Create: A Colorful Planter for Spring

One of my plans this Spring is to add more color on patio garden beds by using a mixture of planters along with planting perennials in the ground. I recently bought two large planters, which means a visit to our local nursery was in store.

Using planters offers an easy way to add a burst of color on your patio. For my planter, I used a mixture of perennials and few annuals. When shopping for plants for my planter, I like to place the plants I'm considering on the ground and group them together. This helps to envision how the plants will look in your planter. For my larger planter I chose Greek Sage, Dahlias, Santa Barbara Daisy and Godetia. My really excited about the Greek Sage, I bought it smells so good, not sweet just a nice aromatic smell.

Here's my planter. It's huge right!! I threw a large beach ball inside to share a better idea of how huge it is!

Extra large planters can use a lot of soil, to cut down on the cost & fill the bottom of the planter with bark of Styrofoam peanuts. For my planters, I prefer using bark on the bottom of the planter and then I cover the bark with weed barrier. The weed barrier acts a nice flat base to add the soil and plants to, plus it still allows water to pass though and drain.

Before, adding soil and your plants to the planter, place them inside the planter to help you decide how you want them to grow in the space. You can add the tallest plants in the center, then add the remaining plants in ascending heights. For my planter, I wanted to create a step like feature using the tallest plants in the back, then layering in the smaller sizes.

Here's my colorful planter for spring! As I mentioned, for this planter I used a mixture of perennials and annuals. For color, I used a mixture of lavender, pinks and white flowers in my planter.

I'm in love with how my planter turned out! I'll share where it landed on my patio very soon.

Quick reminder, save all the tags after you plant your flowers and shrubs this year! I'm not sure about you, but I have the worst memory when it comes to plant names. Saving the tags will also help you remember how to care for you plant, and remember which plants did good in your yard and which to skip next time your out shopping.