In early spring, a fresh container filled with cool-season blooms and foliage will inject instant color and fragrance onto your front step and patio. Here, we offer an easy step-by-step guide to get started.
1. Choose a Container
- Anything that holds potting mix can be a great container for outdoor arrangements. Just be sure the container you choose has enough volume to hold the plants you select and allows good drainage when you water.
- As an alternative to filling the entire container with potting mix, consider planting in a more shallow, reusable fiber bowl that can just drop into a decorative pot.
2. Gather Your Elements
- Professional potting mix
- The optimized mix of organic ingredients in a good-quality potting mix supports fast and healthy root growth for potted plants.
- A collection of early-season annual plants
- Some annual blooms and foliage are more cold-tolerant than others and thrive in early spring’s up-and-down weather. Our favorite cool-season annuals include pansies, snapdragons, stock, dianthus, coral bells, kale, and liriope.
- Decorative stems like faux forsythia or natural curly willow and dogwood
As for how many plants to include in your design, that’ll depend on how large the container is and how full you would like it to be. A simple design with just two or three plant varieties to keep it simple or multiple elements for a more intricate design.
3. Fill the Container with Potting Mix
- Fill the container with potting mix, moistening it thoroughly and evenly as you go.
- Gently level and smooth the mix, leaving the final surface about 1” below the rim of the pot.
- Water again, letting the excess drain out, then top off and smooth the moistened mix again if needed.
4. Place the Plants
- Starting in the center with taller plants such as snapdragons, stock, and liriope, remove a handful of potting mix that’s the same size and depth as the first plant’s root ball. Depending on the size of the container, plan for 1-3 plants in this center area.
- Carefully loosen the grow pot from the first plant’s roots and gently tease them apart a bit if they’re tight or circling.
- Place the root ball into the hole and re-level the mix around the plant stem. Keep the soil level the same as it was in the grow pot, and do not let potting mix rest against the stem.
- Once the center is planted, surround it with mounding bloomers and foliage such as pansies, kale, and coral bells.
- Don’t be afraid to fill it up – early spring is a relatively short growing season, so spacing between plants is not as big a concern.
- Once everything is in place and the mix is level, water again and let the excess drain.
5. Make it Your Own
- Add decorative stems of faux forsythia or natural curly willow and dogwood for added height and color.
Caring for Your Spring Container
Once complete, set your container and blooms in a sunny spot and water when the top inch or so of potting mix feels dry. And watch the forecast – these cool-season annuals do great in chilly weather, but if a freeze is predicted, it’s a good idea to your container with a light blanket or other fabric material to protect from overnight frost.
Let’s Get Started
If designing your own spring container sounds fun, come see us in the Greenhouse. We’ve got the containers, plants, soil, and tools to get you started. We even have a few examples for inspiration too. And if you have any questions, just ask – we’re always happy to help.
