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Mixed Flower and Foliage Plantings
Miniature Container Gardens
Mixed plantings give you a chance to create your own miniature gardens in containers that contain flowers, foliage plants, even small shrubs.
Group a number of different plants and you can make an instant living floral display with contrasting or complementary foliage types and colorful flowers.
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A decorative container brimming with red-toned plants such as begonia, coleus, croton, and Dracaena tricolor, for instance, looks stunning on a patio table next to green and red outdoor seating with a shading umbrella. The same plants in a wicker or woven reed basket are equally striking indoors on a coffee table.
Create mixed plantings in baskets, ceramic pots, metal boxes, or found objects. You also can use larger pots or planter boxes for large structural containers placed in your landscape.
Pot all the plants in the same container or fill a decorative container with several pots and cover them with sphagnum moss or bark chips. If you use a single container, be sure all the plants have the same growing requirements.
It’s best to choose plants that prefer moist conditions. When several plants are grouped, they combine to create a humid environment as each plant combines with others to release water vapor transpiring from its leaves.
Also select plants of varying heights for your container garden.
In the center, place tall flowering plants with palm-like compound leaves or narrow and pointed foliage. Surround them in descending order of height with other, lower-growing plants.
Plant trailing and hanging plants on the edge of the container so they gracefully drape or hang over its rim.
It’s always a good idea to line baskets with plastic to prevent moisture from discoloring the reeds or wicker, warping it, or transmitting fungal diseases to your plants [see: Planting Flowers into Containers].
Care for your mixed-planting container as you would any other plants.
If you’ve planted each species in individual containers, remember to regularly remove them, water, and feed each plant according to its particular needs.
If instead you’ve made a group planting, you install slow-release watering reservoirs in the rootballs of to supply moisture to any damp-loving plants without drowning their neighbors.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Mixing houseplants with similar care needs allows you to grow containers of flowering and foliage plants with contrasting blooms, leaves, and varied heights.
For best results, choose a container that’s both deep and wide. Pick between one and three plants that contrast with the main flowering species you’ll feature.
Gather your plants, pea gravel, potting soil, and a hand trowel, then follow these simple steps:
How to Mix Plants in Containers
Prepare the container for planting.
Begin by covering its drain holes with plastic or wire-mesh screen and pea gravel to prevent clogging.
Next, partially fill the pot with potting soil.
Position plants according to how the container will be displayed.
To display a container set against a wall, place the main and tallest plant or plants against one sidewall of the pot.
If the planting will be viewed from all angles, position the main and tallest plant or plants in the container’s center.
At points angled 45° from the main plant’s center, place two or three midsized species.
Add potting soil to set the rootballs of these second-tier plants the same height as the top of the rootball of the main plant or plants.
Fill the spaces between the main and second-tier plants with small, shorter, or trailing foliage-plant species.
Crowd them in, matching the other plants’ soil level.
Compact the soil around the roots of all three sets of plants now in the container.
Backfill low spots between the plants with more potting soil.
Compact it with your fingertips until each plant is firmly supported by the surrounding soil.
Thoroughly water the planting.
Allow it to drain, and add chipped bark nuggets or sphagnum moss to cover the soil.
Place the mixed-species planting in its final display site.
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