The temperatures are starting to rise and the flowers in our gardens are starting to bloom. Whether you have a large garden or just a small patio, you can always have a place for flowers to grow. I am by no means a skilled gardener, but I like to have flowers and plants to look at so I have learned to manage the smaller scale gardens. The best way to begin gardening for beginners is to start with a planter.
My planters on my front porch a few years back.
via Karen Bertelsen – The Art Of Doing Stuff
The Planters
I usually place two planters on either side of my garage door to visually break up all the concrete, stone, and steel. I also like to place one planter by my front door. Flowers bring a welcoming scent and burst of color to all visitors. If you are just starting to garden, here is everything you will need to assemble your planters.
A Planter – style and height according to what you like. Some of my favorites include this, this, this, and this (which is self watering – awesome!)- Potting soil
- Garden Trowel
- Watering Can or spray attachment to a hose
Flowers
Begin preparation by placing your planters – move them into place before you fill them with soil because after being filled they will be heavy. If you have planters from previous years, make sure they are cleaned out and you are using new soil to prevent disease in your plants.
Choosing Your Plants
These plants will not last throughout the winter, so there is no need to worry about annual, perennial, etc. Look to see how much sun the area gets and look for plants that will thrive in either full sun, partial, or shade (depending on what works for your space).
via unsophisticook.com
via Karen Bertelsen – The Art Of Doing Stuff
When choosing plants I like to pick a color scheme first. I see green as a neutral, but like to have a color to keep me in line for plant selection. My preference is to have a center plant that is tall, usually a grass looking plant. Look for dracaena, calla lily, or red ferns. Less tall, but a stunning accent is the Curly Juncus. Place plants that hang or droop down the planter around the perimeter, such as sweet potato vine, creeping jenny, ivy, bacopa, or wave petunia. Fill the middle with any flower that you like. Popular plants for me include cosmos, geraniums, impatiens, pansies, and snap dragons. You could add rosemary or lavender if you wanted it to smell nice.
Just remember to keep your plants watered, and enjoy them bloom throughout the summer.
*note – apparently this concept I have tried to explain already has a name. Thrill, Fill, Spill. So there you go, I am not making this stuff up. *
Are you ready to enjoy the outdoors? Check out these outdoor entertaining ideas:
Deb Clauss says
Can you tell me what plants are in the second picture above – I believe there is a spider plant in the middle with purple & white leaves and some trailing green plants and white plants.
Thank ;you
Stephanie Rose says
Hi Deb,
They look like Chlorophytum comosum, Tradescantia pallid, Ipomoea batatas and Lysimachia nummularia. The common names are spider plant, wandering jew, sweet potato vine, and creeping jenny.
Brooke says
Thank you for the information! Stephanie Rose is the garden expert!
Sarah says
Would those be considered full sun? Part? Shade?
Brooke says
My front porch gets full sun in the morning but shade in the afternoons and they do great there. If you are planting them in the ground I think they would do better with full sun.
Sarah says
I would also love if you would list the plants used in the photos!
Sherryl says
Helpful information. Lucky me I discovered your web site by accident, and I am surprised why this accident did not happened earlier!
I bookmarked it.