Spring Containers to the Rescue!
Updated: Mar. 23, 2021Chase away the winter doldrums with captivating color—make that, captivating SPRING color. The floriferous fanfare is never more appreciated than it is early in the season. These 10 ideas will help get your creative juices flowing so you can raise your own color quotient!
Spring Fling
Brighten up your favorite outdoor living space with colorful flowers. This pretty vignette includes these container plants: Antirrhinum ‘Pink Arrow’, Lysimachia ‘Aurea’, Lobelia ‘Lucia Dark Blue’, Cosmos ‘Sonata Mix’, English ivy (Hedera helix), Lilium orientale ‘After Eight’ and Sedum.
Photo: Courtesy of Costa Farms
The Great Escape
Sometimes simple is better. Take this simple pairing of two potted Tropic Escape hibiscus. They’re big enough to create a splash on their own, especially with the muted white and black background serving as the perfect foil for the bright orange blooms. By the way, it’s a spring planting but this hibiscus will go all summer long!
Photo: Courtesy of Costa Farms
The Great Escape, Part II
For a slightly different take on hibiscus, try growing one as a standard (pruned into a single stem) and pair it with companions such as the Mandevilla Tropic Escape Mounding Red and Epipremnum ‘Neon’ seen here. Such potent color, yet refined, too!
Watch this video for container gardening tips.
Photo: Courtesy of Costa Farms
Potted Panache
This colorful trio in the Costa Farms test garden looks all the more impressive against a staid gray and green backdrop. These container plants include red salvia, yellow and red Gerbera daisy, browallia and petunia.
Like the look of custom containers? See how to build some cool planters.
Photo: Luke Miller/OldsmobileTrees
Early Risers
When you absolutely, positively can’t wait for spring anymore, there is potted crocus. As northern gardeners know, crocus is such an early riser it can come up through the snow. And if you prechill the bulbs for a couple months in the fridge, you can actually “force” them to bloom early—like midwinter early—indoors. The nice thing is, they’re small enough to enjoy on your breakfast table.
Bulb-a-rama
Other spring-blooming bulbs can also be forced to peak early if prechilled in the fridge. Or you can just let nature take its course and enjoy them all in good time. Here, tulips, daffodils and grape hyacinth are container plants underplanted with cool-weather companion pansies.
Many bulbs are fragrant. Meet some more aromatic aristocrats.
Pink and Blue Daze
Pink and blue make a nice combination of pastels. In this case, it’s pink tulips and blue forget-me-nots. What a nice planter this would be for an expecting mother—with both girls and boys covered. Of course, anyone needing a bit of spring tonic will appreciate a combination like this.
Pansies Galore
Pansies are a cool-season annual that have been a staple of spring gardens for a long time. These hardy container plants come in a range of colors and bicolors, so the choice is yours whether you want to go with a monotone or set the garden on its ear with an uproar of color. Here, matching white containers keep the focus on the flowers, while the variety of height injects extra eye appeal.
Lettuce Entertain You
Finally, we have something out of the ordinary. No flowers, just foliage. And in this case, edible foliage. Lettuce is so easy to grow from seed that it would be a shame not to include some in a spring planter. There are many leafy salad mixes with attractive colors and textures. And by the time summer rolls around, you’ve harvested all your lettuce and now have room to plant summer flowers. Win-win.
