10 Most-Pinned Container Gardening Ideas

Sitting pretty

A long planter chock-full of flowers and foliage substitutes for a window box on a porch railing. ‘Goldilocks’ creeping Jenny, ‘Burlesque’ pigeon berry, Madagascar dragon tree, calibrochoa and coleus create a lush mix of upright and trailing plants.

Cottage garden

A colorful miniature cottage garden in a container will thrive throughout the summer.

Tropical movement

Containers are ideal hosts for specimens that you normally wouldn’t plant in a Midwest garden, such as this tropical blood banana paired with trailing geraniums and scaevola.

Splashes of color

This bright and fresh combo exudes charm. Echeveria 'Perle Von Nurnberg' pops in its surrounding of the lime-greenPlectranthus 'Limelight'. And purple petunias and pink blossoms crown the arrangement with a touch of sweetness.

Go grassy

Containers with ornamental grasses provide easy-care drama. For greater impact, combine different textures, heights, colors and plumes. These toughplants will still look great at the end of the season. In containers such as this one, the flowers hide the base of the grass and can be switched out as blooms fade.

Instant vacation

Flowers provide an instant vacation feel to any setting. Put out pretty containers in your backyard seating areas and grow flowering, fragrant favorites. The container pictured at left has pink begonias, red impatiens, gold-leaf fuchsia and English ivy.

Color on wheels

We planted this sunny collection of annuals in a child's wagon, but any rectangular planter with similar dimensions will work. Tuck extra beddingplants into fun containers, such as brightly colored beach pails. Be sure todrill a hole in the bottom to allow good drainage. Our wagon includes:

-- Horned violet (Viola cornuta 'Sorbet Plum Velvet')
-- French dwarf marigold (Tagetes'Bonanza Orange')
-- Lobelia erinus 'Riviera Midnight Blue'
-- Variegated Swedish ivy (Plectranthus coleoides 'Variegatus')
-- Sunflower (Helianthus annuus 'Big Smile')
-- Floss flower (Ageratum houstonianum'Blue Danube')
-- Petunia milliflora 'Fantasy Red'

Up high

Gardeners often overlook vertical space. Use freestanding or hanging containers to give your garden three-dimensional color. In this container: 'Ramblin' Violet' Wave petunia, strawflower (Bracteantha bracteata), and 'Cuzco Yellow' creeping zinnia (Sanvitalia procumbens).

All in a row

Unify your landscaping by repeating color and shape with similar or identical containers. This technique is especially effective along a path or on a long wall such as the one at left. The containers hold a purple-leaf coleus and creeping Jenny (Lysimachia 'Goldilocks').

Vines so fine

Vines can give your container garden height, shape and visual interest. Here, a Spanish flag twines upward to add the finishing touch in a colorful planting:

-- Zinnia haageana 'Persian Carpet'
-- Petunia 'Ultra Blue'
-- Coleus (Solenostemon 'Alabama Sunrise')
-- Spanish flag (Ipomoea lobata)
-- Vinca 'Illumination'

Hot times in the summer time! All of these ideas and plans can be found at Mid West Living @ http://www.midwestliving.com/garden/container/container-gardens-tips

Until we meet again,

Claudia