How to Create Beautiful Container Gardens

Welcome to Finding Friday. It’s gardening season! Yes! Can I tell you how happy that makes me? Have I got a treat for you. Today, I’m sharing how to create beautiful container gardens with genius landscape architect and the author of many container garden books, Pamela Crawford.

Her container gardens?

The image above is one of my favorite inspirations…that lovely planter with lavender, ornamental kale and violas from one of her container garden books stole my heart.

Then there are the these that add veggies surrounded by beautiful flowers. And those obelisks! So gorgeous!

But, first I have to tell you where my container garden story began before I found Pamela.

The deer have moved most of my gardening to container gardens on the deck. I have moved vegetable container gardening to a plant tower…herbs to containers and even hostas, ferns and ivy have made their way to the container garden scene on the deck.

Has that happened to you with container gardening?

I mean, seriously, it’s like one morning I got up and that lemon balm container was gorgeous…

as was the planter with the hostas. Aren’t they glorious? (oh, that deck is still waiting for paint after the fire restoration–but, I digress!)

Hostas grown in large containers on my deck have become my favorite. Hostas are one of those perennials that I love. Tucked in beside a bench in a shaded area for most of the day, they grow large and fill up the entire container. I simply trim back the blooms to keep them clean and beautiful after they begin to die back and the hummingbirds and bees have finished with their need for them.

The best part? Those hostas just return each year. No need for replanting or repotting until I need to divide them after a few years.

There are container gardens of other herbs that need a bit of repotting and fertilizer to bring them back to their full potential.

Some herbs had died and others were a bit leggy or root bound and needed some TLC.

Why Container Gardens?

Do you remember when I shared with you the trip to Gibbs Gardens and those daffodil fields? Among the group of friends that visited together was an incredible Container Gardener and author, Pamela Crawford.

What a joy to stay with her in her home, share meals, conversations and walks through the forested area surrounding her home.

Our visit began by creating the easiest roasted dinner. I added skewers of veggies and potatoes to a baking sheet and drizzled with seasonings and olive oil and then roasted in the oven. My friend, Sweetie, orchestrated this gathering…and I am truly thankful.

Such an easy and delicious dinner with pound cake that I had brought that was enjoyed for dessert.

Pamela’s neighborhood setting was glorious.

The waterfalls, fern lined trails and historic buildings made for a perfect spring walk.

Great conversations were about her journey as a landscape architect, her books and also about her vision and future plans for container garden projects. Such brilliance and creativity captured my heart.

Pamela has been featured in so many of my favorite magazines that I was in awe of each article shared.

But, do you know what I was amazed by with this container gardener?

She shared her mistakes…thousands of them.

What worked, what didn’t work and why fill the pages of her beautiful series of container garden books.

This gave me hope.

Right in the middle of when I think I about got the hang of it and a new disaster occurred…she was standing there shoulder to shoulder with me.

Standing on my deck in the middle of those containers, I could almost hear her say something that I needed to do…if that soft voice wasn’t loud enough…I could open up her wonderfully organized books and find her voice amidst those pages.

Beautiful Container Garden Books

Such an amazing resource that I probably should have purchased them during the winter months so that I would be better prepared on which worked best together…for reasons of sunlight, watering, nutrient needs, size…all of that!

I shared with her a photo of my first growing disaster of my tower garden with its 50 plants…some which cross pollenated and others that had so many vines that it made turning the tower impossible.

Her comment over her shoulder from a passing glance? “Too many plants!” I loved it. She is so very knowledgable that one glance at a photo and she had that season summed up. Brilliant!

Mixing herbs with flowers?

Who knew? My herbs had stayed contained in separate planters from the flowers. But, look at her inspiration…

You know what I love?? On the pages of each of her books she gives you lists of what she planted in each and how to care for it. Perfect resources and advice on each page.

Then there was a container garden book combining vegetables and flowers.

Now my 50 plant tower had mixed herbs, vegetables and flowers…but, the results appeared in my lack of knowledge about which plants to add where.

My planting of those container gardens is beginning with a little more excitement this year.

Not only will I be planting flowers with my vegetables and herbs—but, Pamela’s experience may give me the skills to succeed in beauty and function.

So—Revealing my container gardening skills so far…

I’m adding more perennials that will come back to concrete containers with lavender and annuals that require full sun on a side patio. This concrete container was planted with dianthus last year and I love that it came back this beautifully this year.

What do you think? I’ll be adding a few herbs and flowers mixed in the concrete swan. It currently has lavender and I’ll be using Pamela’s advice on what flowers will work best to add to it. Here’s the photo of that lavender making its entrance back. Just trimmed it back some to bring new life to it.

There are new container garden planters on the front porch.

Our ring camera proves to be a challenge for adding in a “thriller” that doesn’t add movement to record. In years past, the spikes and ferns have had movement that triggered a recording for that doorbell.

I purchased new planters that I thought were a little shorter to replace my original planters only to find that they were the same height!

I’ll be adding new shade loving plants in between them, which I think will be a perfect complement to those container garden groupings. So this is the beginning of what I have that I am loving…looking for the right couple of more plants to make it lush and gorgeous like the container genius would create.

I still have annual flowers only in my porch planters. But, can I tell you, Pamela’s knowledge and books as a resource has given me more confidence on which plants work well together in each container garden.

A win win for beauty and success!

This year I am repeating the same flowers that I loved last year when I added red geraniums that became my “thriller”, blue lobelia as my “filler” and snowstorm snowflake as my “spiller” to the new front porch planters. I may add another “spiller” and a “thriller” to keep it full and beautiful.

Here’s last year’s version of those flowers that were worth a repeat. The height on the red geraniums became the perfect “thriller” underneath that ring camera.

The original black planters look great against the new white siding and black gutters surrounding the screened in porch. I have filled them with ferns and positioned them on the corners of the screened porch with smaller planters grouped below with other flowers.

I have temporarily positioned my concrete baskets with more dianthus beneath the ferns and in areas near those lime fusion hydrangea I shared in the perennial garden post. A pretty grouping with planted hydrangea and container gardens.

Can I tell you that Pamela has inspired my husband to create window boxes?

He would love to hang them on the back wall below the screened windows on the porch. Wouldn’t that be lovely? We will see if those happen. This is the year to rescreen those screened porch windows so that will have to be done first.

Oh, the joys of the summer lists, right? I still would love more shade loving perennial bushes surrounding the screened porch to replace those that we removed. Those lime fusion hydrangea might need to go on the side to not interfere with the window boxes if that happens. Sooooo many decisions, right?

One of Pamela’s window boxes that inspire me…

Taking inspiration from her deck container gardening

I’ll be sharing more planters as they are added around the deck, porch, screened porch and garden areas.

Hope your gardening is off to a wonderful start!

Meanwhile trailer loads of annuals and perennials were cleaned out of a local greenhouse and distributed to nursing homes in the area, community kitchens, and other locations by my husband and friends this week…with many still left to find new homes…I’ll be navigating what and where some of the remainder will fit into my garden! Composting should finally begin next week here with the composting center back open!

For More Gardening Inspiration…

• Zinnia planting
• Perennial gardens
• Flower garden beds
• Some Garden planning
• A bit of Garden inspiration for the back porch
• Garden inspired wreath
• Easy pressed ferns
• Magical fairy garden tea party

I’m including the resources that have given me courage, knowledge and confidence. Hope they help you, too…if so, let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to thank Pamela for you!

Happy Gardening!

As an Amazon Affiliate and a member of Rewards Style…I am linking some of the products for you below for your shopping convenience at no additional cost to you. If you shop through the links, it simply helps this blog grow.

A few more lovely finds for preparing and serving that Easy Roasted Dinner …