12 Stylish Ways to Plant Your Summer Container Gardens
Get ideas for what to grow in your summer planters, from blooming perennials to fruits and fabulous foliage
Potting up a few plants is one of the easiest ways to give your garden, porch or patio a boost for summer. Take a look at these 12 summer container gardens that range from classic, like potted lavender, bacopa and other colorful perennials, to surprising, like supersweet dwarf raspberries that thrive in containers.
2. Magenta beauty. Go bold with a high-contrast container with dark purple, magenta and zingy chartreuse plants. The designer of this container mixed pink-flowering, purple-leaved begonia with feathery papyrus, berry-colored million bells (Calibrachoa sp.) and two types of sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas, zones 9 to 11), dark purple and bright lime. This container display would be well-suited for a partially shady location, such as nestled in a bed in dappled shade or under a covered patio.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Partial sun or light shade
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Partial sun or light shade
3. Raspberry delight. Raspberries and other prickly shrubs are usually tucked out of sight in the back garden. That’s not the case for this darling little hybrid called Raspberry Shortcake, which looks sweet as can be potted on the patio. This dwarf hybrid (from the Bushel and Berry collection, formerly BrazelBerries) thrives in a large container, growing to be only 2 to 3 feet tall and wide, and is also thornless. Plant in spring or early summer to enjoy sweet, large red berries by midsummer.
Water requirement: Regular; keep the soil consistently moist leading up to and throughout summer fruiting season
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Regular; keep the soil consistently moist leading up to and throughout summer fruiting season
Light requirement: Full sun
4. Pollinator-friendly. Even if you’re short on gardening space, a couple of containers on a rooftop or city patio can help support native bees, pollinating birds, butterflies and other insects. This roof terrace in Marylebone, London, is bordered with containers filled with bee favorites like lavender and purple-flowering sage (Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, zones 4 to 8) as well as olive trees and standard and horned violet (Viola cornuta, zones 6 to 11) to round out the design.
Other pollinator-friendly plants to consider that grow well in containers: bee balm (Monarda spp.), honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), catmint (Nepeta spp.), ‘Autumn Joy’ stonecrop (Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, zones 3 to 10) and many varieties of herbs, like oregano, chives and thyme.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun
Other pollinator-friendly plants to consider that grow well in containers: bee balm (Monarda spp.), honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), catmint (Nepeta spp.), ‘Autumn Joy’ stonecrop (Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, zones 3 to 10) and many varieties of herbs, like oregano, chives and thyme.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun
5. Four-season interest. This clever combination of plants can easily transition from one season to the next without your having to fully dismantle and repot the display.
At the back of the container, the toothy-leaved holly osmanthus (Osmanthus heterophyllus, zones 7 to 9) and clump of chartreuse coral bells (Heuchera sp.), now blooming pale pink, most likely remain in the container year-round to provide foliage interest.
In spring, the addition of a pink bedding hydrangea and trailing white bacopa will add color throughout summer (as pictured here). Come late summer, you could swap the hydrangea and bacopa for a rudbeckia and ornamental grass, leaving the osmanthus and heuchera in place, to transition easily to fall. In winter, replace the rudbeckia and ornamental grass with heather (Erica spp.) for interest through the holidays.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial sun
At the back of the container, the toothy-leaved holly osmanthus (Osmanthus heterophyllus, zones 7 to 9) and clump of chartreuse coral bells (Heuchera sp.), now blooming pale pink, most likely remain in the container year-round to provide foliage interest.
In spring, the addition of a pink bedding hydrangea and trailing white bacopa will add color throughout summer (as pictured here). Come late summer, you could swap the hydrangea and bacopa for a rudbeckia and ornamental grass, leaving the osmanthus and heuchera in place, to transition easily to fall. In winter, replace the rudbeckia and ornamental grass with heather (Erica spp.) for interest through the holidays.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial sun
6. Lemon sorbet. This frothy summer composition looks as fresh and zesty as a lemon daiquiri. To create the effect, the designer paired a number of finely textured flowers and bright, lacy foliage, including white-flowering ‘Diamond Frost’ euphorbia (Euphorbia hybrid, zones 10 to 11), white Angelface snapdragon (Angelonia angustifolia hybrid, zones 10 to 11), yellow-flowering Luscious ‘Tropical Fruit’ lantana (Lantana camara ‘Tropical Fruit’, zones 10 to 11) and trailing lime-colored Illusion Emerald Lace sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas, zones 9 to 11).
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial sun
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial sun
7. Mediterranean urn. Channel your favorite Mediterranean destination with a classic Anduze-style French urn overflowing with citrus, flowering perennials and herbs. For this container in Santa Barbara, California, the designer potted a ‘Dancy’ tangerine (Citrus reticulata ‘Dancy’, zones 9 to 11) with thyme and azure-colored ground morning glory (Convolvulus mauritanicus, zones 7 to 9) to trail over the sides.
Like all citrus, the tangerine tree fruits in winter, but the fruits hang on the tree for months. In a potted display, this is particularly useful for adding interest to containers when the warm-season flowers are gone. Citrus grows best in containers with frequent fertilization (at least monthly, and more if leaves show yellowing).
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun
How to Keep Your Citrus Trees Well-Fed and Healthy
Like all citrus, the tangerine tree fruits in winter, but the fruits hang on the tree for months. In a potted display, this is particularly useful for adding interest to containers when the warm-season flowers are gone. Citrus grows best in containers with frequent fertilization (at least monthly, and more if leaves show yellowing).
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun
How to Keep Your Citrus Trees Well-Fed and Healthy
8. Fresh fragrance. Pot a few fragrant bloomers on your deck or patio and enjoy their scent on warm summer evenings. Here, sweetly scented gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides, zones 7 to 10) and nonfragrant white-flowering gaura (Gaura lindheimeri, Zone 5) make a particularly fresh combination.
Other great container-friendly plants for summer fragrance: Madagascar jasmine (Stephanotis floribunda), star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides, Zone 8) and many types of roses.
Water requirement: Moderate to regular; gardenia grows best when the soil is kept consistently moist
Light requirement: Full sun
Other great container-friendly plants for summer fragrance: Madagascar jasmine (Stephanotis floribunda), star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides, Zone 8) and many types of roses.
Water requirement: Moderate to regular; gardenia grows best when the soil is kept consistently moist
Light requirement: Full sun
9. Contemporary. Keep it clean and contemporary by choosing a sculptural plant, such as a variegated yucca, shown here, an agave or a clipped boxwood, privet or other topiary-friendly shrub. Focus on form (rather than flowers) to get a modern silhouette. This entryway planting in San Francisco has a single variegated yucca showcased in a tall charcoal container surrounded by green and dark purple aeonium (Aeonium arboreum and A. arboreum ‘Zwartkop’, Zone 9) and blue fescue (Festuca glauca, zones 4 to 8). The vignette requires little water and minimal maintenance.
Water requirement: Low
Light requirement: Full sun to partial sun
Water requirement: Low
Light requirement: Full sun to partial sun
10. Landscape in miniature. Re-create a garden scene on a smaller scale with a potted composition of succulents with different forms. In this tabletop display, fan aloe (Aloe plicatilis, zones 9 or 10 to 11), sedum and echeveria dot the container like trees and shrubs in a landscape. Crushed glass unifies the scene.
Water requirement: Low
Light requirement: Full sun
Water requirement: Low
Light requirement: Full sun
11. Bright lights. This primarily pastel display is far from being washed out, thanks to a few dazzling accent plants and the contrast of a dark container. Here, we see a mix of purple-flowering heliotrope, gold coleus (Coleus sp.), the coral torch-like flower spikes of red-hot poker (Kniphofia sp.), trailing ‘Silver Falls’ dichondra (Dichondra argentea ‘Silver Falls’, zones 10 to 12) and foliage from both dahlias and sage (Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’, zones 8 to 10), not yet flowering. Re-create the vividness of this combination by using at least one plant with bright silver, gold or lime green foliage to act as icing in your container display.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade
12. Color in shade. Brighten up a shaded area of the garden or bring some color to a shadowy doorway with a container filled with low-light bloomers. In this container in a Chicago landscape, a low bowl has been filled to the brim with white-flowering peace lily (Spathiphyllum sp.), pink impatiens and begonias, as well as feathery Sprenger’s asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Sprengeri’, zones 9 to 11).
Other partial- to full-shade-loving flowers to consider for summer containers include forget-me-not (Myosotis spp.), fuchsia, Chinese foxglove (Rehmannia elata, zones 7 to 10) and Natal lily (Clivia spp.).
Water requirement: Moderate to regular; keep the soil moist for impatiens and begonia
Light requirement: Partial shade to full shade
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Solve Your Garden Border Dilemmas With Planted Pots
Other partial- to full-shade-loving flowers to consider for summer containers include forget-me-not (Myosotis spp.), fuchsia, Chinese foxglove (Rehmannia elata, zones 7 to 10) and Natal lily (Clivia spp.).
Water requirement: Moderate to regular; keep the soil moist for impatiens and begonia
Light requirement: Partial shade to full shade
More
Succulents in Containers: The Ultimate Easy-Care Mini Garden
Solve Your Garden Border Dilemmas With Planted Pots
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun