5 Tips for Beautiful Planters All Summer Long

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Proven Winners, however all opinions and flower pot mishaps are 100% mine. 

A few weeks ago, I was perusing the Home Depot completely unaware of the valuable life lesson that was about to play out before my very eyes.

The Circus and I had a slew of errands to run before her birthday party that was in just a few days and picking up spray paint at the Home Depot was one of those things on the list. Prior to leaving the house that morning, I had actually showered, washed my hair and even applied a little makeup.

I was on top of my game.

This was a Friday and by washing my hair that morning, I was good to go for another few days sans hair washing.

You know you hate washing your hair everyday too. Just own it already. 

After we picked up our spray paint, the Circus and I decided to take a quick peek at the planters in the garden center. I had been on the hunt for some new ones to flank either side of our front door.

I spied some nice, classic large cream planters on a shelf a tad higher than myself. They were stacked upside down on top of one another and as I reached up to tilt them down and pull them off the shelf, I thought nothing about the fact that it had rained earlier this morning.

I thought nothing about that fact until the water which had collected on the bottom side of the planters hit me right on top of the head and totally ruined my freshly washed and styled hair.

I looked at the Circus, not knowing whether I wanted to laugh or cry and trying hard to keep the long list of expletives from emerging out of my mouth. She didn’t know what to say either, but after about 10 seconds of just staring at me with her mouth slightly open, she finally said, “You look funny, Mama.”

So we just went with it. For the rest of the day, we completed our errands – gross hair and all.

And yes, we bought the planters.

So besides sharing life lessons learned at the Home Depot, I also thought that today I would share some easy tips for beautiful planters all summer long.

Something great needs to come out of water on my freshly washed hair, right?

5 Tips for Beautiful Planters All Summer Long

Tip #1

Drill drainage holes in the bottom of your planters if they don’t already have them.

Do not skip this, y’all! Lots of planters already come with predrilled drainage holes, but some don’t. The planters I bought had places to drill out the holes, but they weren’t pre-drilled out. To drill the drainage holes, just put a drill bit on your drill and put a few holes in the bottom of the planter. If the excess water can’t drain from the planter, your flowers aren’t going to make it.

Tip #2

If I would have filled these planters completely with soil, there’s no telling how much money I would have spent just in soil! To reduce the amount of soil you need, use fillers in the bottom of your planter pots.

For these planters, I used an old plastic pot that came from another plant and then used plastic bottles around that pot. I probably came about 1/3 – halfway up with the filler in these pots. I left plenty of room for dirt and the roots of the flowers to grow.

Tip #3

Choose the right annuals for your space.

Planting flowers that will perform well in your area as well as in the space you are planting them is crucial to getting and keeping beautiful planters all summer long.

These planters are on our front porch, which faces west and is in full sun pretty much all day. We have zero shade in the front of our house and we live in Tennessee, so it gets pretty darn hot around here in the summer. For this reason, we needed flowers that were very heat tolerant and liked the sun.

We went with Angelface Perfectly Pink Angelonia, Indigo Charm Petunia, and Sweet Caroline Bewitched After Midnight Ipomoea all from the Proven Winners line of annuals.

Besides being flowers that will perform well on our front porch, this combination of flowers also goes along with the filler, spiller and thriller approach to container gardening – to really make a planter pop, you want one flower in it that fills, one that spills and one that thrills. A thriller plant is going to add height to your planter; for me, these were the Angelface Perfectly Pink Angelonias. The filler is going to help your planter look more full and will usually be more of a mounded flower – like the petunia. The spiller is going to be a plant that is literally going to spill over and hang over the edge of your planter – like the sweet potato vine.

Tip #4

Now you’ve got the perfect flowers and you just need to arrange them.

You want to put your thriller (the taller one) in the back of the planter and then your filler and spillers side-by-side in the front of your planter.

After you plant your flowers, give them a good drink of water.

Tip #5

Don’t forget to water and feed throughout the summer!

Annuals aren’t plant ’em and forget ’em flowers. At a minimum, they need to be watered regularly, but if you really want to knock your planters out of the park, then feed them on a regular basis with good plant food. So that I don’t forget to water and feed my planters this year, right after planting them, I put a daily reminder in my phone to water them and then at around the three week mark, I put a reminder in to feed them weekly. Now, if your planters aren’t under cover like mine are, then if it rains, you don’t have to worry about watering them as often.

I can’t wait to see how gorgeous these planters get this summer!

You can find great container recipe ideas from Proven Winners here – they do all the work for you and tell you exactly what works well together! You can also snag a free copy of their Gardener’s Idea Book here and they have a slew of gardening ideas and tips on their Proven Beauty website.

Happy Planter Season!

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DIY Cedar Planter Box  – using a simple snap-together frame!

10+ Flower Pot Ideas – unique ideas for beautiful flower pots!