8 Container Tricks That Make Your Patio Look Newly Planted – Instant Refreshes To Keep Pots Looking Chic For Hosting Season
Create a designer-approved setting for summer entertaining
Patios and terraces filled with potted trees, colorful flowers and verdant foliage in planters provide a beautiful backdrop for summer entertaining. Yet, as the heat intensifies, and the rainfall reduces, these plants can start to suffer.
One minute the garden looks beautiful and abundant, then a dry spell hits, and suddenly it's looking rather frazzled and crisp or wilting and limp – often as you're about to host. Thankfully, replacing your potted plants entirely isn't necessary.
The right flourish here and there can make a big difference. Discover the designer tricks and easy wins that will invigorate container gardens, whatever the size or scale of your outdoor space.
1. Trim Before You Replace
Before rushing to replace plants, check over what you have already. Sometimes a simple tidy up is all you need to do. This can have a surprisingly rejuvenating effect on a container garden.
'The number one trick is to make sure you trim back leggy plants, cut off dead leaves, and deadhead your spent blooms,' says Laura Janney, founder, The Inspired Garden Masterclass. 'Not only will this make your plants more beautiful, it will encourage more blooms and make the pot look refreshed.'
Landscape designer, Kat Aul Cervoni, founder Staghorn Living agrees. 'Many containers simply need a haircut,' says Kat. 'Removing spent blooms, yellowing foliage, and leggy growth can make a planter look surprisingly fresh without spending a dollar on new plants. And the bonus is that this can also stimulate fresh new growth.'
These Fiskars garden scissors from Lowe's enable precise snips with their non-stick blades.
Laura Janney is a renowned landscape architect and designer, and CEO of The Inspired Garden Masterclass. Laura works with flowers in her signature style, using color, texture, and movement to evoke emotion and create unique spaces.
Landscape designer, Katherine "Kat" Aul Cervoni is the founder and principal of Staghorn Living. Kat creates outdoor spaces that become natural extensions of a home’s interior. A member of the Ecological Landscape Alliance and the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, she also mentors young plant enthusiasts and upcoming designers.
2. Refresh The Edges With Spillers
The next step is to look at adding some "spillers" or trailing plants around the edges of your pots. This brings new life and can invigorate a tired looking container garden. This is a quick win that Kat and Laura recommend.
'One of the quickest ways to soften a container and add some oomph is to introduce something that spills over the edge,' says Kat. 'It creates movement and gives the arrangement a fuller, more established appearance. Dichondra, creeping jenny, soapwort, vinca and cerastium are my favorites.'
This Golden Creeping Jenny from Nature Hill's will spill beautifully over the edges of your containers. It's low-maintenance, cold hardy and will thrive in zones 3-9.
For a spiller with color, this Trailing Burgundy Vinca from Burpee will bloom without much bother, even on the hottest days.
'Nothing makes a planter look more rejuvenated than when you replace spillers,' says Laura. 'Since these are on the edge of a pot where soil dries out the fastest, and the plants can become leggy, this is my first place to look for a refresh.'
For foliage with a trailing habit, plant this lovely Yellow Ripple ivy from Plant Addicts. It's suitable for zones 5-9 and has striking variegated leaves.
3. Add a Hero Plant
If your container plants are coping in the heat, but just need a "zshuzsh" before a special occasion. Consider a new "hero" plant to revive the arrangement. This could be a "thriller", something colorful or eye-catching, but it doesn't have to be. Kat recommends thinking about texture as much as flowers.
'Sometimes a planter doesn't need a complete overhaul,' says Kat. 'Swapping in one larger, eye-catching plant can completely change how the arrangement feels and draw attention away from anything that's looking a little lacklustre.
'Other times a container looks tired because everything is blooming at once or everything has a similar leaf shape. Adding a grass, fern, or foliage plant can create contrast and make the entire arrangement feel more dynamic.
'I do this with the containers along my own back border and love using large ferns such as Kimberly or Boston ferns which are gorgeous, large and lush all by themselves.'
This Ostrich fern from Plant Addicts is a native plant that's suitable for containers and tolerant of sun and shade.
4. Introduce Vertical Height
Small trees in pots around a patio create shade and a subtle feeling of seclusion. If your container garden consists of low level planting, introduce a taller potted tree or two. This will not only attract the attention up towards them, the extra height, layering and foliage will add a sense of privacy and a lush feel to your outdoor dining area.
'The best way to create an instant entertaining backdrop is to use plants that are tall and take up negative space,' says Laura. 'People don’t realize that is what they are missing when they want to create an inviting party escape, yet it can make a big difference to the look and feel of the setting.'
For classic Mediterranean style, this Arbequina olive tree from Nature Hill's is a winner. It's drought-tolerant and suitable as a patio tree in zones 4-7.
If it's spectacular color that you're after, consider this Orange Dream Japanese Maple from Plant Addicts. Its leaves will change from pale green to orange and yellow towards the end of summer for continuing interest.
5. Hide Tired Compost With Top Dressing
Visible parched soil can make potted plants in a container garden look tired in the heat. A fresh layer of compost, mulch, lush green moss or stone soil topper (depending on the type of display) not only looks fresher, it will help to retain moisture in the soil so your plants remain perky.
'Fresh potting soil is rarely attractive and can also splatter with rain or from watering,' says Kat. 'To clean things up I like adding a layer of pine bark mulch, gravel, pebbles, or even sheet moss to make things look a little more polished.'
This Sol soil topper from Plant Addicts is a natural rock soil dressing that will slow water evaporation and even reduce fungus gnat activity.
For a more dramatic finish, this black lava rock pot dressing from Lowe's will absorb moisture then slowly release it to your plants, for consistent hydration.
6. Group Containers Together
Whatever it is you're displaying, things tend to look better in groups of three, particularly when you vary the heights and widths. This visual theory extends to plants in pots too.
Whether you're growing shrubs, herbs, perennials or annuals, if they're looking a little less lively than they once were, group your pots together, instead of spacing them apart, for a more verdant display.
'Three containers grouped together will almost always have more visual impact than three containers spread around the garden,' says Kat. 'I’m a big fan of clustering pots to help create the feeling of abundance. Use a mix of sizes so it feels like a little “family” - odd numbered is best.'
If you're introducing an extra pot in a larger size to a couple of containers, this terracotta plant pot from Lowe's is D18.5" x H17.4" tapering to D10.66" at the base. It would look fabulous filled with this Munstead Lavender from Burpee.
7. Fill Any Gaps
If spring bulbs or early annuals have faded, tucking a few seasonal plants into empty pockets, rather than redoing the entire arrangement is often enough to bridge the gap until summer growth fills in.
'One of my favorite tricks is moving a division of a perennial or a volunteer seedling from elsewhere in the garden into a container,' says Kat. 'It costs nothing and often makes the planter feel fresh and connected to the rest of the landscape.
'I love doing this with self-seeded aquilegia and rudbeckia, and also dividing nepeta and irises.'
8. Repeat One Color Throughout Multiple Pots
An eye-catching way to give a container garden a vibrant lift is to repeat one color across your planters and pots. This is even more effective if the color features elsewhere in your flower beds.
'Even if the plant selections vary, repeating one flower or foliage color across several pots creates a sense of cohesion and makes the entire garden feel more intentionally designed,' says Kat. 'Euphorbia “diamond frost”, bacopa, and angelonia are great for this.'
This Euphorbia from Plant Addicts is heat and drought-tolerant and will burst with tiny white blooms. For more color, this Snowstorm Rose Bacopa from Plant Addicts is a pretty filler with small pink flowers.
Try one or more these different ideas across your container garden to refresh your outdoor space – and set a spectacular scene for a sociable summer of hosting.
If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?
