Go Green with Colorful Pots
May 3, 2010
Congratulations! You're the proud owner of a new home (hopefully an Ideal home). You've survived moving day with your marriage, your relationships with friends and
family, and your back mostly intact.
You've unpacked at least 100 more boxes than you packed, and the garage is still stacked to the ceiling. In spite of your best efforts, the coffee machine and your favorite t-shirt are on the missing list. And, worst of all, your house just doesn't feel like home yet.
Consider something green and growing. Indoors or out there's no quicker way to make your home feel welcoming than festive container gardens.
Tip #1: Just buy them. If you have no inclination toward planting and tending, you can find patio pots in a wide variety of colors at garden centers, hardware and home centers, and the plant tents cropping up in parking lots all over town. Do decide in advance if your container garden is going into sun or shade and pick accordingly. If the tag doesn't give you this information, be sure to ask. Getting this part wrong will doom your pretty pot from the start.
If you're sick of unpacking, grab the kids and take a swing at planting your own pots. Here are some ideas.
Tip #2: Pick your container carefully. Clay, stone, concrete and iron pots are gorgeous, but once you fill them with plants, they are very heavy. Resin and Styrofoam offer a lighter choice. These have improved so much that you can hardly tell them from the real deal, and many of them survive the winter better than clay pots.
Tip #3: Pick colors that look good with your home. Here are some sample palettes that always look good together.
Foliage (leaves)
family, and your back mostly intact.
You've unpacked at least 100 more boxes than you packed, and the garage is still stacked to the ceiling. In spite of your best efforts, the coffee machine and your favorite t-shirt are on the missing list. And, worst of all, your house just doesn't feel like home yet.
Consider something green and growing. Indoors or out there's no quicker way to make your home feel welcoming than festive container gardens.
Tip #1: Just buy them. If you have no inclination toward planting and tending, you can find patio pots in a wide variety of colors at garden centers, hardware and home centers, and the plant tents cropping up in parking lots all over town. Do decide in advance if your container garden is going into sun or shade and pick accordingly. If the tag doesn't give you this information, be sure to ask. Getting this part wrong will doom your pretty pot from the start.
If you're sick of unpacking, grab the kids and take a swing at planting your own pots. Here are some ideas.
Tip #2: Pick your container carefully. Clay, stone, concrete and iron pots are gorgeous, but once you fill them with plants, they are very heavy. Resin and Styrofoam offer a lighter choice. These have improved so much that you can hardly tell them from the real deal, and many of them survive the winter better than clay pots.
Tip #3: Pick colors that look good with your home. Here are some sample palettes that always look good together.
Foliage (leaves)
- Red, silver and blue
- Dark green and lime
- Dark green, red and variegated (2-color)
- All one color - any color, just vary them from light to dark
- White with anything - makes all the other colors show up better. Try Diamond Frost euphorbia. It works in sun or shade and makes any pot look professional.
- Cool colors - pink, purple and blue
- Warm colors - red, orange and yellow