Spring is the perfect season to refresh your porch and create an inviting outdoor space. As temperatures get warmer and flowers begin to bloom, it’s an ideal time to give your home’s entrance a fresh look. A thoughtfully decorated porch can enhance your home’s curb appeal and curate a welcoming atmosphere.
Simple updates, such as adding vibrant flowers, can make a big difference in transforming your entry.
Porchscaping offers a wonderful opportunity to extend your landscape into your outdoor living space. Whether you’ve already filled your garden with your favorite plants and need additional room or you have a smaller landscape and want to bring greenery to your porch or patio with containers, it’s the perfect solution. Layering containers on your porch or patio creates a beautiful look that you can style with decorative touches like lanterns, seasonal wreaths, rugs, and doormats.
We love featuring some of our favorites from Monrovia® as the centerpiece in our containers. Large topiaries, such as the two-tier Emerald Colonnade® Boxwood, evergreen vines like Joe Evergreen Clematis, and tropical plants like Electric Pink Cordyline allow you to easily swap out surrounding plants based on the seasons, giving you the flexibility to refresh your color palette.
Before creating your container garden, consider the amount of sun your space receives. Then, follow the “thriller, filler, spiller” method. Choose a color palette, and select plants that you love, ensuring a mix of colors and textures. We always enjoy adding fragrant herbs like Lavender and Rosemary for a refreshing scent.
For a simpler look, you can achieve the same effect with large topiaries and ferns in your containers if you prefer a more minimalist style.
Gather Your Supplies!
To get started, collect your supplies. The items you’ll need may vary based on your design, but here are the essentials:
Calloway’s Premium Container Potting Soil
- Calloway’s Premium Container Potting Soil is specially designed for container gardening. Enriched with moisture-retaining capsules and essential minerals, it offers the perfect balance of air and water to support strong root growth, ensuring your plants thrive. It’s perfect for all potted plants and container gardens.
Fresh plants and seasonal blooms
- Before choosing plants, consider the container’s location to determine how much sunlight the area gets. Select plants with similar sun and water needs. Then, use the “Thriller, Filler, and Spiller” method to pick plants that add dimension, color, and texture to your design.
Calloway’s Premium Flower Food
- Calloway’s Premium Flower Food is a food designed to nourish flowering plants with essential nutrients for vibrant growth and blooms. It features a balanced mix of macronutrients and micronutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for optimal results. Use every 30 days to ensure vibrant non-stop color!
Pottery
- Calloway’s offers a diverse selection of Pottery & Accessories to elevate both the beauty and functionality of your porch and garden. With a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, our pottery is perfect for any plant or garden style.
Layering Containers
When selecting your containers, consider layering different sizes. This is a great way to create depth and visual interest in porchscaping. Start with a larger container at the base to anchor the design, then add medium-sized and smaller pots beside them. This layering technique adds dimension and makes your plants stand out. You can mix and match plant types, from tall topiaries to cascading flowers, ensuring the taller plants are placed in the back and the smaller ones in front for a balanced look. This approach allows for a dynamic and beautiful display that draws the eye and enhances your porch’s overall charm.
Building your Containers!
We began by choosing our three containers, selecting elegant black ribbed Japi pots for their lightweight, impact-resistant, and weatherproof qualities. These containers are not only durable but also offer a sleek, modern aesthetic that complements any style. Their versatility makes them perfect for both indoor and outdoor use, ensuring they’ll stand the test of time while adding a touch of sophistication to your porch.
Large Container
Inside our large container, we used a nursery pot to help support the plants and provide a smaller pot that uses less soil, that we can drop in. This not only provides stability but also makes it easier to rearrange or replace plants if needed.
Step 1: Take the nursery pot and slightly fill the base with Calloway’s Premium Potting Soil
Step 2: Start with an Emerald Colonnade® Holly from Monrovia® for your thriller.
Step 3: Add a lovely herb like Lavender as your filler to bring both fragrance and beauty.
Step 4: Include Bidens Golden Empire for vibrant seasonal color, height, and a touch of warmth.
Step 5: Use your favorite Calibrachoa for an extra burst of color and cascading beauty.
Step 6: Add Snow Princess® Lobularia from Proven Winners® for delicate, cascading, and fragrant blooms that soften the overall look.
Step 7: Fluff your design, ensuring the plants are arranged naturally, and place the full nursery pot into your container to complete the display!
Medium Container
Inside this medium Japi container, we used a Bloem® pot to drop in our larger pot.
Step 1: Begin by filling the base of the Bloem® pot with Container Potting Soil.
Step 2: Start with a striking Joe Evergreen Clematis from Monrovia® as your thriller plant to add height and visual interest.
Step 3: Add a bright, cheerful African Daisy to introduce a pop of vibrant color to the arrangement.
Step 4: Next, include a fragrant herb like Arp Rosemary to add both aroma and texture to your design.
Step 5: Incorporate Proven Winners® Supertunia Vista® Jazzbery for an extra burst of color, along with delightful texture and movement.
Step 6: Finish by adding Lysimachia as a spiller, bringing an eye-catching chartreuse color and extra texture to complete the look.
This combination of plants creates a dynamic, colorful, and fragrant garden that will thrive all season long, adding beauty to any space.
Small Container
Finally, we have our small container! For this one, you have two simple options.
The first option is to use a stunning hanging basket. We chose a Calibrachoa with pinks and oranges. Just remove it from the basket and re-pot it into your chosen container for an easy yet beautiful display!
The second option involves adding a stunning Electric Pink Cordyline from Monrovia® in the center as your thriller, which will serve as the focal point of your arrangement. Then, carefully break apart the hanging basket and arrange the plants around the base of the Cordyline, filling in the space with complementary foliage and flowers.
By layering the plants, you create a well-balanced, visually appealing design that adds depth and dimension. This approach gives your container a dynamic, full appearance with a beautiful mix of textures, colors, and shapes, making it an eye-catching front piece to add to your display. The combination of bold and delicate plants ensures your display will stand out.
And just like that, you’ve crafted a beautiful display that will effortlessly brighten your porch! All your new plants will continue to grow, fill out, and spill over the edges for the spring and summer, creating a warm and inviting space for friends and family to enjoy when they visit!
Here to Help
At Calloway’s and Cornelius, we are here to help with all your porchscaping and gardening needs! Visit us today and explore our stunning collection of vibrant blooms, lush indoor plants, stylish pottery, stately trees and shrubs, and so much more! Shop at any of our 29 neighborhood stores, where we’ve proudly served our loyal customers for over 38 years.
Need guidance on creating the perfect porchscape? Our Texas Certified Nursery Professionals are here to provide expert advice and help you choose the right plants and containers for your space. We’ll make sure your porch is a welcoming and beautiful retreat that you’ll love all season long. Have questions? Don’t hesitate to ask – we’re here to help!