I find that I get great ideas for container gardens at botanic gardens, businesses, municipal streets, and garden centers. I recently had the opportunity to visit Atlanta. The Atlanta Botanical Garden had some beautiful examples of different containers and plant combinations.
At the entrance to the gardens, these tall, modern planters were filled with shades of green, white, and deep purple. I have to say that lime green and deep purple that is almost black is one of my favorite plant color combinations. The elephant ears with the coleus (see the second photo) made a strong contrast.
Height is another way to add visual appeal to a container garden. A tall container topped with a tall plant and one that overflows or trails down the pot is another great look. This rex begonia is lovely and I just love the fern on the right hand side of the pot. The trailing plant, when filled in, will blend well with the pot but create some texture as well.
The color combination of the rich red and the lime green in these containers is very nice. But it feels like there is something missing. There isn’t much height in these containers, so everything is low to the soil level. Perhaps as the begonias get taller, it will fill in nicely. I know the trailing plants will look nice.
This is almost the same plant combination as the previous photo, but it has the tall plant (Alocasia) I was looking for and it has such interesting leaves too! Maybe that means the Alocasia didn’t come up in the other containers?
I have never seen a container garden with a mixture like this – kalanchoe and sedums mixed in with vinca and Dyckia. Very cool! This would be great for areas that get a lot of sun and heat. And you wouldn’t have to water it much either.
There’s my favorite plant color combination again – deep dark purple and lime green. And I just love the tall tropical plant. Is that a bird of paradise?
Sometimes when you have a unique pot or container, you don’t need or want a lot of color or variety in the plants or it will overwhelm the composition. Take this beautiful pot. If you put a lot of various plants in it, it would be too much. But with this sweet potato vine trailing out over the edge, it complements the pot just perfectly.
If you are in the right climate, you can even use tropical plants in your container gardens. These are two beautiful examples of this, with such bright colors. I just love these!
