Thriller, Filler, Spiller: The Perfect Container Garden Recipe

Create a colorful container garden that holds up through the heat of summer. In this step-by-step planting tutorial, you’ll learn how to select the right container, improve drainage, choose a quality potting mix, and use moisture-retaining techniques to help your plants thrive. We also demonstrate the classic thriller, filler, spiller design method to create a balanced, eye-catching arrangement.

This planting combines a striking variegated banana plant as the thriller, cascading sweet potato vine and wave petunias as spillers, and a mix of begonias, coleus, coral bells (heuchera), and iresine as fillers for season-long color, texture, and contrast. See how these plants work together to create a full, professional-looking container garden.

You’ll also learn practical tips for watering, fertilizing, mulching, and maintaining patio pots and porch planters so they stay healthy and attractive throughout the growing season.

Here are links to some of the supplies Joellen used in the video (Amazon Affiliate Links):
*Soil Moist Crystals:* https://amzn.to/3wtJhhW
*Shake-on Slow Release Fertilizer:* https://amzn.to/4sgCXlI

0:00 – Introduction
0:11 – How to Get Good Drainage
0:58 – What Kind of Soil to Use in a Container
3:10 – Using Soil Moist Polymers to Retain Water
4:19 – How to Design a Container (Thriller, Filler, Spiller)
4:52 – Planting a Banana (The Thriller)
5:51 – Planting Sweet Potato Vine
6:24 – Planting Coral Bells (Heuchera)
6:56 – Planting Iresine
8:56 – Planting a Wave Petunia
9:30 – Topping up the Soil
10:24 – Adding Slow-Release Fertilizer
10:39 – Adding Mulch
11:28 – First Watering
12:13 – How to Check if the Container Needs Water

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