Our Best Container Gardening Ideas

Rethink your porch planting with a container that proves there's elegance and purpose in simplicity. Fragrant rosemary, basil, and lemon grass accent soft blue plumbago in this tabletop setup. The best part? While the scent appeals to garden party guests, it could also help keep pests at arm's length. 

Start with a young lemon grass plant positioned in the center of the pot. Then add the flowering plumbago around that. On the outermost edges, fill in the gaps with basil and rosemary, alternating the two if you wish or placing them on opposite sides of the container. Clip (and use!) the basil frequently—this will help it grow and keep it from overtaking the rest of the display.

Make bold foliage the focal point for a late-summer container that steals the show. This easy-care, end-of-season planter uses vibrant 'Rustic Orange' coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides), identified by its rusty-hued leaves that will last until the first frost. The filler in this space-saving pot is 'Compact Hot Coral' SunPatiens (Impatiens sp.), which has tiny tangerine blooms and dark, shiny leaves that contrast nicely with the bronze-toned coleus. Finally, the 'Yellow Moon' wishbone flower (Torenia sp.) adds even more lush greenery to the arrangement and offers petite yellow petals with purple throats—this is a thirsty container, so you'll need to make sure it stays well watered. Place it in full or partial sun.

A simple-to-follow formula is all you need to create drama in a container. Here, it takes only four plants to convey the sweeping illusion of a floor-length gown. The key to pulling this off is starting with an elevated planter, so the vibrant 'Celebration' and 'Florida Sweetheart' caladiums pop at eye level. Clusters of white wishbone flower fill the empty spaces between the caladium stems and conceal the actual container, meaning you can use just about any freestanding vessel. The final attention grabber is the graceful creeping Jenny spilling over the sides.

Position this planter in the shade for a gorgeous, easy-to-maintain display—also, remember to water regularly.

These porch-step containers begin with bright pink and yellow zinnias—think 'Zowie! Yellow Flame' or 'Magellan Salmon' is one of our favorite flowers for its beautiful, round shape. Cool-colored filler flowers, such as purple verbenas and blue calibrachoas, are added to create contrast with texture and color.

To make this container garden even simpler, opt for inexpensive plastic planters that are weatherproof and easy to move around. Grouping your containers in a tight space can help to create a homey, mini-garden vibe. Plus, all of these incredible colors intensify when placed side by side. You'll love to walk up to these bright wonders.

This woven wicker basket is a natural way to decorate a bare wall in an outdoor space, and it will look just as beautiful whether you set it against brick, timber, or concrete. Pink zinnias and yellow tuberous begonias are the focal points of thrillers. You'll love the variation between the tighter, round zinnias and the softer, open petals of the begonias.

Blue Cape plumbago and golden lantana add a hint of drama—these are the fillers. Finally, with its delicate, well-known shape, English ivy cascades over the side—that is, the spiller, which gives this beautiful hanging container a sense of movement.

If you need proof that a plain and straightforward planter has the power to brighten up what could be a dull backyard side table, then look right here. This container's copper sheen complements the fuchsia zinnias rather than competes with them. Yellow calibrachoas—like little petunias—spill over the container's edge.

Subtle splashes from purple verbenas create another unexpected yet robust focal point in this outdoor garden conversation space. If you want your planter to have this beautiful feeling of flow, select a trailing calibrachoa for this container—it grows lower than the mounding version.

A planter in a faux-lead finish is a timeless choice, but the cylindrical shape of these tall fiber clay urns gives them a distinctly modern, clean, geometric feel. This styling can work well in any decor because it focuses on familiar forms. Choosing a neutral tone or texture for your container helps bring out the unique natural beauty of the color of the flowers and foliage pop. Here, a string of pearls creates plenty of architectural drama through their unique shape, while purple calibrachoa and blue ageratum add just the right dose of brightness to add depth to this subtle arrangement.

Hanging containers are a simple way to bring gardens to limited spaces or to add beauty to your area in simple yet unexpected ways. For this unique design, a mix of structural succulents gives the arrangement a bold internal architecture and takes center stage in a simple hanging fiber clay planter. A purple fan flower punctuates the lush greenery.

The fan flower is unique because all its blossoms have segments on one side. In the Tropical South, these plants can also be evergreen. Given their bold, bright color, they offer a refreshing contrast to the deep, dark container suspended in the air.

This ingenious organic look contrasts a modern container's strong, stark lines with natural plants' soft, ripple-in-the-breeze movement. A carefully curated selection of beautiful containers embodies this well-designed outdoor oasis's warm, rich metal tones. The handsome planter on the mantel has a slate-like finish and blends various succulents with the pink plumes of 'Joey' Ptilotus, a bottlebrush plant native to Australia. Large-leaved kalanchoes and dwarf golden arborvitaes form the base of this masterpiece, which can grace this mantel just as easily as it could highlight the center of a backyard dining table.

This sturdy galvanized metal washtub—a flea market gem—is filled with overflowing beauties—a hearty mix of lantanas and impatiens. Arranged with maroon Joseph's coat, green coleus, and yellow creeping Jenny, this dense container greets guests or highlights a back porch with a sense of joy and happiness.

Coleus varieties, first introduced into Europe in the 1700s, are popular as plant choices. Given their tropical history, they are not particularly cold-hardy, so don't plan to add them to a container too early in the spring.

The most important key to this rustic aesthetic is not over-planting the container. You will surely love the look of this arrangement when you give the flowers space to breathe. This weathered, rusty metal bucket—another great flea market find—is studded with periwinkles, the profusely blooming Rieger begonias, coleus, and other annuals. But what it is not is overcrowded, which could keep the plants from getting adequate light. 

Try suspending this arrangement on a branch for even more rustic, Southern-inspired charm—this will add to the casual, easy-does-it feeling.

A simple galvanized-metal toolbox is an unexpected container-gardening vessel that fits into an all-natural springtime setup. Here, it showcases a classic arrangement of bright green spearmint, red geraniums, and white sweet alyssums for a container that feels both light and fresh. Thanks to the built-in handle, you'll also love the ease of moving this around the garden. What you'll love the most, though, is the rustic charm of the weathered metal contrasting with the soft and subtle colors of the flowers. This arrangement is a beautiful study of hard and soft elements in container garden design.

Sit back and imagine this classic cast-metal urn in a dreamy garden or on a light-filled screened porch. The pot itself is styled with classic Victorian lines, giving it a romantic element, but it is the arrangement that truly makes it magical.

The key to designing this look is combining contrasting textures. The combined arrangement creates a cascade and crescendo of bright colors. This selection includes a loud celebration of grassy cordyline, puffy pink dianthus, dainty blue lobelia, and more. Set against the beautiful shape, the simple monochrome tone of the vase creates a show-stopping container for your home garden.

This romantic container garden captures the feelings of magic and mystery through its bright colors and beautiful sense of movement. To achieve these effects, you'll want to try varying the scale of flowers and greenery to produce the wildly untamed, "growing in a garden" feel that keeps this basket relaxed.

Beginning by selecting this sphagnum moss-lined metal hanging basket, larger dianthus blended with smaller petunias and variegated English ivy, and tiny baby's tears dangle over the sides. The effect is the sense of beauty in bloom, bursting forth in wonder from this colorful basket.

Planting in layers is an integral part of putting together this stunning container. The handmade bowl, made of concrete and recycled materials, provides a delicate addition to this gorgeous centerpiece. Its wide shape accommodates many of the same flowers and plants used in other romantic containers, just in a more whimsical display that looks like a flourishing flower arrangement.

If you select flowers like dianthus, you will undoubtedly be starting this romantic tabletop container with the right colors, tones, and shapes. Its impact will be elegant and beautiful. Settle in at the table for an evening drink or a casual conversation, and let the romance blossom.

This abundantly vibrant design puts the flowers in the spotlight. These will literally and figuratively be a beautiful sight. The sleek container, perched atop a painted brick wall, is covered by the overflowing blooms, which include sweeping pink petunias, super-delicate baby's tears, and rounded clusters of rose pink dianthus.

This arrangement focuses entirely on the flowers—the hidden container merely offers grounding support. Depending on your design, you may even wish to consider a series of these containers as a way to highlight a garden wall and bring color and emphasis to something you might have previously wanted to ignore.

Southerners used to have to choose between geraniums that could handle high temperatures and humidity and those that produced lots of flowers. But this sad state of either-or is no more since developing the Calliope-series geraniums, offering the best of both worlds. 

This one's called 'Dark Red,' and it forms the centerpiece of a container filled with bright color and subtle greenery. Here, the filler forms a backdrop to the bold geraniums and adds height, while the weathered container gives a sense of contrast against the masonry-and-mortar design elements of the courtyard. Let these geraniums burst forth with color in your Southern garden—temperature and humidity are no problem!

Here it comes—a beautiful container in the sun, that is. This high-drama, low-maintenance container spotlights 'Variegated Spreading Salmon' SunPatiens, but leaves room for a foxtail asparagus fern and a six-inch pot of 'Neon' pothos.

Everything is set in a glazed-ceramic container, its bright green finish complimenting the natural colors of the plantings—a beautiful example of a container garden aesthetic that keeps it simple. Let the SunPatiens, a strain that resulted from a cross between a New Guinea hybrids and a wild species, be this arrangement's bright, central focus. Then, let everything else help them shine.

Everyone in the South understands that college sports are a fun-filled family pastime, and what better way to show and share your team spirit than to bring your favorite colors into your container garden?

This beautiful plant design in this LSU-themed container thrives in part sun and moist potting mix. You'll find a range of shades of purple, from bright and bold, to subtle and sublime, all set in a celebratory container. You can take this idea and substitute the colors of your favorite team for a seasonal celebration that brings together nature and culture—and what could be better?

Let's hear it for the elephant's ear! Its oversize leaves—the secret to this stately combination—create drama through scale. And they allow you to fill in the blanks with tiny, colorful flowers. This arrangement is set in a concrete urn with an aggregate texture to give it a weathered, antiqued finish. You'll love how the delicate flowers soften the feel of the pot itself.

One of the beautiful wonders of the elephant's ear is that it flowers first, and then fruits. The fruit makes the stem look like corn on the cob. Whatever you think, it looks gorgeous in your summertime container.

Lantanas bloom in a slew of sunny colors from spring to fall. Plus, its nectar-laden flowers attract pretty butterflies like moths to a flame. This beautiful plant is native to America, so if you want to focus on plants that will attract or entice wildlife, this can be a good choice.

Lantana is also generally resistant to deer—they don't find it particularly attractive, even though you will. So plant a container or two of this beautiful, durable plant, then sit back and wait for your fluttering-winged visitors to arrive.

This deck-top container garden is a study in variation in similarity, proving just how beautiful the simple repetition of a shape or color can be in creating a relaxing outdoor space. Here, three ceramic containers in a subtle shade of turquoise hold a variety of beautiful plants.

In the largest pot, working from back to front and tallest to shortest, densely plant 'Liberty Classic Yellow' snapdragon, 'Bouquet Rose Magic' dianthus, and 'Tickled Pink' veronica. Place 'New Look' dusty miller and 'Lemon Ball' sedum in the front to trail over the edge. Pack a powerful, single-note punch in the two smaller pots by planting 'Supertunia Vista Bubblegum' petunia in the midsize container and more sedum in the smallest.

Your garden will seem wild, and it will undoubtedly be full of life when you have some 'Tiger' fern (a selection of Boston fern) in your container garden. Pair it with your tulips, Lavender Blue' and 'Purple Wing' Plentifall pansies, Acorus, heuchera, and variegated ivy.

These shaped concrete pots enhance any outdoor environment. Their angled geometry pairs well with their tops' color and movement sprouting out. Let the plants grow and flow—the containers keep them just where you want them, creating a great harmony of color, and, as they drape over the edges, you'll see where Plentifall pansies got their name.

Heat-tolerant geraniums, calibrachoas, and mecardonias in bright red, yellow, and purple shout a welcome in a cheerful way. For the most part, we've filled these whitewashed pots to burst with a single color, showing how to create harmony from the variations between each element.

This approach works well, creating a single environment for each container, making the task of watering and fertilizing and sun more simple. Whatever plants you choose, make sure they thrive in similar conditions. All three of these plants are heat-tolerant, making them perfect for grouping together.

One of the best ways to keep your garden looking fresh is to take advantage of seasonal sales at your local nursery and stock up on popular plants. And, since you want them to look beautiful until it is time to make them permanent additions to the landscape, keep them in their nursery pots. Then, display them in galvanized buckets on the porch until you are ready to plant them in your garden. You can easily recreate this look with gerbera daisies, salvias, shasta daisies, daylilies, and sweet potato vines. Look for similar pots at gardening or home-supply stores.

This tip is a great way to get plenty of punch from just a few dozen daffodil bulbs. You can move containers wherever you need color on a particular day, be it your front door, porch, steps, or patio. As soon as the bulbs finish blooming, plant them in the garden. No bulbs are more straightforward for container growing in the South than daffodils, and few bulbs signal the arrival of spring more readily than these. 

These daffodils, planted in classic terra cotta pots, look fantastic but work in any container, from traditional to modern. Choose whatever works best in your garden.

Are you dreaming of summer vacation, but the only thing on the horizon is more heat and humidity? This container garden may not be a balmy getaway, but bringing warmer weather to your doorstep is a breeze with this combo. This beautiful container with a water-inspired glaze has a gorgeous array of plants that burst like a sunburst on a bright day.

You'll love giant-leaved, sunny 'Maui Gold' elephant's ear and heavily blooming, fiery orange SunPatiens. The velvety, fragrant citronella plant and purple iridescent Persian shield provide nice tropical color. Add a heavenly skirt of angel vine to spill down the sides.

You'll be planning window boxes everywhere once you see how beautiful and simple this arrangement is—and how much it brightens this once-empty shady space on the side of the house. 'Aaron' caladium, holly fern, 'Key Lime Pie' heuchera, 'White Nancy' Lamium, ivy, and light pink periwinkle come together in this eye-catching window box. 

This container box emerges in a subtle sea of layers, each adding depth and color to the other. What is so unexpected is how easily this box stays in a palette of greens and yellows, relying on tone and variation to create a melody of color and shape.

The pitchfork may suggest a bit of Grant Wood's American Gothic—but the stand-out star is the freestanding flower container. Here, we make a statement with this large, overflowing planter that can work equally against a blank wall, at the perimeter of a parking court, or on the edge of a terrace. Fill it with 'Diamond Frost' euphorbia, coleus, 'Supertunia Vista Bubblegum' petunia, and geranium. The weathered will only add more patina over time. Let it happen. This oxidation is part of the beauty of natural materials like wood—and this beauty is only enhanced further by vibrant flowers.

One of the beauties of container gardening is the ability to create visual variety. Containers are the perfect canvas for a unique color, texture, and composition approach. These showy snapdragons add height to your containers in a cacophony of bold colors. They pair well with a mixture of flowers that will act as your fillers and spillers, including Penny violas, tulips, parsley, and ivy.

Each has its wonder and surprise, rich with color, tone, and texture. This container garden feels incredibly expansive without taking up a great deal of space, so it works well in any number of locations.

Yes, you read that right—Collard greens are one of our picks for a fantastic container garden. Easy and versatile, collards have graced Southern gardens and tables for generations. A cousin to kale and cabbage, these nutritious, leafy greens thrive in the cooler weather of fall and early spring.

Durable, versatile, and beautiful, they are also incredibly visually enticing and imbued with many tonal variations. They work well in different-sized containers. This galvanized-metal tub is filled with collards, creating an intimate container garden. Use them in situations where you want simplicity to come to the fore.

The natural hues of the sweet potato vine and pennisetum make the trio of pink geraniums, petunias, and angelonias pop. Petunias look incredible in containers because they come in a fantastic array of colors.

They've also adapted to grow well in the humid Southern climate and often bloom continuously from spring until fall. Take advantage of all the eye-stopping excitement that will bring to your front porch. Here we've used three sizes of pressed-metal planters with decorative embossing and a copper-toned finish to hold these incredible container fancies.

Choose a glass container with an opening wide enough for your hand to make a terrarium. Gently add an inch or two of washed, fine gravel. Top gravel with a thin layer of activated aquarium carbon. (You'll find both items at your local pet store.) Next, add moistened potting soil, and you'll be ready to plant. 

Create a collection of plants, or showcase just one. Good choices include ferns, succulents, mosses, miniature moth orchids, African violets, and kalanchoes. How often you need to water or fertilize your terrarium depends on the type of plants you choose, but this is a beautiful way to enjoy container gardening.

One challenge with container gardening is retaining visual beauty through changing seasons. This thoughtful approach puts that problem to rest. The solution is to think of every container as having a "keeper"—a durable plant that continues from season to season—with a plant that may require more attention.

For this beautiful pair of urns, we've partnered colorful annuals with an evergreen for an established planting that can still change from season to season. With ivy spilling over the sides and 'Pandora's Box' violas providing bold tones, these planters offer a lot of excitement. In general, violas are more tolerant of temperature variation than botanically similar pansies.

This container is as sensual as it is beautiful. It combines a burst of daffodils with bold hues and fragrant seasonal blooms for colorful containers that keep giving. This trio combines floriferous 'Superbells Dreamsicle' calibrachoa, the fragrant 'Snow Princess' sweet alyssum, and cool-weather 'Sunsatia Lemon' nemesia.

Tonally, these bolt towards the warm end of the color spectrum and are rich with deep oranges and yellows, tempered by touches of white throughout. Even separately, every one of these would be a visual delight. Together, the interplay is exhilarating.

To truly celebrate the joy of container gardening, take the time to change your containers to reflect the season's colors. This fantastic arrangement of bold, bright pots, orange pansies, violas, and Panolas provides a warm autumnal greeting to everyone you welcome to your home. It is always important to experiment with composition to make a growing garden a visual delight. Try pairing colorful and distinctive flowers like these with a textural plant, like grass. You'll love the lush, full carpet of green that the grass creates, punctuated by the bright bursts of color from the flowers.

You'll be phobia-free about welcoming these spiders into your home—spider plants. To create this flowing composition and add color throughout your garden, Red 'Freida Hemple' caladiums, a spider plant, and a 'Little Gem' Southern magnolia decorate a large pot in the corner. This arrangement helps hide a downspout and fills the space with bright beauty.

Working with the idea that repetition creates rhythm and builds a harmonious container garden, smaller pots of the same caladiums tie the grouping together. The boldness of the plants contrasts with the simple, neutral containers. Think of using natural tones in stone and off-white for these outdoor container compositions.

Container gardens are perfect ways to highlight the elegance of simplicity. This succulent garden is an example of having individual plantings in single containers, allowing each to reflect its unique leaf shape and form complemented by the architecture of the container. 

Using various decorative ground covers jazzes up your potted plantings—these are enhanced with beautiful selections of natural stone. The highlight of this design is a potted blue agave surrounded by pebbles, serving as a living sculpture on this deck. The smooth stones inside the container reflect the larger stones around its base, creating a synthesis inside and out.

Using plantings is a simple but sophisticated way to enliven your outdoor table. Drought-tolerant plants are the perfect go-to for hot, dry climates. This shallow bowl of mixed succulents makes a great centerpiece, creating a mixture of tones, shapes, and textures. When considering this arrangement, echeverias, sedums, and other similar plantings work well.

Look for types that will create visual interest as they grow, and consider containers that can make long, shallow, and low spaces for these great green wonders to develop. You'll love how harmonious these succulents are together. They are terrific low-maintenance plants that will last until frost.

Sometimes design is all about the form rather than the function—like when plants with distinctive visual features create amazing sights in a gorgeous garden setting. For such an approach to work, you'll have to pay special attention to how the forms work together.

For this design, textural plants construct a beautiful sense of high drama. This homeowner helped to create this sensation by adding spiky and vertical plants, such as ornamental grasses and caladiums, to her pots. Against the vast, multileveled, linear expanse of her back garden, with its beautiful pool, she created a sense of lightness and height simply by using plants that always reached the sky. Let your container gardens aim high!

If tempted to let your container garden run just a little wild, then plantings like these may help create that perfect sense of the cultivated mess. Just plan to allow your plants to spill out of their container. A generous planting of golden variegated sweet flag (Acorus gramineus 'Ogon') fills this kettle with golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea') trailing out and onto the gravel below. One container lifts the eyes while the other gently creates a delicate, soft carpet of green that creeps towards a comfortable seating area. This garden is not entirely wild, but it is just rugged enough.

Bigger is not always better, and using any of these tiny succulents is a case in point why. Rather than overwhelm small spaces with extensive plantings, here is an excellent lesson on using containers to fill bare spots in your garden.

This concrete planter, tucked into a planting of dianthus, is filled with tiny textured succulents, pulling you in for a closer look. This arrangement creates a contemplative moment of intimacy and pause, a time for simple reflection, and a sense of communion with these delicate plants.

Using unique containers like vintage wooden boxes and buckets is a great way to bring harmony and symmetry to any container garden. These containers, not designed with plantings in mind, need to be transformed into functional pots by drilling drainage holes before use.

For a new take on the living and eating local approach, this variety of planters mixes harvest edibles, like lettuce, but also decoratives, like marigolds and geraniums.

The historical term for a classically designed French garden is a parterre garden. England has some of its most famous examples, including the fabulous geometric garden at Hanbury Hall. This container garden, with its formal structure and arrangement, takes both its inspiration and design from the parterre garden design concept—but the container gardening part of the process is still straightforward.

Regardless of your overall garden design plan, you can add height to the center of any flowerbed by placing a vertical potted plant in its middle. This approach is sensational because it uses traditional techniques but includes new, time-saving gardening innovations.

Mandevilla is a beautiful, bright flowering and climbing vine found throughout the South. Mandevilla can thrive in containers. These plants can grow more than 10 feet a year and bloom continuously from spring until the first frost. Given its tropical origins, it revels in hot weather. In the coastal South, mandevilla may survive the winters, but container plants can be moved indoors in areas with colder climates.

You can add charm to a great front porch space with hanging ferns—a quintessential feature for any Southern porch. Cheery containers also add inviting color to this architectural essential. Get containers filled with ferns, dress the porch swing for company, set the rockers out, and enjoy a gorgeous summer evening. Your container garden makes every minute in this family-friendly space even more beautiful.

If you are looking for a simple but fantastic summer gathering decorating idea, one of the best is to add color to your outdoor party with potted plants. In the heat of the season in the South, there's no need for a patterned tablecloth here. Potted petunias will add all the beautiful color you need under the glass-top dining table and make a show-stopping, sensational and unexpected addition to your outdoor party decor. These planters have a simple curved wrought-iron base that works well with the simple glass top of the table, but you can match the container to your design and decorating style.

Using white to lighten your garden is a great way to let the plants' tone be the neutral foundation for your design. Several large pots of white impatiens brighten a shady corner with hundreds of blooms.

Planting a single style in a container can help to tie your outdoor space together. If you plan to grow several different container garden features, consider choosing separate planters for each or a single container to create a sense of harmony.

Although they may not be the first thing that comes to mind, don't ignore edibles when selecting your planting materials. Different lettuce varieties have beautiful colors and textures, can add visual interest, and provides a surprise to your container gardens—and your kitchens.

Here, several leafy edibles mix with violas and mums. These leafy greens will surprise people who wonder what plant is creating the beautiful colors in your containers—and using them as a centerpiece on your dinner plate will be just as surprising.

Layered, loud, and filled with color and excitement, purple fountain grass spills from its container. The purple fountain grass blooms in summer and can continue blooming into fall, giving this container wonder from season to season. Adding pumpkins near your containers adds idyllic fall quality to your front porch. Put it together and let its radiance glow.

Contrary to popular belief, not all boxwoods are dark green—nor are they shaped into topiary or complex geometrical forms, even though they easily can be. A popular choice for container gardens, known as variegated American boxwood ('Elegantissima'), has green leaves accented with white.

White violas, highlighting and reinforcing the color of the boxwoods, illuminate this garden corner, and the larger planters blend with the boxwoods. Everything is tied together with the consistency of the terracotta pots. These are simple, natural, and reflect the brick pavers.

Containers can be a simple yet sophisticated way to soften a hardscape. The various colorful flower intensifies the landscape's beauty. Plant flowers in several containers, creating visual consistency throughout the arrangement.

Find a simple planting scheme, and stick with it until you've found the perfect amount of containers to make it beautiful—don't think your container garden needs every type of plant imaginable. Instead, repeat your favorite plants in containers and flowerbeds. You'll appreciate the simplicity of these simple containers set against the natural wood stairs. Pots of bright violas in various shades of purple spill over and out of this two-level container creating a lush, fluid, yet consistent look.

If you like architectural elements or details on some of your containers, you can elevate them for more of an impact. Shelves host a range of layered containers in this informal garden. Some plants cascade over the sides, creating a whimsical sense of movement and echoing the rustic atmosphere of the everyday garden.

Finding plants with the right combination of beauty and durability for withstanding a harsh climate can be a challenge. Coleus and lantana fit right in with the South's increasing appetite for hot, cheery, assertive colors that stand up to heat and humidity. With suitable types of coleus, you'll find them to be tough and tidy, and you'll also get beautiful leaf shapes—something that makes a plant even more enticing for a small container.

Pair those shapes with tight clusters of lantana flowers and get an incredibly intriguing arrangement of visual exhilaration dressed up as a simple gardening idea.

Mint, admired for its flavor and aroma, can be an incredible herb to grow in a garden container. Its bright green leaves bring in a pop of color. Left uncontrolled, however, mint tends to overrun an outdoor space. With this in mind, you will want to keep this invasive herb in kitchen garden pots.

Pick your mint based on the flavor you want and whether you'd prefer it for tea or flavoring food—you'll be thrilled by the variety of mints available.

Caladiums are one of the most popular plants in the South for creating beauty in difficult-to-grow-in shady places. Caladiums—a tropical plant native to America—have incredible foliage that can have blotches of red, rose, pink, white, and more. Some of our favorite caladiums include 'Pink Symphony,' 'Iceberg,' 'Miss Muffet,' and 'Candyland.' Incorporating planters into your landscaping plan brings this beautiful plant into your hardscape. This poolside scene includes a trough-like container built right into the bank. Fill it with a colorful array of caladiums, and you will have created a poolside tropical oasis.

Lily-of-the-Nile makes a big statement and is a beautiful plant to pair with subtle tones and colors. Agapanthus, described as blue, comes in various colors, from a deep blue to a pale blue and seemingly every shade in between.

If you want to know which color blue the plant is, you will need to choose one that has blossomed if only identified as 'blue.' The gorgeous blue flowers in any shade and evergreen varieties create a spring-like atmosphere year-round.

Variegated Agave, native to southern Texas and eastern Mexico, is a spreading ground cover that grows to about a foot tall and, left uncontained, would spread to roughly four feet wide. It becomes the perfect planting in a container, depending on your needs.

A similar height, the Japanese Roof Iris—so named because it was popular to plant this on cottage roofs in the island nation—brings a gorgeous violet-and-white flower to this container delight. During your garden design, plan to vary the heights of your containers for greater visual interest. This garden features planters in various scales and materials, adding to its eclectic cottage personality.

Within a design scheme best described as rustic meets semi-modern, smooth metals and natural woods combine into one harmonious whole. Rather than stick to a rigorous, single-plant approach, a series of textural leaves gives a more modern look. An assortment of plants in shades of green anchors the backyard corner and adds depth to the small space. Enjoy a relaxing afternoon on the comfortable bench near this incredible container garden wonder.

This container sits in a natural environment on a table of weathered wood, which is a perfect lesson in best framing colorful plants with a textured background. These vibrant coleuses provide a pop of color among textural grass plantings. Plants with bold but often or predominantly monochrome foliage, such as coleus, can work well in a classically shaped planter such as this one with Roman and Rococo influences. Resist the urge to sand or sandblast containers such as these if they are structurally sound—brush off any loose debris and leave their history and finish to shine through.

Having fresh herbs at home can be much simpler than purchasing them at a store. Transplants of cilantro, parsley, and chives are at their best in the late winter months, both in containers and in the ground. Plant them in a shallow box, as pictured, and use them as an outdoor centerpiece. They will grow wonderfully well together, and you'll have as much or as little as you need on hand—top a wide range of delectable dishes fresh from the oven with herbs from your garden. 

Label your herbs so you can grab a handful whenever you need it. These raised-bed container gardens should produce plenty to share with family, friends, and neighbors.

Potted boxwoods don't require using the hedge clippers, although you can train these plants into any shape you'd want. These plants offer a formal elegance with the simplicity of minor maintenance. Boxwoods can generally be drought tolerant, and you won't have to fertilize them too often. This sizeable American variety creates a living wall in a line of concrete planters—a process helped by simultaneously planting the boxwoods in identical planters. These simple tips will make your boxwood container garden easy to maintain but even more accessible and beautiful to behold.

Great growers like these Mini Cascade ivy geraniums ensure you'll never doubt your plant selections. Geraniums withstand the South's harsh summer heat and keep on blooming. This flower work wonders as part of a hanging container garden, blossoming into a rich and verdant cascade of flowers spilling over and out of their planters. You'll be excited by the rush of color but even more thrilled with how simple these cascading geraniums are to maintain.

These beautiful low-growing Hen and Chicks plants fill this vintage metal planter. The silver undertones of the leaves mirror the copper finish of the tub. The Southern Living Garden Book describes Hen and Chicks as Mexican natives with 'rosettes of fleshy leaves,' which is simply the perfect description for these succulent perennials. Available in a wide range of colors, you can choose the Hen and Chicks that best fit the tone of your container garden. Or, mix and match to your heart's delight and revel in their subtle variations.

For big impact, use big pots. They'll accommodate more, and added soil means they won't need watering as often—this simple advice is the best tip when creating a large-scale container garden.

Trailing Algerian Ivy is the perfect choice in this case, with its large, broad leaves. It is also an aggressive grower. The other ideal plant selection here is the Needle Palm, which may be the hardiest plant in the world—so Southern summers won't challenge this robust palm. Add in some colorful annuals, and your containers are full, fun, and fit for anything.

Try planting ground cover in a pot. 'Purple Pixie' Loropetalum shrub combines showy pink flowers in spring, deep burgundy evergreen foliage, and a pronounced weeping form. It reaches one to two feet high and four to five feet wide as a ground cover. Placed in a container, a one-gallon plant in a 24-inch-tall pot will completely hide the vessel in just a couple of years. This plant is a great way to give visual structure to your garden without making decisions regarding more formal architectural elements when you prefer to focus on softer, more natural forms.

Similar-looking plants will reveal subtle differences, but often different-looking species will also share many commonalities. If you adopt this approach to your container gardening, you'll find that grouping flowers by form or color is a great way to rethink your planting approach if you tend to keep your flowers all the same.

Instead of only one flower, use several flowers of the same color for a more significant impact in a small planting. Tall snapdragons, medium-size pansies, and trailing vines are a happy mix in these terra-cotta planters.