Container Gardening with Perennials and Annuals

I join my friends Mary Ann and Cindy every Sunday for our weekly favorite finds post. Why not include my favorite container gardening with perennials and annuals inspired by Terrain?

At the start of every week, I think about my Sunday post. What will I write about this week? I hope you don’t mind that this week is all about gardening. Whether you have a small garden or acres of property, there’s a certain amount of gardening that we all can share, and that’s container gardening.

When I first started gardening, I would repot my window boxes and planters every season. Depending on where we lived, that sometimes meant four or even five times yearly. 

When we moved back from California to Connecticut in 2012, the new Terrain in Westport had just opened. I could not believe how beautiful it was inside the large shop and in the garden. I immediately started changing the way I gardened. 

I didn’t change every pot, planter, or window box every season. Sure, some plants didn’t make it or were planted in a spot that needed more or less shade. Now, with the help and inspiration from Terrain, I garden more responsibly. I’ve changed my habits to appreciate perennials that can be potted, offering color and texture just as colorful foliage does in a garden.

My Favorite Perennial Plants 

I use many evergreens in pots and mix them with annuals for summer. In the fall, I’ll add white mums and pumpkins. Then, when the holidays come around, they are ready to go!

Blue Star Juniper—I’ve had great success with these evergreens I find at the nursery in winter and spring. They have a lovely texture and silvery-blue color. They are slow-growing and low maintenance, making them ideal for perennial containers. 

Heuchera—or Coral Bells—I prefer the purple or burgundy of coral bells, but they also come in chartreuse and gold. They can be planted in containers or on the ground and are okay with sun, part shade, or all shade.

A Small Japanese Maple with a juniper evergreen—I’ve had this small Japanese Maple potted in this planter for almost four years, and every year, when it loses its leaves (as deciduous trees do), I think that’s it. It won’t survive another winter, but then, sure enough, the leaves begin to fill the tree every spring.

Spring to summer planters

This spring, I planted another type of blue juniper that I chose for texture as much as color. I mixed in Heather and pansies. Only last week did I replace them for Kimberly Ferns. I repotted the Heather and the pansies in a large pot under the hydrangea tree, hoping they would survive the summer.

You can see the spring planters in this reel. It shows how to plant pots without drainage holes so they don’t leak onto your porch.

Now that we are at the end of the season, I repotted the evergreens for summer—one in a window box mixed with annuals like black sweet potato vine, white petunias, Bacopa, and licorice. In the planter, I used much the same with a little variation. I like the licorice for the trailing (or spiller), as I hear it being referred to.  

Thriller, Spiller, and Filler

When did we start using these terms to refer to planters? I’m a visual person, so this makes sense. I can visualize plants that would fit into each of these categories, but I didn’t grow up with these terms. I started seeing them on Instagram. 

Popular “Thriller” Plants

The thriller plant is usually planted in the middle or the back and gives height to the planter. It is like tall fountain grass, a dark red Heuchera with spikey blooms and orange Cannas, and colorful Coleus in every shade of red and green. 

Spiller Plants

One of my favorite types of plants, known as “spiller” plants, is Licorice or Helichrysum. Its small leaves are a soft blue-gray color. 

Sweet Potato Vines are also great spiller plants. They can be bright green, dark red, or almost black.

Ivy Geranium: I can never find this in my area. Read this article from The Spruce for 28 spiller plants for container gardens.

Filler Plants

Diamond Frost Euphorbia—This plant has a ton of tiny white blooms that can adapt from full sun to dappled shade. On my last visit to Terrain in Westport, I spotted it in several containers.

Lantana– I adore the warm colors of lantana in pink and orange. I stay pretty neutral, but If I did add color, it might be for Lantana!

Dusty Miller – I adore the blue-gray, interestingly shaped leaves of Dusty Miller. It grows well in pots and is perfect to mix with cosmos, zinnias, roses, and any number of flowers in arrangements. 

Potted plants that are perfect on their own

Geraniums in every shade of red and pink, plus white, need nothing else. I always have a few and deadhead them to keep the blooms coming back all summer long.

Plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies

A butterfly bush, Salvia, Bee Balm, Lantana, Trumpet Vine, Zinnia, Phlox, Columbine, and Sage, to name a few. 

While wandering around Terrain, I kept seeing butterflies, and I remembered having a large butterfly bush when my kids were young. I need to plant one again! 

Other plant-related favorite finds of the week:

Fly Away Sticks

I shared this in a reel last week. If you haven’t tried them, you’re missing out! They have a lovely and earthy scent that fills your garden or patio, but the best part is that they keep the bugs away. 

I used to use them in pots or a galvanized bucket of sand or stones only in the evening, but now we use them in the morning. They keep the flies away, too! 

Kenzan (also known as flower frogs)

These are wonderful to use any time of year with store-bought flowers, foraged fresh or dried flowers. I use them the most when cutting garden flowers like Cosmos, Zinnias, and even herbs that have flowered. 

They are strong enough to hold a woody stem but can also hold a thin-stemmed Cosmo upright.

Hose Nosel

This multi-stream hose nosel is made in France and replaces the nosels I buy yearly, which are made of plastic and break and leak constantly. Yes, this one is more expensive, but it’s built to last. It’s heavy, solid, and works beautifully. 

Pots & Planters

We have an assortment of beautiful planters from Terrain. These metal ring planters are for the front porch, and an assortment of fiber concrete barrel pots in various sizes are at the side of the house, where we have our pantry door and the backyard. Two tall planters are on each side of the garage.

We also have Bergs Pottery, which you’ve undoubtedly seen in many indoor and outdoor posts. Now that summer is almost here, the Bergs pots are filled with summer plants outdoors. Come winter, they will be lining the dining room table once again. You can read that post where I swapped out clay saucers for vintage porcelain plates in this post.

I hope you have time to garden this weekend. Now, let’s see what Mary Ann and Cindy found this week.