Best Fruits For Container Gardening

potted plants

Colin McGuire

Learn how to design welcoming entryways and colorful nooks with our top 10 ideas for planters, window boxes, and hanging baskets.

potted plants

Colin McGuire

1 of 10

Potted Plants

Try a collection of architectural plants to make a refined small-space statement. With succulents, leave some bare soil in the pot and allow it to dry between waterings to discourage disease.

Pictured (clockwise from to right): Dusty miller (Centaurea gymnocarpa 'Colchester White'), Kalanchoe thyrsiflora 'Bronze Sculpture', Graptopetalum paraguayense, and Agave americana 'Marginata'.

blue house with flowers in garden

Erika McConnell

2 of 10

2. Choose Your Colors

Pick a simple palette that works with the house colors and stick to it; repeat shapes, colors, and textures; mix plants with different characteristics.

potted plants by back door

Donna Griffith

3 of 10

3. Expand Your Options

For a backyard entrance, choose plants that tolerate sun and shade to expand placement options around windows and doors.

white house with plants

Erika McConnell

4 of 10

4. Establish Height

Melding the garden with the home establishes a dramatic and inviting entryway. Shorter shrubs should sit below the porch. Taller plants should line the walkway and draw the eye up toward the front door.

window boxes

William P. Steele

5 of 10

5. Know Growth Habits

Some plants trail, some reach for the sun, and some grow full. Know your flowers' growth habits before planting to achieve the exact look you want.

urn with plants

Erika McConnell

6 of 10

6. Find Joy in Variety

A wide variety of flower and leaf shapes — some round, some trumpet-shaped, some scalloped — heightens visual interest.

yellow house with plants in front

Erika McConnell

7 of 10

7. Use Tropicals

If you live in a house with a soft color palette and a shrub-filled front yard, try using containers of tropical plants — such as exotic banana plants (Musa zebrina) — to add vertical points of interest.

plant in pots on porch

Andre Baranowski

8 of 10

8. Showcase Plants

For small urns, choose one plant with distinctive leaves — such as tropical plants with oversize leaves or succulents with thick leaves — per container. This one-plant-per-pot arrangement shows off the flora's distinctive characteristics.

two container plants

Colin McGuire

9 of 10

9. Containers Count

You can alter the persona of a plant by its container. Dress up a plain plant by putting it in an elegant urn, or show off a more elaborate plant by placing it in a simple pot.

woman with urn of plants

Erika McConnell

10 of 10

10. Know When to Water

Succulents require infrequent watering, so pots can be placed in remote garden locations, while tropicals need irrigating more often and should be near a water source. Check the soil moisture daily for the first week after planting to determine how often to irrigate. Tropicals should be soaked so that as much as one-third of the water applied seeps from the bottom of the pot.