How to Create a Multi-Season Container Garden
Are you ready to get smarter about container gardening? Let’s go!
I often talk about the merits of using evergreens in container gardens. The approach is practical and offers multiple seasons of enjoyment with minimal effort. Sounds pretty smart, right? Thanks to some help from the talented and enthusiastic gardeners behind the Southern Living® Plant Collection, I’m taking this lesson one step further and explaining how to combine a trio of evergreens in a way that makes it easy to update the arrangement from season to season.
The Southern Living Plant Collection is a select group of plants that excel in Southern gardens. Each plant in the collection has undergone years of evaluation and can withstand Summer heat AND Winter cold across parts of the Southern US — ranging from USDA Zones 6 to 11. Every plant is unique, so always read the details provided for ideal living conditions.*
No time to shop for these plants at your local garden centers? No worries! The collection is available online HERE and plants are shipped directly to your doorstep.
Season #1: Summer
Start thinking of your planters as mini landscapes. It’s always best to begin a new landscape with foundation plants that provide structure and longevity to the design. Approach your multi-season container garden in the same way.
First, let’s create a party-ready planter for Summer. Click below to visit my recipe shop and get your FREE detailed planter recipe:
This design relies on three gorgeous evergreen specimens from the Southern Living Plant Collection: Diamond Spire™ Gardenia, ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum, and Purple Pixie® Dwarf Loropetalum. The Gardenia has dense clusters of shiny, round leaves and an upright habit. The Ligustrum is a tough plant with a delicate look and a vibrant chartreuse color. This variety of Loropetalum has intense plum tones and a weeping silhouette that makes it the perfect spiller!
Plant them in a triangle formation (Diagram A) leaving enough space between them to add some vibrant Seasonal Color for Summer (Diagram B). Click the button above to download the FREE detailed recipe.
Diagram A
Thriller “T”: Diamond Spire™ Gardenia
Filler “F”: ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum
Spiller “S”: Purple Pixie® Dwarf Weeping Loropetalum
Diagram B
Seasonal Color 1 “SC1”: ‘Pink’ Dipladenia
Seasonal Color 2 “SC2”: ‘White’ Green Leaf Begonia
Using this diagram and their own gorgeous plants, my partners at Southern Living Plant Collection created these dazzling Summer beauties in mirror image of each other. Beautiful and easy!
Source: Southern Living Plant Collection (click photo to source these pots)
Season #2: Fall
Fast forward to late September. While these arrangements should still look lush and healthy, they’ll need some attention by now. The evergreens should be pruned lightly to keep the shape you like. The Summer annuals will probably look tired, so THIS is the time to replace those “SC” circles in the diagram! Gently dig out the Dipladenia and Begonia (or your annuals of choice) and plant something new in each place…something fresh that says “Fall”. Snapdragons would give you nice height while Pansies or Violas would provide mounds of color. Or, use one of my favorite tricks: put mini pumpkins and gourds on long wooden floral picks and tuck them in at varying heights — just poke them into the soil anywhere you need a pop of color. Smart, right? (Note: the pumpkins and gourds might rot more quickly than usual because you’ve poked a hole in them, so be prepared to replace a few as needed.)
Season #3: Winter
Fall can be a short season here in the South, so be ready to exchange that Seasonal Color again for Winter. Remove your autumnal touches, fill those spaces with damp potting mix, and pack it in tightly. Then tuck in evergreen branches, pine cones on picks, and fresh or faux Winterberry stems. Add a festive touch with shatterproof ornaments on picks (make these yourself by hot-gluing ornaments onto long wooden floral picks), or maybe even a huge bow! After the new year, you can gently pull out the glittery stuff and continue to enjoy your natural elements. Think of this season as “floral designing” as opposed to “planting”.
Season #4: Spring
With consistent watering and protection from the deep cold*, your triangle of evergreens will hopefully survive the winter months. By March, you’ll be ready to bring some fresh flowers back to your container garden. Look for cold-tolerant bloomers like Snapdragons, Violas, Pansies, Dianthus, Scabiosa, and Primrose. Or think outside the box and use faux floral branches (Pro Tip: spray them with UV Protectant or Water Repellant before tucking them into your arrangement). If you’re lucky enough to have access to emerging bulbs — tulips, hyacinth, daffodils, etc. — that are pre-planted in small nursery pots, try tucking them into those little holes in your container garden and you’ll get a sweet surprise when they bloom!
Points to Ponder
I hope you agree this is a smart — and very doable — approach to container gardening! If you’re feeling inspired…
Visit HERE if you’d like to shop the evergreens featured in this post, or other plants in the Southern Living Plant Collection.
Shop HERE if you need the gorgeous concrete pots featured above.
Read HERE to learn even more about how I use evergreens in container gardens.
Click HERE for a detailed planter recipe to create your own multi-season container garden.
As always, please let me know if you have questions or need some help. No matter what, go plant something!
XO,
Steph
* The Southern Living Plants used in this discussion (Gardenia, Ligustrum, and Loropetalum) are considered hardy in Zones 7 - 10 and should last all four seasons in this container in these zones. While no plant is guaranteed to be 100% hardy through the winter, you can increase your chances of success by watering consistently and protecting your arrangement during the coldest months. Move it to a sheltered area where it will still enjoy some sunshine, or cover it snugly with a breathable fabric like burlap.
** Please know that I may earn a small commission on items purchased through links in this post. I greatly appreciate your support!