My Enchanting Cottage Garden: How to Snazzy Your Spring Containers

Colorful Spring container plantings celebrate the start of the gardening season. Music to our ears, eh? The ground may still be too cold in some areas to plant, but you can always throw some spring flowers in a container and snazz up your walkway or porch. It will definitely warm your heart and soul to see something blooming after a long cold winter.I will share a few good container tips and pictures to get you off and running to the nearest gardening center.

Remember Fragrance

The best container gardens don't just look good -- they smell great, too. Incorporate a few fragrant plants into your containers and be sure to site them where you can enjoy them. For example, dianthus, stock, hyacinth, mini roses, and a few small herbs such as creeping thyme., and don’t forget to place it close to your sitting area so all can enjoy the fragrance.

Prolong the life of your Blooms

Tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths are bellwethers of spring. Prolong the life of your bulbs by purchasing plants with tightly closed buds. The buds will open in a few days and color your container for two or more weeks.

Create Drama with Color

Bright colors are especially refreshing after a long, dull winter. Here, bold pink containers feature favorites such as silvery licorice plant (Helichrysum 'Icicles'), pink 'Little Charmer' diascia, and 'Intensia Neon Pink' annual phlox, and the golden foliage of foamy bells (x Heucherella 'Stoplight').
Hint: When using bold containers, make sure your plants are dramatic enough to hold their own so they don't get overshadowed by the pots.

Go with Groups

One well-planted container looks great on its own, but a grouping can be stunning. Here, a colorful mix of pansies, violas, lobelia, stock, and kale creates lots of interest. Use them by a doorway, next to a path, or to add cheer to bare spots in your spring garden.
Hint: Use three different sizes of the same kind of container to give the arrangement a more put-together look.

Contrast Colors

Use pink to wake up your landscape once winter passes. Here, a pastel container holds pink petunnias and blue pansies. All that pink contrasts beautifully with purple from 'Berries & Cream Sachet' nemesia, 'Caitlin's Giant' ajuga, and columbine.

Hint: Echo the color of your house in your container garden, or use it to complement blooms from your yard for extra appeal.

Layering Pansies

A gorgeous spring container garden doesn't have to be complicated. Here, a variety of pansies and violas add charm and color to a strawberry jar. Use a mix of colors for a flamboyant look, or limit your pansies to one color for a more elegant, soothing presentation.
Hint: Once summer heat arrives and the pansies start to fade, replace them with herbs or small annuals that don't mind the warm weather.

Make Heavenly Hanging Baskets

One great thing about spring is that moss-lined baskets and other containers don't dry out as fast -- so you don't have to water them as much. Here, a basket is filled with favorites including purple coralbells and yellow osteospermum and snapdragon. A mix of sweet alyssum and creeping Jenny cascades down the sides. As they get going, they'll eventually cover up the moss.
Hint: Other trailing plants for spring include lobelia, diascia, and bacopa (Sutera).

Enjoy Edibles

While it's easy to focus on ornamental favorites, edibles work just as well. A mix of spring greens will provide salads while looking great in the landscape. Accent both the container and your salads with the cheerful and tasty viola blooms. Here, chives tossed in the middle of the pot create a fun textural contrast.
Hint: Try the full range of spring greens, including spinach, kale, and red, green, and bicolored lettuce.

Incorporate Perennials

Don't be afraid to incorporate perennials into your spring containers. Then plant the perennials in your garden once the annuals start to fade. Here, for example, bacopa, purple pansy, white nemesia, and yellow strawflower mix well with 'Fire and Ice' hosta.
Hint: Growing hostas and other perennials in tall containers can help protect them from hungry rabbits early in the season.