How to Plant a Container Garden in 6 Easy Steps

Setting Up a Container Garden

Gather your supplies and lay them out where you have room to work. If you're creating a large container garden, place your planter where you want it to be because it will be quite heavy once you're finished putting it together and may be difficult to move.

1. Choose the Right Container

   Like plants, containers have characteristics to consider, including weight, sensitivity to weather changes, and appearance. When choosing a vessel for your container garden, you'll also want to consider your style, budget, and space. Keep in mind that the larger the size, the less you'll need to water, but whatever you choose, always make sure the container has holes in the bottom for drainage.
   

2. Select Color Schemes and Plant Combinations

   A color theme for a container garden can help you select a good mix of plants. You can play off the color of your container or focus on the flowers and foliage you plan to include. When combining plants in your container garden, ensure they all need the same light levels and frequency of watering. Plant them in odd numbers, and be sure to have at least one thriller, filler, and spiller plant. Combining these three types of plants adds interest and balance.

   Thriller: These plants add height and a bold vertical element. Some options include plants chosen for foliage, ornamental grasses, or upright flowering plants. Thrillers typically go near the center of a container.

   Filler: Fillers tend to be more rounded or mounded and serve to make the container look full. These are generally placed in front of or around the thriller. In a long and narrow container like a window box, fillers are placed midway between the edge of the container and the thrillers.

   Spiller: Plants that hang over the edge of the container are considered spillers. If your container garden is seen from all sides, place spillers all the way around.

3. Limit the Number of Plants You Use

   Be careful not to overfill a container garden. If the plants are overcrowded, growth can be stunted both above and below the soil. To lessen the chances of overfilling a container, you will generally want to follow these plant-to-pot size ratios:

   • 10" to 12" pot can hold 3-4 plants
   • 14" to 16" pot can hold 5-7 plants
   • 16" to 20" pot can hold 6-9 plants

4. Fill the Container with Potting Mix

   Once you've selected your plants and a container, it's time to get planting. Fill your container two-thirds full with an all-purpose potting mix. Don't be tempted to use garden soil. It's too heavy and won't drain as well as it must in a container.

   If you have a really large planter and want to use less potting mix, turn smaller empty containers upside down and place them on the bottom to take up some of the space. Then, fill around them with potting mix until your container is two-thirds full.

   Before filling your container, you can place a piece from a broken clay pot over the drainage hole to prevent the potting mix from draining out—but make sure the water can still drain. Never add a layer of rocks to the bottom because, besides adding unnecessary weight, this makes it harder for water to drain out.

5. Place Plants in Your Container Garden

   When you're ready to add plants, gently squeeze their nursery containers around the sides to loosen the root ball enough to slide it out. Avoid tugging on the plant itself, which may damage it. Loosen the roots to encourage them to grow outward into the pot. Then, set your plants on the potting mix so that the top of their root balls are a couple of inches below the rim of your container. This will make it easier for you to water later.

   Fill around your plants with more potting mix, ensuring the stems are no deeper in the soil than in their nursery containers. Use your hands to press down lightly on the mix to eliminate large air pockets.

6. Water Your Plants

   Water your container garden to help the soil settle in. Add more soil if needed so that all the roots are covered. Remember to keep the soil level a couple of inches below the container's rim to prevent water and soil from spilling out.

   After that first watering, check back in a day or two to see if the first inch or so of soil is dry to the touch. If it's dry, it's time to water again. You'll know you've given your container enough water when some runs out of the drainage hole(s). If you use a saucer under the pot, keep it emptied since plant roots can rot when left sitting in the collected water.

Plant Combination Ideas for a Container Garden in the Shade

Foliage First Container Garden

Don't be afraid to mix up different types of plants, such as annuals, perennials, vegetables, and even small shrubs. The important thing when container gardening is to choose plants that prefer the same light conditions. In this container, a dwarf Alberta spruce provides height as a somewhat understated thriller, paired with an artichoke as a more dramatic thriller with silvery, serrated leaves. The variegated hostas act as fillers, along with asparagus fern and flowering browallia. 'Goldi' creeping Jenny and English ivy take the role of spillers. All of these different plants do well in their part shade location.

Dark and Bold Container Garden

Deep greens and purples add depth, even in shady spots. This arrangement echoes the look of the container with dark, boldly textured foliage from 'Brit Marie Crawford' ligularia (the thriller) as well as the fillers 'Obsidian' heuchera, 'Fanal' astilbe, and 'Red Threads' alternathera. Spillers are blue-flowered lobelia and silvery Japanese painted fern, which set off the darker plants and pot.

Pastel and White Container Garden

Brighten up a shady nook with a light-colored container and plants with white or pastel-colored foliage and flowers. Caladium is the thriller in this container garden, thanks to its large leaves with dramatic patterns and tall stems. For fillers, 'Diamond Frost' euphorbia adds delicate texture and flowers that continue the white theme, while 'Nonstop Mix' and 'Angel Falls Soft Pink' begonias bring in ivory and blush hues that mimic the finish of the container. 'Silver Falls' dichondra makes a fine spiller with its dangling stems of pale, silvery foliage.

Plant Combination Ideas for a Container Garden in the Sun

Bronze and Red Container Garden

Red hues carry through this container in both foliage and flowers. The bronze glaze of the container brings out similar warm tones in the foliage of the sweet potato vine (spiller), coleus, copper leaf plant (filler), and Tropicanna canna (thriller). Red Abyssinian hardy banana acts as a darker red thriller, and 'Bossa Nova Orange' begonia adds a splash of bright red blooms.

Warm Colors Container Garden

The warm colors of sunset inspired this combination. The yellow container brings out the canna flowers (thriller) and 'Superbells Lemon Slice' calibrachoa (spiller). 'Saucy Coral' salvia and firecracker plant (both thrillers), plus 'Bandana Cherry Sunrise' lantana (filler), heat things up even more with their fiery flowers. Two varieties of sweet potato vine ('Margarita' and 'SolarPower Lime') add bright foliage as spillers.