Designing your pots

Designing your pots

In this lesson, you'll learn how to put together a pot combination by focusing on colour and form.

Principles of form and colour

Colour

I have been passionate about colour my whole life and I like the pots I create to have a real impact in the garden. I have quite strict rules about colour palettes at Perch Hill because I believe that throwing different colours together without thought creates a result that is far too busy.

To stop this from happening, we use specific colour palettes in different areas of the garden.

Our four main colour palettes are:

Boiled sweet

Bright, highly pigmented colours such as magenta and bright yellow.

Dark and rich

Dark and sombre, highly pigmented colours such as burgundy or navy.

Soft and cool

Colours that are mostly white but with a splash of cool pigment such as lilac.

Soft and warm

Colours that are mostly white but with a splash of warm pigment, such as peach.

Once I have selected a colour palette for a pot, I pick a few main colours from within that palette and select my flowers.

I have a system for deciding what type of flowers to use too, and that involves picking a dominant showstopper flower which I call my bride, a supporting flower called the bridesmaid and an interloper flower in a contrasting colour called the gatecrasher.

The three main flowers in a pot are:

• Bride
• Bridesmaid
• Gatecrasher

Form

The other main thing to consider when choosing your plants is how they grow and spread, in other words, what form do they take? Here, you need to consider whether your chosen plant has an upright growth habit or whether it trails.

To make choosing the right plants as simple as possible I've divided plant growth habits into four different categories: pillar, spiller, thriller and filler.

Pillar: this is a plant with an upright growth habit.

Spiller: these plants have a downward growth habit and will spill over the edges of your pot.

Thriller: this is a showstopper plant that's the real diva of the bunch.

Filler: these plants join all the different layers together and fill in any gaps.

By combining these four types of plants you will achieve the best possible pot combinations.

Seasonal planting

In spring it's time to design and plant pots that will bloom in summer and autumn, while in early autumn it's time to design and plant pots that bloom the following spring. Here are some examples of different kinds of pots and how I might go about designing them for the two seasons.

| | Pots planted in spring for summer/autumn display | Pots planted in autumn for spring display |

|---|---|---|

| Whopper pots | Thriller: Dahlia 'Molly Raven'<br>Pillar: Thunbergia<br>Spiller: Petunia 'Tidal Wave Red Velour' | Bride: Tulip 'Orange Marmalade'<br>Bridesmaid: Tulip 'Ballerina'<br>Gatecrasher: Wallflower 'Purple Bicolour' |

| Scatter pots | Erigeron (Mexican daisy)<br>Linaria 'Sweeties Mix' | Polyanthus 'Gold Lace' |

| Shade pots | Nicotiana 'Grandiflora' | Narcissus 'Avalanche'<br>Narcissus 'Xit' |

| Cascading pots | Cobaea scandens | Muehlenbeckia<br>Rosemary 'Prosratus' |

| Scented pots | Sweet peas | Narcissus: Avalanche, Actaea, Pheasant's Eye |

| Perennial pots | Hydrangea<br>Agapanthus 'Navy Blue' | Rosemary 'Foxtail' |

| Cutting patch | Euphorbia oblongata<br>Cerinthe major purpurascens<br>Calendula<br>Salvia<br>Ageratum | Gladiolus 'Acidanthera'<br>Tulips |