Refresh Your Planters!

 Joanne K., Pitt County Extension Master Gardener Volunteer

Summer is almost here by the calendar, but already it's sunny and warm in eastern NC, and container gardens are bursting with color. These planting beauties can be seen around the Pitt County Arboretum, along the curbs in Greenville, and in home gardens around the city.

Container gardens offer you the opportunity to create a new look every summer, combining old and new plants, annuals and perennials, or vegetables and herbs. They do need to be refreshed from time to time and below are some ideas to inspire your own designs.

Shade and partial shade gardens may or may not have flowers, but leaf patterns, colors, and textures create a striking visual appeal.

In photo 1, the four hostas offer varying shades of green with a variety of leaf textures and shapes. The fern in the back is an evergreen. Both the hostas and the fern are perennials that will return year after year and are great selections for a perennial planter.

Photo 1: Hostas (left to right)—Smiley Face, Cody, Little White Lines, and Curly Fries; Fern—Asplenium platyneuron Ebony Spleenwort—Teresa S.

Photo 2: Caladium 'Fiesta' (green/red/white), Caladium 'Gingerland' (red/white), Dianthus 'Floral Lace White'—Joanne K.

In photo 2, the caladiums and the dianthus grow in a partially shaded area. The bright colors of the caladiums provide a pop of color while the white dianthus flowers echo the white in the caladiums.

Sunny areas provide lots of plant options for container gardens.

Photo 3 is an example of a 4-season pot. All of the plants except for the coleus are perennials that will keep growing all year. The coleus is the one plant that needs to be replaced in the fall. Coleus last longer if the flowers are cut off as soon as they appear. This is another example of plants with different greens, colors, textures, and growing patterns creating a varied visual palette. This planter displays the thriller, filler, spiller mantra for container planting with its combination of a tall plant with fillers and spillers.

Photo 3: Coleus scutellarioides 'Wizard Mix', Teucrium chamaedrys Wall Germander, Lysimachia congestiflora 'Persian Chocolate', Sedum rupestre 'Angelina'—Teresa S.

Photo 4: Euphorbia, Surdiva® Scaevola hybrid 'White Improved'—Joanne K.

Photo 4 shows a euphorbia and a scaevola playing well together with the exuberant euphorbia providing the thriller factor and the scaevola a combined filler/spiller effect. In addition, the variegated euphorbia adds a touch of yellow to the color palette.

Photo 5 shows another example of the thriller, filler, spiller mantra. The hypoestes in the back is the thriller due to its height and variegated leaf color, the pink of which is picked up by the trailing vinca (the spiller), and the tiny purple/pink cuphea flowers (the filler).

Photo 5: Catharanthus roseus, Trailing Vinca 'Mediterranean Strawberry', Hypoestes 'Confetti Mix', Cuphea 'Floriglory Diana'—Joanne K.

Let your creative imagination take root as you create your summer planters remembering to faithfully water your planters especially during the height of summer heat and humidity, fertilize and deadhead as needed, and keep an eye out of pests or diseases.