Thrillers, fillers, and spillers

The learning curve is so steep at work that each day I'm there, I learn a half dozen new things. Yesterday, I got concrete advice from my manager that really opened my eyes on that little something I was missing when talking with people on how to plant their gardens. What makes a container great instead of good is clever exploitation of space (height, width, and depth), colour, texture, and shape.

Thrillers

This is the plant you pick that stands out from all the rest. If your container is up against a wall, it goes in the middle back; if the container is visible from all angles, the thriller goes dead in the centre. And as the name suggests, the thriller plant should be one that grabs the viewer's attention. Something with a pop to it, like a Gaura Rosy Jane, Cordyline Red Star, Fuschia, Imperata Red Baron, and countless others. The thriller should have a pop of colour, be higher than the rest, and/or have other features that clearly distinguish it from the rest of the container. It's also the plant around which you'll be building the rest of your container, so feel free to get whatever colour, texture and height you want but make sure that the last quality will grow to at least a foot tall.

Fillers

This is the time to go a little hog wild and cram as much as you possibly can into the container. Annuals are a great selection because they tend to, as a general rule, bloom longer than perennials; they also don't have a chance to develop a root system like perennials so you don't have to worry about the roots choking each other to the point of death. Some great (and inexpensive) choices are petunias (check out the veined varieties!), impatiens (to double up, look for impatiens that come in multiple colours like these ones; they're also a great choice because of how hardy and vigorous they are), coleus, or heuchera.

But when choosing fillers, this is the time to be careful that they match the thriller in at at least one area: colour, texture, or shape. Say your thriller is a Cordyline Red Star, which has tall strong spikes, a matte finish, and a pale burnt red colour. To keep the transition smooth, a good filler would be something like coleus that matches it in colour; carpet bugle; or a combination of Sempervivum and pansies.

Spillers

This is probably the easiest step of the process because after you've just about filled your contained with thrillers and fillers, the only thing left is something that'll trail over the sides to take attention away from the pot itself. Again, make sure to keep colour and texture in mind with smart choice (for the above) being Baltic Ivy, Creeping Jenny, or Black Brass Buttons.

And ta-da! Now you have a gorgeous container that draws attention in a good way.