No Comments »

Design Dilemma: Hottest Trend of the Summer? Container Gardens!

• Tweet

• Tweet

One of the hottest trends in garden design is the container garden.  And there’s a few reasons why.

1. They are an easy way to add dimension and visual interest. In large gardens, they are a relatively inexpensive way to provide architecture without adding pavers and raised beds. They can help define different areas of a garden that might be put to different uses — let’s say a patio space defined as a separate outdoor “room” from a play area.  They are also a great underpinning for form. Acting like a bra or girdle, they can make a shapeless, unwieldy garden seem sleek and sophisticated. In small spaces, like on patios and balconies, containers provide the actual growing space for decorative plants and vegetables alike.
   2.) They are a great way to provide color, depth and dimension, since containers come in all varieties of materials, colors and heights. There’s no better way to make a garden really pop.
   3.) They are often more manageable for gardeners who don’t have the greenest of thumbs. In a tighter, more contained bed, it’s harder for weeds to take hold and garden pests, including both insects and animals, to eat or destroy plants. It’s also easier to make sure that precious water gets only to the spots where it is needed. That makes container gardens perfect for areas of the country dealing with drought conditions.

Let’s take a look:

The garden above is composed almost entirely of planters and containers. With only a plain concrete walk to serve as the basis, you might expect a garden that felt like a sidewalk. And yet, thanks to the choice of plants, the garden feels as rich and lush and green as any jungle. A key secret here is the use of both plants and planters of varying heights. There are tall containers with draping plants that cascade to the concrete floor, as well as low planters with plants that reach for the sky. All that variety gives the planned garden an extremely natural feel.

Even when you have a traditional large lawn, you can still add a container or two to provide your garden with a pop of color and interest. The container above, a bright orange planter with purple plants set in the middle of a lawn, does just that.

The garden above shows how you can make a asphalt patio and wooden fence, feel lush and green. The homeowners cleverly created a system for a series of simple terra cotta planters which they filled with flowering plants. This area acts as an “accent wall” while a series of low containers and beds help fill everything out. This type of container garden is a cinch to maintain.

Container gardens aren’t just for decorative plants alone. Here, the homeowners have used metal-look basins for planting an array of vegetables. The choice of containers lends the garden a rustic feel.

Sometimes, smaller containers can’t quite get the effect you’re looking for. In this case, raised beds have been used to provide a resplendent patch of decorative flowers and plants.

And below, a few containers grouped together are a different option for those who don’t want to go to the trouble of putting in raised beds:

But the truth is that just one container alone, if planted with care, can have quite a dramatic effect in any garden. Take the planter below. The great variety of plants packed tightly into one space makes for a cacophony of color and form, a great way to dress up a front or back door. The turquoise color of the planter works beautifully with the orange and pink tones of the plants and flowers.

Same here, where one white container on a deck makes enough of a statement:

And here:

Bringing containers into a hybrid space — like a sunroom or this covered patio — can also turn a room into a garden.

The city balcony, below, feels almost like it could be out in the country, thanks to the liberal use of containers.

And below, we see another clever system for turning a brick wall into a garden:

So you see, there’s a really good reason why container gardens are now all the rage. They are economical, water-saving and relatively easy to maintain, making it easy to enjoy the summer outside with plants!