Keeping container plants and planters around the porch, patio, and throughout the landscape as an extension of your garden, allows you to expand your yard and explore other opportunities to use a wider variety of plants!
Read on to learn about three design ideas for using Perennial plants in seasonal and year-round planters!
While most gardeners use annuals in their mixed container gardens, which are incredibly fast-growing and showy in their own right, using Perennials in your mixed and single-specimen containers enables you to complement your existing landscape without having to buy new and replant them every year, as you would with annual plants!
Many Perennial plants come in an equally wide range of colors and variety, grow fast, and thrive in containers because of their smaller size. There are many ways to combine them to create a stunning display!
Using a variety of heights, widths, forms, and textures, you will create a gorgeous combination!
Three Components of an Effective Planter
If you are not using a single specimen planting, use these components to create an attractive and unique combination!
There are three main components to an effective planter:
- A Thriller - the most upright plant
- A Filler - the plant that fills the space between the thriller and the spiller
- A Spiller - something that drapes down and spills over the sides
A fourth element can be included and that is a greenery element - a plant that remains green and completes the look. Typically a groundcover or ornamental grass that adds texture and additional filler.
A fifth element is an accent. This can be a flowering bulb, a contrasting color, or other unexpected pop of interest among the flowers and foliage!
Planting in threes or other odd numbers, evenly spaced and mixed among each other for an orderly fill. More informal plantings can be more haphazardly planted. Planters that will only be viewed on one side, larger plants are situated in the rear, with mid-sized plants in the middle, and spillers and smaller fillers planted in the front.
To first begin your selection, find your Hardiness Zone and how much sun per day your area has available. This will narrow down the many options that are available to you!
Classic Planters
The Classic Planter is a mixture of colors, textures, and bloom times, bringing you unique and fresh colors throughout the growing season. Both formal or informal displays can easily be obtained depending on your style!
Any type of container, tall vase-shaped urns, or cement planter looks fantastic among the garden bed to add height, or as a feature on a front yard berm.
Arrange your thriller in the center, with a ring of mid-sized plants around it, and lower-growing perennials and spillers in alternating patterns around the edges, for a symmetrical presentation and fill in beautifully from all angles.
Full Sun Combos:
This bold combination is great for USDA planting zones 5 through 9 and uses the red and black Giant Black Knight Canna as the thriller, with spring flowering Black Gamecock Iris that provides upright foliage texture after the flowers fade. The deep red and gold Li'L Bang™ Red Elf Coreopsis flowers profusely all summer until autumn. The dark pink and maroon Midnight Rose Coral Bells add shockingly bright color when planted alternately with the dark purple and green Black Scallop Ajuga as a spiller.
For a more pastel and refreshing combination for USDA zones 5 -9, the peach and green Tropical Sunrise Canna is a fantastic sun-loving tall thriller. The frilly PRETTICOATS™ Peach Geum is a bi-color spring flowering accent with the peach and burgundy Daring Deception Daylily for summer flowering blooms and strappy flowing foliage. The peachy red Peach Crisp Coral Bells can be planted alternatively around the edges of the container in contrast with the fine-textured, wispy Dwarf Prairie Dropseed grass.
A cold-hardy combo for USDA zones 3 and up with a small trellis-trained Petit Faucon Clematis as a thriller plant. With the round, hot pink accent blooms of Splendens Sea Thrift as a funky pop of color or the lacy, dainty spring flowering Biedermeier Columbine as a more delicate filler. As a summer-to-autumn accent use the Bumbleberry Salvia, mixed alternately with the Plum Pudding Coral Bells as a showy spiller!
Pop in some spring-flowering bulbs for early color, Liatris for vertical texture, or Freesia bulbs for some fragrance!
Partial Shade Mixed Container:
Partial sun or part shade locations, areas that have morning sun and afternoon shade, or dappled shade areas beneath a cover or canopy of trees, container plants in this in-between sun location can be tricky!
For hot growing zones between USDA 6 to 9, choose a tall flowering pink on burgundy foliage Gaudi™ Pink Wand Flower with the maroon foliage of the Wild Rose Coral Bells and its airy, showy flowers! The strappy fountain-like leaves and plum summer blossoms of Little Grapette Daylily mixed with Blackcurrant Ice Columbine for spring color. With trailing English Ivy spilling out from beneath all the other foliage.
Cooler climates of zones 4 and up, the showy summer flowering Monet Moment Lobelia becomes a showy thriller when combined with the pink and green Berry Timeless Coral Bells as flowering foliage filler, Winter Glow Bergenia for very early flowers and partially evergreen leaves, and Blazing Star Kobold Gayfeather as upright summer texture. Use the Dragon's Blood Sedum and its bi-color scalloped foliage and pink blooms to round out the season as flowering spillers!
Are pinks and purples not your thing and you want something more refined? Try the brilliant white and green mixture of using the spring-to-summer flowering Whirlwind Japanese Anemone as a thriller, combined with Snow Lady Shasta Daisy for a mounded summer-flowering accent planted alternately with Sanguineum Album Geranium as a spiller and filler! Tuck in some Spiralis Corkscrew Rush for a funky pop of texture, or Ice Dance Sedge Grass for a flowing, variegated ornamental grass filler and spiller.
There are of course loads of different color options for many of these perennials!
Full-Shade Planters:
For covered porches and balconies, or beneath the dense shade of the tree canopy, full shade mixed planters will brighten the gloom beautifully!
For a hot climate mixture, try combining the dark pink Maggie Daley Astilbe for summer flowers with Moonfleet or another Clematis on a pyramidal trellis as thrillers. Include spring-flowering Raspberry Splash Lungwort for silvery speckled foliage and raspberry flowers add their own touch all growing season, while including a couple of Hummelo Betony brings on the summer til autumn flowering spires. The rosey foliage of Lava Lamp Coral Bells and the silvery foliage and plum-pink blooms of Lamium Purple Dragon are gorgeous fillers and spillers. Then tuck in some Bowles Periwinkle vines trailing down the sides.
For a cold growing zone shade-loving container garden, mix the thriller greenery of the Royal Fern with the unique fountain-like wavy foliage of chartreuse Curly Fries Hosta with two-tone maroon and gold Delta Dawn Coral Bells and Red Barrenwort as a flowering spillers and fillers! You can further mix in the flowing bright greenery of Dickson's Gold Bellflower and the Pennsylvania Sedge grass for a very fine-textured filler and spiller.
There is tons of potential to substitute and swap out plants for other zones with similar characteristics! Mix in some spring and summer-friendly bulbs to add pops of color throughout the year!
Contemporary Planters
This planter has a bit more of a modern feel to it. Elegant, formal, and usually containing a synchronized color scheme, this classic combination echoes stately brick houses covered in ivy, with lions at the gateway. Using a high-end urn, planter, or pot that is as much a work of art as the plants in it, the Classic Planter is a beautiful presentation!
Great for use on your front porch, with a matched pair of planters on either side of your door, the steps leading to your door, or at the entrance of your drive to let you feel as if you are driving into an estate. Use a pedestal to complete the look!
Try these combinations of Perennials to create your own high-end look for your landscape. By combining tall columnar plants in the back, with a cluster of mounding plants on one side, with a free-flowing spiller on the other, a contemporary planter Feel free to adapt it to your needs with other plants. Use a brightly colored pot to contrast with the flowers and enjoy!
Full Sun Combinations:
Collectively, these planters will thrive in USDA planting zones 5-9.
For a large planter in the full sun, try the dwarf fountains of fragrant blooms of Proven Winners® Pugster Periwinkle® Butterfly Bush with an underplanting of Black Scallop Ajuga as a dramatic dark-foliage flowering spiller, and Candy Stripe Creeping Phlox as filler, spillers and early-spring waves of soft pastel color!
For a brilliant, high-end display, combine the Iceberg Rose Tree Form as a fantastic thriller, surrounded by an underplanting of Festival Star Baby's Breath for a mist-like fringe and a ring of tiny summer-flowering Darling Daisy™ Dwarf Shasta Daisies around the edges. Tuck in a trailing ring of Thorndale English Ivy around the perimeter.
Partial Shade Contemporary Planter:
For that in-between area of sun and shade, a dramatic cool-colored cool-season planter stands out with The Blues Little Bluestem as the primary thriller, surrounded by pretty Twinkle Toes Lungwort or Stairway to Heaven Jacobs Ladder as accents and fillers. Then tuck in some bright blue and green mound of Jack Frost Brunnera and/or Blue Mouse Ears Hosta for some dwarf greenery.
Or try the pretty lavender and variegated mixture of Northern Lights Tufted Hairgrass against a columnar lavender-flowering Clematis. Tuck in a fragrant Kit Cat Catmint and the purple and silver foliage of Frosted Violet or Silver Scrolls Coral Bells as a spiller!
Full Shade Feature Planter:
Bring on the drama in the shade with the Bottle Rocket Leopard Plant filling most of the container with the vibrant gold and red pop of foliage color Champagne Coral Bells and Jurassic Gold Wood Fern that adds a splash of green, gold, and orange! This green and gold color combo packs an eye-catching punch to the full-shade garden!
For a more soft and soothing shade garden planter, choose the Cinnamon Fern for a fine-textured soft green foliage thriller with the pretty Lemon Love Coral Bells and its lemony stems and foliage with white bell-shaped flowers. Add the flowering red-tinged heart-shaped foliage and yellow-flowering Frohnleiten Barrenwort as a spiller.
Rustic Planters
For more of a rustic, farmhouse vibe, consider planting these plants in a barrel, in wooden box planters, or in a terra cotta pot. Many of these plants thrive in a wide variety of growing zones!
Full Sun Half Whiskey Barrel:
Fun and orangy-coppery sun-loving high-impact perennials really warm up an area! Like the Orange Impact Dahlia that becomes a tall perennial bulb thriller and looks great paired with the informal Burgundy Bunny Grass works as a vibrant color-changing upright texture plant. When combined with the rusty red Chicago Apache Daylily and soft, coppery apricot Creme Caramel™ Coreopsis planted in clumps around the planter. The rusty orange Caramel Coral Bells is a great coppery orange spiller and filler.
For a more cool and collected informal combination, try using the Denim 'n Lace Russian Sage as a thriller and filler, surrounded by early spring flowering Emerald Blue Creeping Phlox as a semi-evergreen spiller and filler. Include the late summer to fall flowering Peachies Pick Stokes Aster, and the silvery soft, and fuzzy foliage of Helene Von Stein Lambs Ear as a spiller and filler. You can include some Snow Hill Salvia for a vertical pop of long-lasting white into this mixture!
Partial Shade Wooden Planter
Gain showy partial shade contrasting color using the Little Suzy Black-Eyed Susan as a mounded thriller, complemented by the equally brilliant yellow blooms of the Buttered Popcorn Daylily, using its arching strappy foliage used as a filler and spiller! The fine-textured foliage and unusual summer/fall plumes of Blonde Ambition Blue Grama Grass will add a unique pop of interest and the flowing cascade of All Gold Japanese Forest Grass completes the look!
For a bright blue presentation, try using the big and ruffled foliage of Shadowland® Waterslide Hosta as a feature thriller, surrounded by Blue Ice Amsonia and strappy summer-flowering Amethyst Kiss™ Spiderwort and Blue Plumbago Plant for a bright blue pop of color. Tuck in some Periwinkle around the edges for more filler and trailing spillers.
Full Shade Balcony Pots:
Fire up the shaded container garden with the golden and green Autumn Frost Hosta or Stained Glass Hosta with the cascading and equally gold ribbon-like leaves of Evercolor® Everillo Carex. Mix in the lacy foliage chartreuse of Goldheart Bleeding Heart and its pink flowers, and the hot pink and bright green of Marmalade Coral Bells as spillers and foliage color.
For a lacy mixture of flowers and foliage that is ideal for hot growing zones of 5 and up, add the airy, lacy white mid-summer blooms of Proven Winners® Chantilly Lace Goatsbeard as a gorgeous thriller, combined with the creamy white early spring plumes of Bridal Veil Astilbe, and the silvery foliage of Japanese Painted Ferns. You can then add the fine-textured silvery-green blades of Blue Zinger Sedge Grass, or the coarse white and green variegated foliage of the petite Fireworks Hosta.
Mix these perennials with your favorite annuals like Begonia or other shade-garden ephemerals.
Expand Your Garden’s Potential!
When there is no more room in the ground in your yard, grow up! Potting up your plants makes it easy to bring your garden to more areas beyond the landscape and also move around your potted plants! Simply place them on rolling casters.
Container planting also allows you to try plants not quite hardy enough for your Hardiness Zone in the ground, but you can grow in pots and move into the garage for the winter!
Go big and try tiered planters, tipsy planters, unusual planter options, and stacked raised beds that elevate your container gardens to new heights and layers!
By using perennial plants, you can also divide perennials as they get larger and spread their beauty around further, but also if you want to change your color scheme or theme, you can transplant them into your garden!
Remember to include some non-stop flowering annuals, which is a great way to change up the color combinations!
You can read more about caring for and transplanting Perennials in our Garden Blog, and you can read everything about caring for potted plants, knowing when to repot plants, and protecting them in the winter!
Perennials get bigger and better each year, so your planters will become more and more beautiful over time! Start your own Perennial Container Garden with the help of NatureHills.com today and begin enjoying every area of your outdoor world!
Happy Planting!
