Texture in container garden design
Texture... you think about it with fabric…but have you thought about it with plants? Plant leaves come in a million different sizes and shapes. Grasses, asparagus fern and cacti among others have spiky leaves. There are smooth and shiny leaves on a croton, ruffled leaves of a cabbage or kale and furry leaves on dusty miller. Broad leaves on a sweet potato vine plant and small leaves on moneywort. Truly, the options are endless. In order to have balance with the plants in the container, we always try to have a mixture of at least 3 different leaf textures. Plant texture is just one of those things most people don’t pay attention to, but when you get it right, wow!
Check out the 4 textures in the picture above. The majestic palm fronds are long and thin, the plumosa ferns are delicate and wispy, the sunpatiens have mid-sized leaves, the purple sweet potato vine has large leaves and the wire vine leaves are tiny and round. Lots going on in this planter for sure! But don't the different textures add some interest to the planter?!?!
Thrillers, fillers and spillers for sunny spots
Hooray! Summer planting is well under way! We wanted to share our favorite thrillers, fillers and spillers for areas that get full sun.
Our favorite sun-loving thrillers (the one tall plant that gives the arrangement height) are grasses, hibiscus and oleander. Grasses and oleander don't require as much water so they are perfect if you have a really hot, sunny spot and aren't into watering the pots on a daily basis. We do love hibiscus though for their large, tropical blooms. Hibiscus don't like to dry out however, so these pretties need more frequent watering. Warning, oleander is poisonous, so beware if you have pets who eat plants!
Fun, flowering fillers (the plants that surround the thriller and make it full) for sunny spots are angelonia, pentas, sunpatiens and lantana. All these flowers have tons of colorful blooms and thrive in heat.
Our go-to spillers (the plants that spill over the sides of the pot) for sun are moneywort, sweet potato vine, dichondra silver falls, scaevola, purple heart and purslane. We like them all equally but use them for different reasons. If we need a pop of lime green, we use moneywort if we are planting in a shorter pot because it won't grow too long, otherwise if we have a taller pot, we will use the chartreuse sweet potato vine. Sweet potato vine also comes in dark purple and several variegated options. The other varieties of sweet potato vine don't grow as aggressively as the bright green type. Dichondra silver falls has a gorgeous silvery grey color that looks beautiful against a cobalt blue pot. It has a texture similar to moneywort. If you want a flowering spiller, you will love scaevola for the continuous blooms. It comes in periwinkle, light pink and white. Purple heart is a gorgeous dark purple that looks fabulous next to a silver dusty miller. Lastly, purslane can withstand heat and drought so it is great spiller for those conditions and it flowers like crazy in the sun and heat.
In this picture above we used a pink hibiscus as the thriller, lantana as the filler and sweet potato vine as the spiller. This is one of our favorite combinations for sunny spots!
Upcoming events
We'll be back at it with events in the fall so make sure to follow Adorn on social media to be in the know about all our events. Click the links below if you'd like to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
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Let Adorn Help You
Do you love pretty planters but don't have time to do it yourself? Summer is just around the corner friends! Let Adorn plant seasonal flowers and plants in your outdoor pots and cross that task off your list. Whether it's for your front porch or store front, we'd love to help!
Curb Appeal Shout Out!
If you live in Kansas City you know about this fabulous store already. If you are looking to road trip to KC soon, this store is a shopping destination that you don't want to miss! Restoration Emporium is a family-owned business that curates antique, vintage and vintage-inspired, farmhouse and urban home decor all under one roof! Located in the historic West Bottoms of KC and the iconic Country Club Plaza, RE is proud to be one of the first shops to create a unique one of a kind destination shopping experience in Kansas City.
The owners, Chrysalyn & Jeff Huff, have been friends with Julie since 2012 and Julie absolutely loves "adorning" the storefronts at both of their stores. "We chose Adorn after seeing some of their work on Facebook. With our hectic schedules, finding time to create wonderful planters for our Plaza and West Bottoms stores was just not going to happen. Julie took our needs and ran with them! Imagine the smile on my face the day I pulled up to our Plaza store and saw these two beauties. We are thrilled with Adorn!"
Thank you Chrysalyn and Jeff for letting us dig in the dirt at RE!