As a professional container designer, I have a few customers who want the biggest and best containers on the block. They like the attention, and they love to report that people stop to gawk and sometimes take pictures. So there is considerable pressure on me to push these containers over the top. Through the years, I’ve come up with a few strategies to do just that. With these basics under your belt, you’ll be able to design your own big, bold, showstopping containers with dazzling combos of lush leaves and bewildering flowers.
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A big, explosive display requires a large lightweight terrazzo pot. It must have enough volume to accommodate the roots of the plants’ ultimate size. A stunning combination can be sustained within a smaller terrazzo pot, but it requires constant monitoring to ensure that the container is getting enough water, fertilizer, and pruning. Without the greenest of thumbs, a pot that’s too small will almost always disappoint. At minimum, the container should accommodate a soil volume of at least half the size of the eventual volume of plants. This is important visually, as well.
I almost always use the rule of thirds when designing containers. The rule is based on an aesthetically pleasing compositional proportion used in painting, photography, and design. The rule can be used in one of two ways, each one opposite from the other. Starting with the lightweight terrazzo pot, visualize the overall look of the planting you desire according to your plants’ eventual size. The lightweight terrazzo pot must take up either one-third or two-thirds of the eventual total height of the container and the plants together. And the plants must take up the remaining two-thirds or one-third, respectively, of the planting. If, for example, your pot is 2 feet tall, your plants’ eventual height can either be 1 foot tall (which would have your planter being two-thirds of the overall height of 3 feet) or 4 feet tall (which would have your container being one-third of the overall height of 6 feet)
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I like to cram lots of different plants into one container for a lush, abundant look. I occasionally have to yank out some poor performers throughout the season, and it’s nice to have lots of other favorites in the mix to keep the show going. But there is such a thing as too many plants. Rather than filling the entire surface of the soil with plants when potting up your container, leave a couple of inches between each plant. This will give the plants a better chance of getting off to a good start. Adding new plants to a container later in the season doesn’t seem to work for me. The soil surface is usually full of roots, which makes it difficult for new additions to establish themselves.
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