5 Beautiful Plants to Create a Container That Fires up All the Senses – Even If All You Have Is a Balcony
Create a sensory garden planter that will look, smell, taste, feel and sound great
This creative container idea is all about packing in the delight, with something to see, taste, touch, smell – and even stop and listen to – in one cleverly thought out pot. It's the ultimate sensory experience for green-thumbed nature lovers. Here I share five plants (and a cute little water feature) that are guaranteed to get all the senses tingling, no matter how small your outdoor space.
We're all well versed in considering gardens in terms of how they look, but a planting combo that stimulates all five senses can really enhance the therapeutic effects of your outdoor space. Plant up this container and place it in your yard, or on your balcony, and it will invite you slow down, linger and savor every minute detail.
Article continues belowChoosing the Right Container
If you follow this planting recipe, you'll have a container of five perennial plants that will look, smell, taste, sound and feel great for years to come. The pot you choose will need to be at least 20in (60cm) in diameter and 12in (30cm) deep to give them space to mature.
If you're going to include the water feature idea, go for something more like 3ft (90cm) in diameter.
This is a planting combination that enjoys sun and well-drained soil, so unglazed terracotta is a good option, as it allows the soil to breathe and water to evaporate quickly.
It's also aesthetically perfect, conjuring up sun-baked earth and hot, lazy days on the Mediterranean coast. If your planter doesn't come with drainage holes, make sure you drill some in.
Try this Acanthus pot from Home Depot for a classic country house look. You can also shop outdoor planters at Lowes.
1. Lavender
English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is a go-to plant for perfume, and for good reason. It flowers from mid to late summer with those classic upright spikes of headily scented purple, pink or white blooms.
The evergreen foliage is aromatic too, containing oils that release a fresh, pine-like fragrance all year round. It'll reach around 2-3ft (60cm-1m) in two to three years.
French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) is also a great option. The plant is stouter, growing to around 16-24 in (40-50cm), with each fat flowerhead topped with a tuft of purple bracts.
On to how to grow lavender… All varieties need sharply drained soil and plenty of sunshine, so some crocks placed at the bottom of your container will help here. Position your lavender in the centre of your pot or at the back, slightly off centre, making sure you give it space to reach its ultimate spread.
Lavender is an evergreen shrub that will come back year after year. To keep it looking good, make sure you prune it back by around a third shortly after the flowers have faded in late summer.
Bonus: the lazy buzz of bees will soon add to the sensory appeal of your lavender.
Shop lavender plants at Fast Growing Trees.
2. Briza Media
Briza media, or common quaking grass, is a pretty ornamental grass with a diaphanous, ethereal quality. It's fairly tall, at around 3ft (90cm), with arching stems decked from late spring with locket-shaped flowerheads (emerging with a purplish tint and maturing to a golden sand color) that bob around jauntily in a breeze.
Listen ever so carefully (or run a hand through its wiry stems) and you'll hear those flowerheads gently rustle and chime. You can leave these stems standing over winter for interest.
This is a semi-evergreen perennial, hardy in USDA zones 4-10, so it'll give you colour through most of the year, along with the lavender. Also like the lavender, it's happy in well-drained, fairly poor soil, so no need to fertilize here.
There are as many uses for ornamental grasses as there are good alternatives. For an ornamental grass with movement and texture, you could also include Stipa teniussima or purple-flushed Festuca amethystina, either of which will tone beautifully with your lavender.
Shop ornamental grasses at Fast Growing Trees.
If you're keen to take the 'sound' aspect of your sensory container a step further, why not include a small solar powered water feature? Try the blue glazed koi design from Amazon, which will bring a calming gurgle in full sun without the need for complicated wiring or set-up.
3. Lamb's Ears
The ultimate tactile perennial, lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina) forms a soft carpet of silver foliage that's irresistible to touch. There are a few different forms available, but for this container I recommend 'Silver Carpet' as it's one of the best plants for silver foliage.
Other cultivars flower more (at the expense of the foliage), but for the understorey of our sensory container, it's the soft, downy leaves we're after here.
Lamb's ears are suitable for USDA Zones 4-9 and thrive, like the lavender and grasses, in full sun and sharply drained soil.
Nature Hills Nursery stocks a pretty lamb's ear called Helene Von Stein.
For a totally different tactile sensation, swap in – or add – a sea holly (Eryngium). Their stems are topped with prickly teasel-like flowers in midsummer that come in ghostly shades of white and silver, as well as blue.
They're around 60cm tall and enjoy the same Mediterranean conditions of sharply drained soil and full sun.
Shop 'Blue Glitter' sea holly at Nature Hills Nursery
4. Thyme
This one's for the kitchen. The taste element of our sensory container. I've chosen thyme here (USDA Zones 4-9), as it has so many foodie uses and it looks fabulous too.
There are many different kinds, but learning how to grow thyme is simple. They all share the same love of direct sunshine and well-drained soil, so whichever you choose, it'll fit right in in our sensory container.
Choose a silver-leaved variety such as 'Silver Posie' to tone with the grey-greens of the lavender and lamb's ears, or introduce an element of citrus bright with 'Lemon Variegated' or 'Archers Gold'. Thyme is one of the best plants for pollinators too. All have small pinkish flowers from late spring into summer, which the bees adore.
Thyme is a low grower, to around 6in (30cm), so use a few plants and pop them around the edges of the pot where they will spill gently over the sides and soften the outline of your container.
In terms of upkeep, all it needs is a little trim after flowering to keep it neat.
You could go for another sun-loving Mediterranean herb, like oregano or sage.
Shop herb plants at Nature Hills Nursery
5. Cosmos
The two most widely grown cosmos are the annual Cosmos bipinnatus and the perennial Cosmos atrosanguineus (chocolate cosmos). I'm recommending the latter here, as it means you'll have a container that will last for years to come.
I particularly love the new award-winning variety, 'Cherry Chocolate', which has deep pink flowers and shorter stems than the original chocolate cosmos, at around 1-2ft (45-50cm). With its rich cocoa fragrance and beautiful cherry red petals, it's a winner in both looks and scent.
It's suitable for USDA Zones 7-11, and borderline hardy, its tuberous roots being susceptible to frosts, just like dahlias.
So treat it the same way in USDA Zones 7-8 and either mulch it well in autumn, or bring the pot somewhere in winter where it will escape from the worst of the freezing temperatures.
There are so many ways to treat the senses in a garden setting, but making up a planter is certainly one of the quickest and simplest. This container idea can take all kinds of variation, so just let your imagination run wild. Just make sure your selected plants all enjoy the same or similar conditions of light, soil and watering and it's hard to go wrong.
Then just sit back and enjoy the sights, scents and sounds of your creativity.
Love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.
