15 Summer Container Garden Recipes

Color your summer scenes with candy cane shades of red and white. This combination features red sun-tolerant impatiens (sold as SunPatiens) accented with white million bells (calibrachoa). It’s a sun-loving duet that looks good as temperatures soar. Tuck in a blue scaevola for a patriotic pot. Recipe for 10-inch pot (1 each in 4-inch pots): Red SunPatiens and white Calipetite calibrachoa.

You’ll find striking summer container recipes like Precious Opal at ProvenWinners.com. This combination brightens shady settings, courtesy of colorful leaves and a flounce of pretty flowers. Recipe for 14-inch pot (use plants in 4.5-inch pots): 1 Pegasus begonia hybrid, 1 ‘Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Purple’ sweet potato vine, 1 ColorBlaze Dark Star coleus, 2 Catalina Pink wishbone flower (torenia).

Playful and petal-packed, this pretty pot sizzles dressed in white with a pop of purple. The name comes from the round-headed Pinball gomphrena, but it also describes the way the pot looks when butterflies and bees flock to its bloom, bouncing around like pinballs. Recipe for 12-inch pot (1 plant each in 4-inch pots): Pinball White & Pinball Purple gomphrena, white Calipetite calibrachoa and Double White Profusion zinnia.

Keep your summer bowl in the green—and red!—with this pretty blend of leaf lettuces. Leafy greens dress up containers with eye-catching good looks, and growers design this blend to deliver. Heat-tolerant lettuces ensure you’ll be harvesting fresh greens all summer long. Use a cut-and-come-again technique for longest harvest. Recipe: Buy one 4-inch pot and plant it into an 8- to 10-inch container.