My Top 3 Must-Have Garden Containers – Stunning Looks for Any Space

Pots and containers are some of the most versatile features you can have in a garden. They make stunning focal points and you can tailor them to whatever style of garden you have. Here I show you how to use different plant combinations with different types of containers to create three eye-catching looks.

A fool proof tip that always works for me is to divide your plant choices up into “thrillers” (tall, dramatic plants with height), “fillers” (lower level plants that complement the others and fill in the gaps) and “spillers” (plants for the perimeter that spill over the container, softening its edges) Its served me well for decades so I hope it works for you!

1. A Cottage Garden Planter

Think of cottage gardens and big blousy flower-filled borders come to mind, but you can capture the essence of a cottage garden in a container. Using a “Versailles” style wooden planter that’s a neutral colour shows off the pastel shades of classic cottage garden plants to perfection.

Thriller:
Foxglove ‘Dottie Mix’

Fillers:
Hosta ‘Albomarginata’
Scabius ‘Butterfly Blue’
Osteospermum ‘Rose Bicolour’’
Osteospermum ‘Senorita Double Lovely Pink’

Spillers:
Hedera (Ivy) ‘Little Diamond’

2. A Contemporary Pot

A dark grey large pot makes an eye-catching base for this muted but chic planting combo! Perfect for a planter thats as much about foliage as flowers.

Thriller:
Agapanthus ‘Armourette’

Fillers:
Geranium Pratense ‘Storm Cloud’
Lavandula stoechas (French Lavender)
Heuchera ‘Black Pearl’

Spillers
Thyme ‘Silver Posie’

3. A Trough full of Annuals

They may only last one season but annuals provide such a stunning blaze of colour I always make sure to have at least one display in a container. For maximum impact I put them in the biggest container I can get. A trough is perfect.

Thriller:
Geranium Pink (Pelargonium)

Fillers:
Calibrachoa ‘Million Bell’

Spillers
Nemesia ‘Wisley Vanilla’

Those are my favourite combinations but what are yours? Comment below and let me know. Plus I’d love to know which of my three looks works best for you.

ALAN IS USING:
All Plants, wooden container, pot and trough by; Blue Diamond – https://rb.gy/tmo4r3
Tools by Spear and Jackson – https://rb.gy/6wl4lh
Compost by Melcourt – https://rb.gy/l3sizj
Hose by Gardena – https://rb.gy/7v97py

ALAN’S GARDENING BOOKS:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?tab=books&q=Alan+Titchmarsh&x9=author&q9=Alan+Titchmarsh&categoryLabel=PW-200000

My name’s Alan Titchmarsh, and I’m absolutely delighted to welcome you to my YouTube channel! I’ve been a gardener for over 60 years and I can safely say that gardening is one of life’s greatest joys, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

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pots and containers are wonderfully versatile They make great focal points whether your garden is large or small And I’m going to show you three distinct planting schemes different styles See which one you prefer [Music] [Music] Now we all have an idea of what the ideal cottage garden looks like So I’ll do my take on a sort of slightly more tasteful cottage garden I’m planting in what’s called a verai tub They hand some things in almost any style of garden but they do suit the cottage mix When you’re using a tub which is wooden line it to help preserve it for future years from rotting I’ve put in here a liner of black polyine just to make sure that the compost itself doesn’t sit right alongside the wood Certainly not for most of the container And I’m using a multi-purpose pete-free compost with added Johnis which has a bit of lom in it It just gives it that much more body and we’ll see the plant through right to the end of the year because it’s got a bit more nutrition in it Don’t fill it too full because every time you put a pot in you’re adding more So you can always add a little bit more if you need it But for now make sure it’s down a good three or 4 in at the sides I’m going to start in this back corner with a fox glove Wonderful pyramidal plant A great bee plant too New ones come on the market every year But if you look at this flower doty mix is an extremely good name for it isn’t it there are some wonderful markings on fox gloves Like all these plants it’s had a good watering before I put it in Ease it out of its pot Plenty of roots there Now when I worked in the parks department the boss there the park superintendent always said “Every plant has a front and a back.” I think that’s the front The front is where it’s been seeking out the light You don’t have to thump this down really hard but gently with your fingers just push out any air pockets fill them with compost I’ve got a hole down this back corner I mean you wouldn’t know that but I do and I want to make sure it’s full Next one going in is a hosta Always a good idea to have some foliage in your container as well as flowers Foliage lasts much longer than flowers And this hosta here goes in there Taking that leaf out the way That sits in this back corner Feeding around it with compost again And then I’m going to pay attention to the front Right in the middle here I’m going to put a blue scabius You’ll sort of start to get an idea of my kind of color scheme There is one That’s why it’s a little bit more sophisticated than a normal cottage garden And here we have an old favorite Scabius butterfly blue It has these glorious flowers that will go in the middle there Don’t be alarmed at the amount of plants I’m putting in You well apart from the fact that you think well it cost a lot of money Well you know it’s cheaper than a tank full of petrol in your car Gives you far more lasting pleasure Um but in the container they’re not going to grow a huge amount so you can cram them quite close together Next is this corker an osteoperum Again it’s a lovely daisy You get these in all kinds of colors from yellow and white right through to crimson and purple They’re quite small root balls on these but does mean that you can tuck them in quite neatly I’ve got another one for the other side Slightly different color but still a lovely shade of soft pink And the underside of the petals on this one quite interesting because they’re a sort of pale primrose yellow So you get this dual effect But it’s really quite pleasing isn’t it that this one’s called Senorita double lovely pink Snappy name Eh the funny thing is the only O level I left school with having taken it a year early at 15 was art So I suppose I’ve always been thought a bit arty You can judge whether or not it’s it was it was awarded justifiably or whether I got away with it And then along the front something to trail down Little pots of ivy are so useful because they’re perennial They go on forever You can take cutings that root like weeds So you can keep these going as youngsters and then they get bigger plants when you plant them out You can see now what I’ve done A bit of height here because that’s the side from which you’re meant to view it Then the middle ground here and down to the front They’re what we call thrillers Fillers and spillers [Music] When it comes to contemporary containers you’ll have a wide choice All shapes sizes and colors though they tend to be rather muted in terms of color like this sort of putter gray This is a composite pot It’s made of goodness knows what It’s not plastic though It’s recycled stuff which is really quite useful Again the mix inside is multi-purpose Pete free with added jolliness for extra weight for extra nutrition keep your plants going for longer The same rules apply but I’ve just got a different color palette as well as a different style of plant in here This the main plant of them all is the agapanthus or African lily There are hardy varieties available now When they first came into cultivation in gardens African liies were by virtue of their name of course rather tender They didn’t get through the winter A lot of the varieties now particularly the headborne hybrids as they’re called are really quite tough provided it’s not really soggy and really really cold So this will have a heck of a root ball on it I have no doubt They tend to be really Look at that I did warn you Really vigorous Doesn’t matter These will be so glad to be set free and to explore the lovely rich compost in this pot Hold them out the way in a kind of ponytail Then I’m going to put that right here in the middle at the back Having avoided doing that with a fox love That goes in Feed back the compost Lightly firming it with your fingers As I say don’t hammer it down Make sure the surface of that root ball has just disappeared under the soil and then let it go I want to contrast with this and that I’ll get from this hukura shades of Johnny Depp This is hukura black pearl Easy one to remember Color on the top and the color underneath Wonderful And when the sun shines on this you get this wonderful sort of effect almost like a crimson stained glass window And in it will go right alongside Keeping it fairly well back cuz I’ve got other things to go in front of it The thing I’m going to put in front of it doesn’t contrast with it but it rather picks up its color And that’s this which is a hardy geranium called storm cloud So we’ve got black pearl in the hukura and storm cloud blue flowers but red buds and leaves stained with maroon sort of wine red This is French lavender French lavender has this little collection of florites at the top I always think of them as asses ears I don’t know why but it’s a little tuft of colored brats almost like petals I’m popping two of these in really cheek by gel and the other one just the same will go in front of it You’re beginning to get an idea now the sort of color scheme I’m going for which is a bit more dusky a bit more purple and gray are two great colors that work well together And then along the front are spillers two variegated times silver posy and another silver variegated one as well Gloriously aromatic So if you brush past this pot and bruise it you’ll either get a bit of lavender or a bit of thyme and I can squeeze two into that hole there So there we are I’ve I’ve planted this as though we’re in a corner because you’re getting the best view If you walked around it I’d put the Agapanthus in the middle and then scale down from it But have a go you know do what pleases you It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks [Music] I just want to take a moment to thank you for supporting the channel It has been an amazing start with so many subscribers I mean it’s just my dream to get more people gardening So if you haven’t subscribed yet do click the button below It doesn’t cost you anything And encourage your friends to do it as well and we’ll carry on with a pheasant growing things [Music] together If you want a container that’s really punchy hits you between the eyes in a nice sort of way annuals are the plants to use Things that give you high impact of color Now geraniums as we call them or pelgoniums to give them their proper name are not strictly annuals You can keep these going through the winter if you give them a frostfree greenhouse or a very bright window sill but they’re often treated as bedding plants if you don’t have any kind of cover Look at the flower cluster underneath the few petals that are open there because that shows you what’s to come All those flowers on a single stalk There must be 30 of them there And they’ll carry on for weeks on end And these will be the centerpiece of my very unsuttle but very bright and very cheerful wooden trough [Music] Now these pretty little things used to be called million bells patuniius Now they’re called calibrraa which makes it sound as though you’re clearing your throat Well whatever you call them they’re very pretty And this is a double one Sometimes they’re single little trumpets the million bells ones but this one is a dub and it’s very pretty with a mixture of pinks and moes and whites And stick that in a corner I’m doing a real tit for tat mixture on this one So it’s it’s quite symmetrical Those in the middle those on the corners And finally these two aren’t renowned for their fragrance but this is this is an emia called Whizzley Vanilla and it most definitely is a vanilla scented A little cluster of these in each corner will complement and contrast with the others and add a bit of fragrance particularly when the sun shines on them And just stuff them [Music] in So there you are You might think it’s a bit garish a bit in your face but you can’t deny that it’s jolly and it lifts your spirits [Music] Remember when it comes to watering they’re going to need quite a lot There’s a lot of plants in a relatively small area of compost here Rainfall won’t do much good because the whole collection of foliage here acts like an umbrella and the rain will run off So it’s you in charge of watering and during the summer they’ll need watering at least once a day That way you end up with happy plants that grow well What you also do is every couple of weeks give them some liquid feed and nip off any faded flowers to keep them [Music] blooming So there we are Three different flavors cottage contemporary and jolly annual Which is your favorite comment below and let me know Gardening has changed my life so let me show you how it can change yours I’ll be posting new videos every week so subscribe and let’s get gardening together