8 Tips How To Balance & Properly Arrange Your Potted Plants

There are no rules set in stone when it comes to designing good-looking landscaping with potted plants. The most amazing outdoors spaces are created using imagination, not just following a set of rules. It’s what’s different that captures attention, not what looks the same as everything else. That doesn’t mean there are no rules when it comes to adding potted plants to your landscaping.

It’s hard to go wrong with great looking planters full of blooming flowers. Still, things can start to look awkward if you don’t follow a few key landscape design rules. Pairing the basics with your own creativity and eye for design will help your potted plants fit in with the rest of your landscape. Allow us to help guide your pursuit of planter perfection by providing the top 7 tips and tricks for potted plant display.

1. Think of Potted Plant Arrangements As A Sculpture

If you have a cluster of potted plants, how do you know if they all fit well together? Potted plants might not remind you of a sculpture, but that’s exactly how you can think of them to help decide if your collection of potted plants works or not.

In order to view your cluster of potted plants as a sculpture, imagine if they were all attached, would the design still work or would it appear awkward? While all plants and planters can vary, overall they need to flow into one cohesive form when arranged together.

2. Give Planters A Purpose

Planters that serve a purpose help ensure that your planters don’t look awkward or out of place. A walkway or set of stairs is a great way to utilize potted plants so that they serve a purpose and look great. You can frame stairs with planters on either side. Even flat paths can be accented with planters, as this can create the border you need to break up landscaping appropriately.

Parallel rows of potted plants make a scenic walkway and can include different types of flowers, including various sized planters. Just make sure there is some sort of pattern to ensure it flows well. When arranging potted plants on stairs you can use even more diversity because the stairs help hold it all together.

3. Planters Need Patterns

You don’t need to keep all of you potted plants the same; after all, diversity is what makes landscaping unique. Container gardening can include a mix of plants and planters, so long as there is an underlying theme. Without a consistent pattern throughout, your garden display might seem confusing or poorly put together. For instance, an underlying theme could be white roses. These should be planted throughout the garden, breaking up the other diverse plants throughout. Having a common flower pattern in a display is refreshing and helps the eye notice all of the distinctive differences instead of feeling overwhelmed.

4. Potted Plants Must Match

By match we don’t mean to keep all of your planters and plants the same. We encourage color and size variations, just make sure you pick the right pot for the right flower in order to create a look that works. If a plant is too small, too big, or too vibrant for a certain planter it won’t look right. Also, if the main colors of a flower don’t go well with the shade of the planter, it can take away from the natural beauty.

So how do you make sure that your plants and planters match? For starters, take note of the surrounding colors, either already in the garden or on nearby structures. You can use these colors as a base, finding ways to highlight them throughout your landscape design.

To ensure your plants match the planters, you should first purchase (or at least plan for) the plants you want to use that work well in your environment. Then you should look into buying the appropriate planters. Not only for your plants to flourish in, but that will help accentuate the colors present in your foliage.

5. Tall, Short, Fat, & Thin—Make Planter Diversity A Priority

If your entire garden is all one height you are at risk for creating a look that no one notices. If your plants are displayed at different levels, more details will be noticeable.

Planters come in a wide variety of sizes, from very small to very large. It’s common for people to get overwhelmed by very large planters, but be careful that you don’t end up with only small planters. Oversize planters can make a grand statement to your overall landscape design.

While some potted plants offer more leverage than others in terms of height, none can lift your plants that high off the ground. In order to give certain planters more leverage, stack your planters on top of bricks, stones, or any sort of platform.

Another way to add height is by adding potted plants that grow into vines, which can then attach to nearby walls or other supporting surfaces.

6. Sometimes You Have To Think Small

When planning an entire landscaping project, the little details often get lost in the rush to make everything look good. Every corner of your garden can tell a different tale, in other words you can spread miniature themes throughout for a look that still comes together.

Use a porch or shady corner to add a table of potted plants, all of which grow different spices. Or, create a cluster of cactus plants potted in diverse pots. Just because you have a small section of spices or cactus plants doesn’t mean you have to add them throughout the rest of your landscaping. Instead, little details can be exclusive and offer a great conversation piece. So long as one space is not overstated, the rest of your landscaping should retain a cohesive appearance.

7. All in One Planter—Full Looking Planters Are A Must

Make sure that your plants fill out their planters, for most plants you don’t want the soil to be visible from a distance. Instead you want pots that are bursting full of foliage, which might take more than one plant to obtain. Not all plants have to be the same type either, as long as they require the same amount of sun and water, diverse plant breeds can grow well together. Just like in a garden bed, you can layer plants in a planter so that bursts of color sneak out of bright green pockets of grasses or ferns.

8. Create Cohesive Cluster Planters

Groups of planters can look incredible paired together, just so long as they fit well together. If you are struggling to make a group of potted planters look good grouped together, try this simple trick. Place one large pot at the center and then add smaller plants around the outside to adorn and decorate. This will draw the eye to the focal point, but also offer a lot of beauty in the surrounding pots as well.

For a more informal look you can add an odd number of pots into a cluster group. If you use an even number of pots this gives a more formal look.

Fail Proof Trick To Make Container Plants Fit In With Your Landscaping

Even with all of these trips and tricks for potted planters, are you still concerned if your display looks good or not? The easiest way to design a symmetrical look with planters (and landscaping in general) is to start with 2 different types of plants. Then, select a third plant, which will be your focal point. Your focal plant should be your brightest and most diverse display, used less frequently than your other 2 plants (see here).

For planters that look great year after year, check out our high quality selection at TerraCast Planters.