Consider the color of the pot and plants and how they will look around your home. You may want to use the trim color of your home or the colors of perennials and flowering shrubs you already have and choose ones that repeat those colors. This year I am mostly using white, the color of our trim.
Some will include “moonflower,” a white night-blooming vine that will be placed at the base of our backyard trees. Be sure the plants for each pot have the same requirements for sun, moisture and soil. For example, lavender likes a dry, sandy soil and full sun. Don’t plant with impatiens which likes shade and moist, fertile soil.
Every pot needs drainage. Be sure there are holes in the bottom. I cover the holes with coffee filters so the dirt doesn’t drain out and leave a mess on the drive or deck.
Raise the pot up a little by placing it on stones or “pot feet” so that it can drain. If the pot is large, you don’t have to fill it just with potting soil. You can place empty soda bottles or mesh bags (like onions come in) filled with styrofoam peanuts as a filler and top with a few inches of potting soil. I use mulch in the bottom of my pots.
Place the plants in the pot to find the placement you like. A tried and true method is to place tall plants in the back or center of the container (thrillers), shorter ones in the middle (fillers) and ones that will drape over the edge (spillers) at the edge of the container. Mix starter fertilizer according to directions in a bucket. Put the plants, leaving them in whatever they came in, in the bucket to soak for a minute and then plant them, starting at the back or center of the pot.
Remember that you are “planting,” not “burying.” Use scissors to cut off the very bottom of the root ball and to make slits on one or two sides of it, too. This will help the plant send out new roots. Look at each plant and make sure it is planted at the same level as it was when you got it or a little bit higher. Fill in with additional soil and top with mulch. I use a potting soil that has slow release fertilizer and moisture beads.
When you are finished planting, pour what is left in the bucket around your plants, stand back and admire a job well done!
