DIY container planting

Here is a simple DIY tutorial on a container planting:

To start out with I go with the thriller, filler and spiller method.
First pick out a thriller, a focal point plant for the center of your container. Next you will need filler flowers for the middle openings and last some spiller plants that will grow over and down the sides of your container.

The ingredients I used:

My client wanted the same look as last year but slightly different so I substituted ferns with a spider plant. The thriller focal in these containers is the obvious topiary tree followed by the 2nd focal spider plant (1) that hugs the topiary trunk. If you have smaller containers don't take up all the space with a large thriller but instead use something simple like just a spider plant.

The filler flowers are the fuchsia colored 4 inch double begonias (2) and plum colored 4 inch petunias (3).

The spillers I chose are variegated 10 inch english ivy (4), purple variegated 10 inch wandering jew (5) , 4 inch creeping jenny (6), and vibrant green 4 inch sweet potato vine (7).

The first step is to plant up your spillers along the edges. Make sure they are tucked in deep so they don't fall out. The ivy and wandering jew were both from 10 inch hanging baskets that I carefully separated into two new plants.

Next I added the spider plant which was also a 10" hanging basket that I carefully split into 2 plants and hugged the topiary trunk.

Last, I added the filler petunias and begonias for some slight color in the leftover holes:

Fill in and secure your plants with extra dirt and be sure to fertilize for luscious show.

This year I have been using organic fertilizer from john and bob's grow green smart soil solutions. It is a fantastic and easy organic system to convert old nutrient lacking soil into new lush rich soil in gardens, lawns, containers and even indoor plants. I love the luscious growth I've seen from using this system in my container gardens and I am excited to see the difference in my vegetable gardening this summer. I highly recommend it and it can be found here.

Here is what they looked like after a summer of growth last year. The results should be very similar this year! Good luck and leave a comment if you have any questions.

-christina


last year's DIY container planting here.