Top Design Tips for Garden Planters

Garden pots and planters can be much more than just a decorative accent.

Used as design tools to define different areas, to signpost features and to lead the eye, planters can become an integral part of the plan for forming and sculpting an exterior or interior space. The creative possibilities are endless, but most design applications can be classified within five generic themes:

1) Use planters to frame a doorway.

Matching pots planted with topiary or other formal planting usually works well, and should be of a size to scale with the entranceway itself. As well as the main entrance, think of flanking gateways, garage doors and hedge openings.

2) Multiply the impact of planters with ‘repeat planting’.

Linear repetition of the same pot and plant, often placed close together, is commonly used in contemporary schemes and is always effective. A neat row of pots can line a pathway, edge a terrace, make a feature out of a dull expanse of wall, or showcase an architectural plant. Repeating the same combination of an individual pot and plant through different spaces within a garden will help to visually unify the look, and lead the eye from one area to the next.

3) Define and divide space with planters.

Planters can be thought of as the ‘punctuation’ in a garden; helping to demarcate separate areas, breaking up large expanses of hard landscaping, and marking out points of transition. Use them where paving gives way to gravel or lawn, at the top or bottom of a run of steps, at the junction of paths. Give weight to a small square of paving by siting pots at the corners, or physically enclose a space with a low wall of rectangular planters. On a large terrace, discrete areas for dining and relaxed seating can be created in the same way.

4) Group planters to create a design focal point.

A group of large planters can be a focal point in their own right. Clustering the same or similarly shaped pots is key (all rounded or all square, for example) and the arrangement works best when unified by a common planting scheme. A single large pot with a specimen tree or shrub can be given added impact by raising it up on a low plinth and placing it in a spot where it is framed by a great view.

5) Use planters to relieve large areas of hard landscaping.

In a predominantly hard landscaped garden, planted containers are an easy, flexible and low maintenance way of softening and greening the look. They can be used in a modular way, combining for example cubes, columns and troughs in the same material, to do the same job as raised beds.

As ‘pictures speak a thousand words’, IOTA have illustrated these tips with images in the pdf version of this article: Top Design Tips for Garden Planters