Living Livelier: 5 Tips to Creating Beautiful Container Gardens this Spring!

I was inspired to write a post about containers after our visit to London where we saw beautiful gardens and container gardens all over the city. Read the London post here. Thinking it would be easy to find some inspiration for my containers this spring, I flipped through over 30 pages of Google images. No luck. No kidding. Why is it that people think that the more varieties of plants they put in a container the better it looks. Here are some photos of containers; I have not included the sources for fear of offending someone...

Perhaps it is just me, but I get dizzy looking at these containers.

Here are 5 things to keep in mind when creating your containers this spring!

1) Color. Use colors that are pleasing to the eye and compliment each other. Containers focusing on 1 or 2 colors are soothing and allows the eye to absorb the varying textures in the plants. (see #2)

2) Texture. Similar to color, the eye can only absorb so much! I would focus in on 1-3 textures and leave it at that!

3) Containers. Just as you would consider the frame in a work of art, be sure your containers are the same style or same color. You can certainly have different sizes and shapes, but there should be one 'uniform' factor either color, material etc.

4) Plant requirements. This is obvious, but worth repeating. Make sure the plants you have selected all have similar light, soil and water requirements or mid-way through the summer, some one is not going to be happy. If you are not sure, ask when you are buying your plants.

5) Location. Put your containers where they will receive the attention they deserve! Frame a doorway, anchor an entrance way, draw the eye to a focal point.

6) Bonus tip: Proportion. Remember to keep your plants in proportion with your container. For example, if you have a 3 feet tall container your plants are going to have to be large to balance the depth of the container.

Here are some containers that I adore!