A quote I think about when creating a container planting or designing a flower pot garden.
“You just can’t plant exotics in the countryside. They just jar. But in town, where the are no points of reference, you can get away with all sorts”
– Jinny Blom, Garden Design Magazine, March 2011
The whole concept of point of reference is interesting to me. Connecting the container planting, a superficial garden, to the overall surroundings just makes sense to me. I love extracting cues from the bigger landscape and bringing it up close – in a way, magnifying it – into the container where it can reflect nature and change.
The essence of seasonality is something I strive for whether working with plants or cut flowers. It brings a sense of richness and honesty to the composition. – Roanne
Flower Pot Design for Fall
This autumnal container planting takes inspiration from the New England landscape and features crunchy veggies and perennials in a cast concrete vessel.
Container Garden Plant Palette Recipe:
- Swiss chard – An edible with large leaves and colorful ribs. Plant this around the edges of the pot.
- Waldsteinia – (Barren Appalachian Strawberry) – A low creeping groundcover with yellow flowers. Plant it where it can spill over the edges of the container.
- Amsonia – With blue flowers and finely textured leaves, this will add height and flowers to the composition.
- Lysmachia – Another creeping plant that will spill over the edges, lysmachia has brightly colored chartreuse leaves.
- Carex – Choose from a huge variety of grasses, but choose for height and color in the fall.
- Panicum – Another grass, if you choose a strictly upright carex, consider a panicum with blades that arch – or vice versa. The difference in texture is what will make the arrangement more interesting.
- Boltonia – Often referred to as false aster, the flowers of Boltonia strongly resemble native asters. Use it where the grasses and other plants can hide their uninteresting foliage, and the flowers can be highlighted against the backdrop of other plants.
Roanne Robbins is the Author of The Continuous Container Garden.
Images: John Gruen/ Continuous Container Gardens
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