Team-Inspired Plant Color Combos

Show your team pride with container gardens decked out in your favorite college's classic hues. We’ve got color combos from campuses all across the country, so find your team and get planting.

By: Julie Martens Forney

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Photo By: Proven Winners at ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: AAS at All-AmericaSelections.org

Photo By: Sakata Seed at SakataOrnamentals.com

Photo By: Sakata Seed at SakataOrnamentals.com

Photo By: Proven Winners at ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: National Garden Bureau at NGB.org

Photo By: Ball Horticultural Company

Photo By: Ball Horticultural Company

Photo By: Proven Winners at ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: Ball Horticultural Company

Photo By: Ball Horticultural Company

Photo By: Proven Winners at ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: Ball Horticultural Company

Photo By: Ball Horticultural Company

Photo By: Proven Winners at ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: Ball Horticultural Company

Photo By: Proven Winners at ProvenWinners.com

Photo By: Ball Horticultural Company

Photo By: Proven Winners at ProvenWinners.com

Arizona State University

Stir up your Sun Devil spirit with a sun-loving pot in gold and maroon. Fill a 14-inch pot with one Timeless-Fire geranium (left side) and one ColorBlaze Kingswood Torch coleus (right side). Tuck two Superbells Dreamsicle calibrachoa plants along the front edge of the container for your own Arizona inferno. Remove spent blossoms of the geranium to keep new ones forming.

Clemson University

Give your home a dose of Clemson orange by filling pots to overflowing with African Sunset petunia. Like the Tigers, this petunia is a winner -- a 2014 All-America Selections Winner, that is. It holds its own in all parts of the country, and the plants don't need deadheading to keep the flower show going strong.

Florida State University

You don’t need to do the famous war chant to show your support of the Seminoles -- just dressing your outdoor spaces in garnet and gold showcases your ACC allegiances. Create this container by filling a 16-inch pot with two red Dragon’s Breath celosia (center), three Proud Mari marigold (equally spaced just outside the celosia) and three Lime Party Time coleus (interspersed with marigolds). Finish the look with trailing golden creeping jenny — three plants tucked along pot edges. Remove flowers as they fade, along with any flower spikes that might appear on the coleus.

Louisiana State University

Shout out your fan fave cheer of “Geaux Tigers” in the language of flowers — purple and gold bloomers, of course. This pot brings on the color through football season and beyond, and it’s packed with butterfly beckoning blossoms. Start with a 14-inch-wide container, and add two 4-inch pots each of Purple Pinball gomphrena (center), Pink Calipetite calibrachoa (front and back), Mecardonia 'Magic Carpet Yellow' (each side).

Michigan State University

Tuck stately papyrus and trailing sweet alyssum into containers, and you’ll soon be chanting, “Go Green! Go White!” -- and not just on game days. To create this Spartan theme container garden, surround one King Tut papyrus with three or four Snow Princess alyssum. Neither of these plants survives a Michigan winter, although the alyssum may make it into early December if you stash pots on a sunny porch. The faded papyrus is pretty in winter. Surround it with greens for a festive touch.

North Carolina State University

Take the guesswork out of creating a Wolfpack-worthy container garden with this pre-mixed Confetti Garden. It opens flowers in traditional N.C. State colors of red and white, courtesy of red verbena, white sweet alyssum and red and white petunias. Use one pot to fill an 8-inch container, or two for a 16-inch pot. This mix delivers non-stop color that looks great from summer through a hard frost. Keep pots on a protected porch as fall frost threatens to help plants survive longer in the season.

Oregon State University

Deck your porch out in a terrific fall display that sparkles in Beaver black and orange. Halloween Mix Panola pansies unfurl flowers with thicker petals that bounce back from fall frosts and winter snows. Drop an 8-inch pot filled with three pansies into a basket to give your outdoor spaces a splash of autumn flair.

University of Alabama

Tend a few pots of container tomatoes to chants of “Roll Tide,” and the neighbors will know your heart’s in Tuscaloosa, AL. The bright red fruits are a just-right hue to complement Crimson Tide football. Fall tomatoes escape many of the plagues that ravage Southern summer tomatoes, and growing these tasty orbs in pots keeps the harvest handy. 'Homeslice' tomato yields best in an 18-inch-wide pot.

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Plant a blue and gold container garden design, and you’ll get an 8-clap cheer from UCLA fans. This Bruin-worthy pot showcases plants that thrive in autumn’s football weather. Start with a 12-inch container. Add two Bluebird Nemesia fruticans on either side, one Vanilla Butterfly Marguerite daisy in the back, and one Burgundy Glow ajuga in the front. In Southern California, plants bring color from football season all the way through the bowl games.

University of Georgia

Fill your patio containers with shades of burgundy, white and black that evoke memories of Saturdays spent 'tween the hedges at Sanford Stadium. To re-create this combination, grab a favorite pot that's 12 inches across. Plant two magenta Enchantment linaria at the back of the pot, behind two Matrix Sunrise pansies on each side. Fill the empty center spot with one 21st Century Buttercream Phlox drummondii and you'll have a container color scheme Uga will love.

University of Iowa

Dress your outdoor living spaces in colors Herky Hawkeye would love: black and gold. Choose ‘Matrix Yellow Blotch’ pansies, and you’ll get strong stems supporting blooms that open to a whopping 3.5 inches across. Use three plants for a 10-inch-long rectangular window box, or two plants in an 8-inch diameter round pot. Pansies can handle chilly autumn nights in Hawkeye country, surviving temps into the low 20s.

University of Maryland

Score big with a combination that easily earns a Terrapin victory cannon blast. To bring out team colors of red, white, black and gold, use a 20-inch gold container with one Vertigo purple fountain grass in the center. Surround it with two pots each of Supertunias Latte and White, fiber optic grass (scirpus) and Illusion Garnet Lace sweet potato vine. Arrange each pair of plants on opposite sides of the container. When football season winds down and hard frosts hit, clip the petunias and sweet potato vine, and add evergreens for winter color.

University of Minnesota

Show your team spirit with a pot of Cool Wave pansies that toss open blooms in maroon and gold — the perfect shade for parading Golden Gopher pride. Cool Wave Sunshine ‘N Wine pansy trails and spreads, cascading with eye-catching beauty abandon over pot edges. They won't survive Minnesota winters, but will look good through early fall frosts and most of the football season.

University of Southern California

Get on your best Trojan red and gold so you’ll match this pretty planter packed with fragrant flowers. This blend of bloomers thrives in cool weather and marches through fall and winter with a steady parade of color. Duplicate the look in a 14-inch pot by rounding up two magenta Enchantment linaria (center), two yellow Citrona wallflowers (outer edges), one violet dianthus (front center) and one golden pansy (front edge).

University of Tennessee

This planter brings on orange shades certain to rally the Volunteer faithful. Start with a 12 to 14-inch container, and add one 4.5-inch pot each filled with Toffee Twist carex (center) skirted with Superbells calibrachoa Dreamsicle and Red. Plants will hold their own through football season or until hard frosts wipe out the Superbells. Leave the carex in place through winter and surround it with evergreens for a festive holiday look.

University of Washington

Celebrate U-Dub with floral finery in Husky hues of purple and gold. This fragrant combination plays through a Pacific Northwest winter without missing a blooming beat. Start with a 14-inch (or larger) container. Fill the center with ‘Citrona Orange’ wallflower, spacing four ‘Matrix Purple’ pansies evenly around it. Plug ‘Sorbet Orange Duet’ viola into the empty spaces between pansies, and finish the container with a ring of ‘Easter Bonnet Violet’ sweet alyssum. Snip blooms as they fade for the longest flower show.

Vanderbilt University

If "anchor down" had a garden icon, this container design would be it. Filled with black and gold plants, it oozes Dore charm. Start with a 20-inch container, and fill it one orange Carex testacea in the center flanked by three evenly spaced Flambe Yellow strawflowers (Chrysocephalum apiculatum). Tuck one ‘Black Scallop’ Ajuga reptans in the left front and one Dolce Crème Brulee heuchera on the right. These plants will hold their own through most of football season, although temps below 30 F damage strawflower.

Virginia Tech

Cheer on the Hokies with pots of marigolds that display classic team colors of maroon and burnt orange. Paint an 8-inch terra-cotta pot in Hokie orange, and pop in two 'Durango Flame' marigolds for a full look. Marigolds are a cinch to grow. Be sure to pinch off spent blooms at the base to keep the color show going strong.

Wake Forest University

Black and gold make perfect planting companions in this sun-loving 14-inch-wide container. Celebrating Wake Forest, the mix features gold Marguerite daisy (one at back of pot) and two Superbells Yellow Chiffon calibrachoa (right side of pot). One Dolce ‘Blackberry Ice’ coral bells (left side) flanked by two creeping wire vines (Muehlenbeckia axillaris) completes the look. This combo stars low-maintenance plants that don’t need spent blooms removed.

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