Biggest Container Fails

A classic urn container dazzles with a planting that shows balanced design, contrasting texture and eye-pleasing color combinations. But not every container garden turns out this glorious. Learn about the typical mistakes gardeners make when designing container gardens—so you can avoid creating the same problems in your own plantings.

New dwarf shrub varieties can grow in containers, provided the pot has a large space for roots. In this container combination, a dwarf dark leaf weigela and a chartreuse sweet potato vine will assuredly overtake and likely kill the Mexican heather and geranium. This container garden would have been better off planted in two pots.

When choosing plants for a pot, the mature height of the tallest plant in the combination should equal roughly 1.5 times the height of the container. These calla lilies are just a smidge too tall for this large pot.

This tub planter has plenty of root room for the ‘Tiny Wine’ ninebark shrub, but only two of the remaining plants are needed. By season’s end, the shrub will overrun most of this container, shading other plants and taking all the moisture out of soil.