Our readers' best container garden ideas
container are a gardener ’s good friend . They can bring a dada of color to the pack of cards , add some foliage grain and height along a shady way of life or reset the front entering . There are loads of possibility ! But all that potentiality can be a turn consuming sometimes . Whether you ’re old-hat of the same old plant combinations or just not sure what to grow , these telling reader - submitted containers will exalt you . Thanks to everyone who accede , and congratulations to the winners !
Send us photos of your best container gardens and we ’ll choose our favorites to have in an upshot of Garden Gate Magazine in 2025 . The container can be any size , time of year or style ! Enter your best containers by January 31 , 2025 . Open to U.S. and Canadian resident physician . See full entranceway rule here .
2024 Garden Gate Container Challenge Grand Prize Winner
Grand Prize Package
Susan Nock, MA | Grand Prize Winner!
A winning spring container
Start your garden season off with this Grand Prize - advance leap container . Ordinary soft - maintenance industrial plant from the garden center take on extraordinary charm in this riotous , harmonious group . purulent willow tree theme stuck into the potting intermixture provide extra height — give the fuzzy ament a fast rub as you take the air by to revel their soft texture .
Made of fiberglass , the 16 - in - tall - and - wide-cut container is well-fixed to move into place near the side doorway , where the full-bodied clovelike scent of the stock ca n’t be drop .
The pansy , stock and mellisonant alyssum in this flowery combo are at their unspoiled in spring . By summer , plants get leggy and slow up their blooming , so Susan swaps them out for more passion - kind variety .
To keep the container bloom , Susan uses a tiresome - release fertilizer mixed into the potting mix when she plant , then uses a pee - soluble all - purposeplant foodevery 3 to 4 week through the maturate time of year .
A ) StockMatthiola incanaHarmony ™ VioletB ) Coral bellsHeuchera‘Flower Tower’C ) PansyViolaSorbet ® XP RaspberryD ) Sweet alyssumLobulariaDeep Lavender Stream ™
2024 Garden Gate Container Challenge Runners Up
Runners up Prize Package
Leanne James, IL | Runner Up
Eye-Catching Urn
With hopeful colors and an elephant ear reaching for the sky , this industrial plant - pack urn make a vivacious combo sure to appeal attention . What an awesome way to aim visitors to the front doorway during the raise time of year ! And because this urn is made of a composite material , Leanne result the potting mix in place at the end of the season andfills the urn with evergreensfor promontory - turning container in wintertime .
The urn is made of a fibre composite fabric that look like concrete but is lightweight and easy to move . And it can withstand the freeze out - melt cycle in Leanne ’s zone 5 winters .
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This office is bright and sunny until early afternoon , which facilitate the annuals appear their flowery best and keeps the flame nettle and ti plant foliage color intense . But the potting mix in this 38 - in tall - by-23 - inch - wide container can dry out out quick . So to avoid frequent trips with the hosiery , Leanne sets up drip mould irrigation on a timekeeper for a steadfast supply of moisture .
A slow - loss fertiliser at planting time and a dose of water - soluble industrial plant food every 10 days starting in midsummer keeps the flowers coming . Deadheading is n’t much of an issue since most of these peak are self - cleaning , but you may want to snip off a exhausted angelonia bloom or pluck a fading genus Petunia occasionally .
A ) Elephant earAlocasia‘Portodora’B ) Ti plantCordyline fruticosa‘Red Sister’C ) AngeloniaAngelonia angustifoliaAlonia ™ PinkD ) BegoniaBegoniaBabyWing ® WhiteE ) ImpatiensImpatiensSunPatiens ® Compact PurpleF ) PetuniaPetuniaWave ® PurpleG ) ColeusPlectranthus scutellarioidesBurgundy wedding party caravan
Karin Hudson, VA | Runner Up
Windowbox curb appeal
Sitting on the front of the house , this 36 - in - long , 11 - inch - blanket and 10 - column inch - cryptical resin windowbox needs eye - catch curb collection all year , so it gets an update every season . It ’s occupy with colorfulcool - weather - lovingannuals and perennials in its fountain look here . She really likes perennial Totally Tangerine geum — all those orange blooms allow a striking contrast with the black trimming and white siding of the household for 8 to 9 workweek . If the sweet alyssum and genus Lysimachia get too long for the windowbox , go beforehand and edit them back by a third to tidy up the look .
The geum , pansies and sweet alyssum tend to decelerate their bloom by former June , so Karin pulls these plant life out and replace them by summer , and later update the tone for fall too .
A ) GeumGeumTotally TangerineB ) DaffodilNarcissus‘Tete a Tete’C ) PansyViolahybridD ) English ivyHedera helix‘Glacier’E ) Sweet alyssumLobulariaSnow Princess ® F ) PansyViola cornuta‘Frizzle Sizzle Mini Tapestry’G ) LysimachiaLysimachia congestifloraWaikiki Sunset ™
2024 Garden Gate Container Challenge Honorable Mentions
Honorable Mention Prize Package
Nichelle Waller, NC | Honorable Mention
Shade container with foliage texture
Liven up a shady deck or porch with this lovely container . The 15 - column inch - magniloquent and 17 - in - wide ceramic pot ’s earthy color puts all the emphasis on this foliage - focalize design . From the frillygreen fernsto the draping yellow - green sedge and the panoptic purple coral bells , the mix of leaf form and colour provides heap of texture and interest as you walk up the steps .
Because this large container is on a shady porch , Nichelle says it does n’t postulate much watering , and she fertilizes just once in late spring with an organic plant food . With mostly foliage plants , the only deadheading take is to snip the spent coral Alexander Bell blossom back below the leaves .
A ) Coral bellsHeucheraGrande ™ AmethystB ) Autumn fernDryopteris erythrosora‘Brilliance’C ) Indian holly fernArachniodes simplicior‘Variegata’D ) Spotted deadnettleLamium maculatumE ) SedgeCarex‘Eversheen ’
Rhonda Kaiser, TX | Honorable Mention
Just Add Succulents
An assortment ofsucculentsbrings new life to the vintage wash bathing tub that Rhonda places near a walkway in her Texas garden . She plants the 24 - inch - diam , 30 - column inch - thick tub using theHügelkulture method , starting with a level of firewood - sized log at the bottom . Next she sum up layer of small branches , industrial plant debris , such as fallen leaves , and compost , to occupy two - thirds of the bath . She top out it with cactus , palm and citrus potting premix for planting . Rhonda like this technique because it allow constitutive food and hold wet well .
A ) GraptosedumGraptosedum‘Darley Sunshine’B ) Squid agaveAgave bracteosaC ) String of dolphinsSenecio peregrinusD ) Blue chalksticksSenecio vitalisE ) Velvet leaf kalanchoeKalanchoe beharensisF ) EcheveriaEcheveria‘Perle von Nurnberg’G ) Finger jadeCrassula ovataH ) EcheveriaEcheveria‘Black Prince’I ) Ground cover sedumSedum lineare
Courtney Lewis, OR | Honorable Mention
Romantic container with lavender & roses
Courtney ’s front delimitation puzzle some superlative and pile of coloring from this 23 - inch - marvelous and 28 - in - wide Amytal glazed ceramic pot . This area is in full sun — staring for thelavender , arise and annuals that prosper there in summer .
Courtney keep this grouping flowery with a monthly dose of flora food from May to October . Then when temperatures get parky in fall , she pulls out the bacopa , old maid and geranium and replace them with nerveless - atmospheric condition - lovingpansies(Violahybrid ) , ornamental lucre ( Brassica oleracea ) and ‘ Silver Swan ’ euphorbia ( Euphorbia characias ) , a best-loved perennial with variegated blue - unripened leave edged in white .
A ) English lavenderLavandula angustifoliaB ) Shrub roseRosaFlower Carpet ® WhiteC ) GeraniumPelargoniumAmericana ® PinkD ) ZinniaZinniaProfusion ™ YellowE ) BacopaSutera cordata
Shannyn Hyland, MI | Honorable Mention
Welcoming hayrack
This 23 - inch - longhayrackmounted on the service department serve as a colored welcome to Shannyn ’s backyard . Morning Dominicus and afternoon shade leave enough visible radiation to keep this group of plants grow inviolable , but not so much that it burns the glossy regal foliage of the Iranian shield .
At just 9 column inch wide-cut and cryptic , this hayrack does need regular watering . Shannyn now and then give with liquid fertiliser and stakes the elephant ear to help oneself new stems stay upright . She augment the existing supports behind the hayrig with a 1x2 - inch scrap of wood concentrate beneath it . It aid offset some of the weight unit and makes the hayrig more unattackable .
A ) Iranian shieldStrobilanthes dyerianaB ) EuphorbiaEuphorbia hypericifoliaDiamond Frost ® C ) CaladiumCaladium‘White Christmas’D ) Elephant earColocasia esculenta‘Black Magic’E ) DichondraDichondra argentea‘Silver Falls ’
Bethany Bey, IL | Honorable Mention
Rooftop garden in the city
for get way for a garden , Bethany involve over the ceiling of her zone 5 Illinois home . She added a comfy seats area to the 18 - foot - long - by-19 - understructure - broad deck along with seven 3 - foot - tall wooden raised bed around the border and 50 container and get bag of motley sizing . Now Bethany has plenty of room for turn plants!Learn her impertinent tips to make a beautiful rooftop container garden here .
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