DIY: Container Gardens For Sun and Shade

Container gardening is trending and with good reason. It’s easy, it gives you great flexibility from season to season, and it offers endless opportunities for creative expression. Plus, container gardening is applicable from flowers to veggies and there are beautiful plant options from sun to shade. By all means, container gardening is excellent for gardeners of all ages and abilities, and it’s a wonderful method for both homeowners and home renters.

Now, begin by selecting a container. It can be any make, material or color you wish. Preferably, it has drainage holes, but drainage material, such as gravel, non-dissolving Styrofoam peanuts, and overturned growers pots work well. The orange, Ups-A-Daisy® disk can help by creating a false bottom with drainage, so you are not wasting all of your potting soil filling up the entire pot.

For plant selection in sunny conditions, look for the orange “Thriller” signs and select one plant. Here we selected Papyrus Prince Tut™, loosened the root system, and planted it in the center of the container. A sunny “Spiller comes next. We selected only one purple sweet potato vine, ‘Blackie’, because they are aggressive. After that, select your “Fillers”. Try some upright habits like Angelonia, and some bulky plants such as Supertunia Vista® Silverberry, and white Euphorbia. To tie the purple, lavender, and white shades together, add a foliage “filler” such as ‘Persian Shield’. Lastly, we installed a white Scaevola to fill an empty space opposite ‘Blackie’. Fill in with more soil and water once in place.

As for the shade container, we repeated the same steps mentioned previously but instead selected shade plants from the blue-signed “thriller”, “filler”, and “spiller” tables. We began with a beautiful, chocolate leaf Colocasia. We picked the chartreuse green Lysmachia, or Moneywort, for the “spiller”, and added an assortment of “fillers” that fit into a coral, dark purple leaf with light green highlights. These plants include Fuchsia ‘Gartenmeister’, a burgundy, ruffled Coleus, and some fabulous orange SunPatiens® that would do well in sun or shade.

If you’re as excited as we are to dig into container gardening this season, plan a visit (or several) to your closest Petitti Garden Center. With 10 locations serving Northeast Ohio and nearly 50 years of experience, Petitti’s is truly a destination for gardeners from novice to expert. We offer the highest quality, truly unmatched selection, and the friendliest expert service you’ll find, all of which is made possible by our incredible team of growers, horticulturists, and associates local to Northeast Ohio.