Creating the Perfect Container Garden
By: Chris VanCleave, Chairman Helena Beautification Board
Well planted containers add beauty and charm to your garden
So many residents ask each year about how to re-create the baskets and planters that we display in Old Town. You don't have to be a professional horticulturist to create striking containers that will wow your friends and neighbors. Actually, planting in containers is easy and is a great way to highlight an entry and place some color on your patio or porch.
We follow a very easy formula called the "Thriller, Filler and Spiller" method.
Our friends at Proven Winners created this cool video demonstrating just how it's done.
We follow a very easy formula called the "Thriller, Filler and Spiller" method.
- Select plants that will give you some height. This is your thriller. Choices such as Senorita Rosalita Cleome, Lemon Grass and Spike grass make great thriller plants.
- Choose good filler plants. These are placed in front of or around your thriller plant. This allows the plant to "fill in" the container and give it a full effect. Check out some of the Supertunia varieties on the market today. They make great fillers in your containers.
- Lastly, choose a good spiller. These are plants that will spill over the edge of the container. Sweet potato vine, trailing petunias are just a few of the spiller plants available at your local home and garden center.
Our friends at Proven Winners created this cool video demonstrating just how it's done.
Nicknamed "The Redneck Rosarian", Chris VanCleave is passionate about gardening and growing roses. He is an active member of the Birmingham chapter of the American Rose Society, serving two terms as President. In 2007, he created the Rose Chat Podcast which has reached over a half a million listeners with news and information on growing the world's most beloved flower, the rose. He was a contributor to the 2015 Southern Living Gardening Book, has appeared on P. Allen Smith's Garden Home television show and was featured in the June 2015 issue of Southern Living Magazine. Locally, Chris serves as Chairman of the Helena Beautification Board where he has spearheaded efforts to create a sustainable landscape in one of the Top 100 places to live in the US. His writing is seen on About.com, HGTV, Home Depot Gardening Club and on his popular website; RedneckRosarian.com, where he chronicles his gardening adventures and explores an intrinsic mix of life, faith and gardening. An agent of change with over 20 years' experience in process innovation, Mr. VanCleave is leading the charge to reinvigorate horticulture societies and helping them to reach their full potential in the social media age.