The beauty of container gardens is that you can plant wherever you want in them, but the question is: how do you make them stand out? Professionals have a trick called the thriller, spiller, filler design method. Here’s what it’s all about and how to use it at home!
The most impressive garden planters always have a plant that stands out and grabs your attention; it’s the pop star of your container. There are dancers all around, but it’s the flashy one stealing the show! In other words, the thriller is a plant that immediately draws you in with impressive features.
Tall, flashy plants with big flowers, tall stems, and impressive leaves are the perfect options for thrillers. Consider trying canna lilies, yucca, bromeliads, irises, ferns, or ornamental grasses.
Fillers are all of the plants you place around the centerpiece. They’re like the dancers surrounding the leading performer. They’re not as showy as the thriller, but they provide the choreography to make the whole scene impressive. Some make a powerful texture contrast, while others bring a color counterpoint. They don’t just fill up space in your planter but help complete the whole look. Begonias, dusty millers, angelonias, coleus, pansies, and lantanas are all examples of excellent stage support in a container design.
A good performance is rarely just a singer and the dancers. It also includes lights, mist, fireworks, and other effects to blur the edges around the scene. Spillers play a similar role in a container garden. They spill over the edge of the pot, concealing the pot itself and creating beautiful trailing, weeping, or waterfall effects.
These overflowing plants give a sense of abundance, as though the plants were so plentiful that they’re growing beyond the pot. Nasturtiums, creeping golden Jenny, pansies, petunias, zinnias, sweet alyssum, sweet potato vine, and ivy geraniums are examples of impressive spillers.
Choosing the right plants is only part of the equation! When putting your planter together, consider these tips to make your containers stand out and impress.
Have some fun and get creative with your container designs! If you need any more tips for designing container gardens, or want to see all of the plants available, feel free to drop by our family-owned garden centers in Lothian and Alexandria!
At Greenstreet Gardens, we take pride in the fact that our number one goal is to make our customers successful.
Equipped with a diverse wealth of information and a knowledgeable staff, we are confident that we are able to provide all of the right tools and plant material necessary to help make your gardening ideas become reality.
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