbe, black-eyed Susan, bleeding heart, snow on the mountain and evening primrose.

Jill Spencer

Boldly Breaking the "Rules" for Container Gardens

Scully presented her ideas about container gardening in a workshop at the 2016 Baltimore Herb Fest, which celebrated Capsicum (the pepper plant) as the herb of the year. That, no doubt, was the reason the workshop was entitled "Capsium—Turn Up the Heat in Your Containers." However, the use of Capsium in the presentation was incidental.

What Scully's talk was really about was boldly breaking several sensible "rules" for creating mixed containers, and breaking them to wonderfully good effect.

Conventional Wisdom

Those of us who have been planting our own mixed containers for a while are probably familiar with the conventional precepts regarding plant selection. In a nutshell, they include these two "rules":

Fill pots with thrillers (tall plants that take the spotlight), fillers (bushing plants that fill in planter space around thrillers), and spillers (vining plants that drape over the sides of the pot).
Place plants with the same soil, water, and light requirements together.

2016 was the Year of the Pepper. Pictured: The beautiful purple blossoms of the Black Pearl pepper plant.

Jill Spencer

"Break the rules boldly! It will be beautiful."

— Horticulturist Fran Scully

Scully's Bold Ideas

Fran Scully encourages gardeners to ignore those rules, instead choosing plants they like, regardless of their compatibility. She claims that plants in containers develop a "buddy" system, creating their own little microcosm where they all "get along" and help each other grow.

Sun-loving thrillers provide protection for shade-loving fillers; water-loving annuals will draw up the moisture native plants do not require, and so on.

Ajuga, garden sage, lambs ear and scented geranium planted together.

Jill Spencer

Scully's Plant Picks

At the end of her presentation, Scully created a mixed container for the class.

In a plum-colored pot not much bigger than the round burgundy pot I used, she used ten or more plants of contrasting colors, textures and growing habits, including

a lovely tall pink poppy,
two different bushy heuchera, one quite orange,
a tall, spiky hot pink salvia,
a bushy ornamental pepper with orange and red fruit, and
a small, chartreuse hosta.

My Plant Picks

Rather than spend lots of money trying out Scully's ideas, I opted to use pots I already had, both of them cracked (for better drainage, right?). And with the exception of a few herbs I bought at the Baltimore Herb Fest where Scully's workshop occurred, I used plants we already had in our beds.

I chose them for their contrasting textures and growing habits, as well as how striking I thought they would be in contrast to each other and the pot itself.

These were my plant choices for the first pot.

Jill Spencer

The Black Pearl pepper bloomed shortly after planting, then developed gorgeous, glossy black fruit.

Jill Spencer

My First Container

For the first container, a wine-colored glazed cylindrical pot, I chose plants with chartreuse, purple and medium-green leaves. Their bloom colors? Purple, pink and, in the case of the pepper, red and black seed pods.

Sedum angelina, a chartreuse ground cover with a weird, dragon-like bloom. It grows best in dry to medium, well-drained soil in full sun.
Liriope muscari 'Variegata' (lilyturf), a hardy striped ground cover that does well in dry shade or just about anywhere. It grows in spiky clumps, sending up purple spires in the fall.
Capsicum annuum 'Black Pearl' (ornamental pepper), an annual vegetable with purple and green leaves. Likes full sun, medium water and produces showy red and black fruit.
Two overwintered purple pansies (Viola tricolor), both a little leggy from surviving in the shade of nearby plants in the flowerbed.
Chelone obliqua (pink turtlehead), a tall thriller that likes wet feet and clay soil. It has deep pink blooms that attract butterflies.
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal), a mounding perennial herb with medicinal properties. It sends up purple flower heads about a foot tall that attract bees and butterflies.

Because turtlehead likes wet feet, I planted it in a separate plastic pot so that I could keep it wetter than the rest.

At first planting, the turtlehead sadly drooped, but by the next morning it was upright and happy looking.

Jill Spencer

My second pot contained these plants.

Jill Spencer

My Second Container

For the second pot—a deep, square, ceramic one glazed bright green—I chose plants from our yard that are very flexible regarding their growing requirements but very different visually. Some are also aromatic.

Stachys byzantina (lambs ear), a silvery perennial with thick, woolly leaves. It sends up thick flower stalks about a foot and a half tall with bright purple flowers.
Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (live forever) is also silvery. It develops thick, close stalks topped with showy, deep-pink flower heads.
Thymus praecox (creeping thyme), a drought-tolerant, green ground cover that sends up a blanket of deep-pink blossoms a few inches high in late summer. Its scent is not as strong as that of culinary thyme, but it's still lovely.
Ajuga reptans (bugleweed), also a ground cover. Its leaves are purple and green, and it sends up short stalks of bright purple flowers. Ours tends to bloom a lot, sometimes even in the winter if there's a warm spell.

The fragile, spidery blossoms of a scented geranium.

Jill Spencer

Then I added basil and a scented geranium, both of which I'd picked up at the herb festival.

Pelargonium 'Snowflake' (scented geranium), a mounding geranium with curly, speckled leaves. It produces delicate pink flowers that should nicely contrast with the thick flowers of the sedum and lambs ear.
Ocimum basilicum 'Lesbos' (Greek columnar basil) can grow up to three feet, and I imagine near the end of the summer when I cut down the lambs ear stalks, the basil will join the sedum in giving the pot height. And I love the smell!

Because the green pot was very roomy, at the last minute, I added two more plants, both salvias, and they really increased the pot's aromatic qualities:

Salvia officinalis (Common garden sage), which has a clean, salutary odor and rough, silvery leaves. Like the basil, it's edible.
Purple salvia, which has sage-green leaves and purple spires about a foot tall. Because it was blooming, it immediately gave the pot a bit of height.

We placed the second container in an island bed where spirea, summersweet, butterfly weed, amsonia and bee balm also grow. I'm please with how diverse the textures of the plants are.

Jill Spencer

A Few Radical Ideas to Try


Color	Texture & Growth	Requirements
Select sharply contrasting colors.	Select diverse leaf textures: smooth, hairy, pebbled, etc.	Mix plants with different growing requirements in the same pot.
Try clashing colors.	Pick plants with different growing habits: upright, creeping, bushing.	Place plants with different water requirements in their own pots with the larger pot.
When thinking about color, think leaves as well as blooms.	Mix annuals with perennials.	Place plants with different soil requirements in their own pots within the larger pot.
Don't be afraid to go bold with the color of the pot itself.	—	—

Here is the second pot immediately after planting. At this point, only the salvia is blooming.

Jill Spencer

How My Containers Turned Out

My pots aren't as wildly bold and divergent at Fran Scully's, but they are different from what I have done in the past, and I had fun making them.

They were also very inexpensive to make since, with the exception of the plants from Herb Fest, which cost a total of $7, I used what I had on hand. I liked that and plan to try the Scully's "no rules" method again the next time I feel like finger painting in the garden.

This is one of my containers at one month old.

Jill Spencer

Your House

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on November 26, 2017:

Hi Patricia,

I had lots of fun trying these ideas out. The columnar basil grew to be about three feet tall and sturdy.

Hope you had a good holiday!

Best to you, Jill

Patricia Scott from North Central Florida on November 22, 2017:

I am always experimenting so cannot wait to give some of these suggestions a try. So happy I found this as I was scrolling through. Angels are on the way and have a happy Thanksgiving ps

Virginia Allain from Central Florida on June 04, 2017:

I used to love going to Ladew topiary gardens for concerts when I lived in Baltimore.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on July 24, 2016:

Gee moonlake, I don't know. Skunks eat just about everything. I wonder if planting through wire mesh-- you know, cutting mesh to fit inside your pots, then small holes to plant your plants through-- would work. You would probably have to pin them down too. Or even some of those prickly devices you see in garden catalogs to deter cats. Good luck. Sounds like your skunks have gotten into a bad habit.

moonlake from America on July 23, 2016:

No grubs. He's digging plants up and pulling roots off. I guess it's the roots he's after.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on July 23, 2016:

Hi moonlake. Sorry to hear about your skunk problem. They must be digging for food. Does the soil in your containers have grubs in it? All the best, Jill

moonlake from America on July 22, 2016:

I enjoy doing plants in containers. Do you have any idea how to keep a skunk from digging up my container gardens? My containers are looking awful because he won't stay out of them.

Enjoyed your hub.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on July 22, 2016:

Thank you, Roberta. Hope you have some fun with making them! --J

RTalloni on July 22, 2016:

Am in mood to continue moving to container gardening and boldly changing up traditional ideas on the concept is very appealing! Love your opening. :)

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on July 22, 2016:

Faith Reaper, how did I miss your comment? Thank you for it! I appreciate your free-spirited view.

@ Clayton, I liked the mixed pots, too. Variety, diversity-- it really does make things better. Thanks for dropping by, Jill

ClaytonDaily on July 22, 2016:

I see a lot of these mixed container planting arraignments at the home improvement stores by my house. I like the way they mix it up and keep design interesting. It sure beats having the same old single plant per pot ideas dominating the landscape.

Faith Reaper from southern USA on June 04, 2016:

I love these radical ideas you have presented here! I like not following the rules in art and gardening too, and just doing whatever my heart wants to go with at the moment.

I enjoyed reading this hub and your flower picks are wonderful.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on June 03, 2016:

Hi MsDora! Yep, it's just fun to try something a little different every once in a while, huh? Thanks for commenting! --J

Dora Weithers from The Caribbean on June 03, 2016:

Sounds like an adventure I would like to attempt. Thanks for the motivation and very good suggestions.

Larry Rankin on June 02, 2016:

As a novice gardener, I do so enjoy whatever help I can get.

Great read.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on June 02, 2016:

@KoffeeKlatch Gals-- Hope you get wild and have fun!

Susan Hazelton from Sunny Florida on June 02, 2016:

@The Dirt Farmer I love this hub. I have always loved the mix up idea of several different plants in one pot. I will be trying your ideas and Scully's. I have to get busy picking plants.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on June 02, 2016:

@mctavers-- Thanks for reading!

@devalym-- Appreciate your kind words! Thank you.

Deval Shah from India on June 01, 2016:

I always adore HubPages Post ideas, every time they have unique topics for showing and it would be one of those posts that I've loved it. Thanks for sharing such a niche quality post.

mactavers on June 01, 2016:

Thanks for the great ideas.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on June 01, 2016:

Hi Lee! I'd love to see that herb garden. (I'll check out your profile. Have you done a hub about it?) I did a herb garden once in a large strawberry pot, only later to discover that my neighbor had been letting her dog pee on it. It's so important to really wash your herbs! A hanging basket sounds like a wonderful idea. Great to hear from you. -Jill

Lee Raynor from Citra Florida on June 01, 2016:

Hey Jill

I always enjoy your Hubs and your ideas. My only venture into container gardening is in my hanging herb garden with just a couple of flowers for color. I can keep all the herbs I need just a few feet from the kitchen and I don't have to bend over to pick what I need.

Lee

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on June 01, 2016:

Thanks for commenting, billybuc. Thankfully, plants are very resilient and can tolerate our weird starts and crazy experiments! (:

Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on June 01, 2016:

Very interesting. It can be a bit confusing. There are so many differing opinions on gardening and farming....but thanks for sharing this one.

Jill Spencer (author) from United States on June 01, 2016:

Hi sallybea. Hope you do! It was a lot of fun. I wish the pots looked better in the pics, but they're sort of like new haircuts-- they have to grow in for about a week before they really look good. Thanks so much for commenting. Have a great one-- Jill

Sally Gulbrandsen from Norfolk on May 31, 2016:

Such a lovely Hub with some great planting ideas. You have inspired me to try something similar. Thanks for sharing.

Better Homes & Gardens Mix & Match Farmhouse

Source: https://dengarden.com/gardening/Thinking-Inside-the-Pot

Posted by: hernandezplingers.blogspot.com

Better Homes & Gardens Mix & Match Farmhouse