Refreshing your container plantings is the perfect way to welcome Spring! By sprucing up your pots with fresh, blooming colorful plants in Spring, you can bring new life to containers that may have sat dormant or with static evergreen plantings throughout the grey months. Spring container plantings can feature a mix of evergreen plants in combination with shorter season Spring favorites like Nemesia, Narcissus, Hellebores, and more!
Whether you have a strong vision for what you’d like, or you prefer some design assistance, we’re here to help add seasonal vibrancy to your outdoor space. All of our Portland-area nurseries are fully stocked with locally grown seasonal plants, healthy evergreen classics, and gorgeous outdoor pottery to help you find the perfect plants for your container garden.
Spring Container Garden Design Tips
Container gardens are most impactful when they complement the aesthetic of your home and existing plantings and they feature a color scheme that you like. Use the simple formula of “Thriller, Filler, and Spiller” to create dynamic container plantings that look fabulous all season long!
Thriller Plants for Containers
Thriller plants are the largest element of your container planting, adding height and drama to help dictate the overall look and feel of the combination. In large container gardens, thrillers are typically static elements that are only replaced every 1–3 years. For smaller container gardens, you might replant your thriller element seasonally. Small trees, flowering shrubs, conifers, grasses, and perennials all make excellent thrillers! Evergreens and deciduous plants can both be used as the thriller centerpiece in a container garden.
Our Favorite Thriller Plants for Spring Interest: Columnar Apple, Contorted Filbert, Spring Camellia
Our Favorite Evergreen Thriller Plants: Hardy Olive, Evergreen Magnolia, Columnar Yew, Topiary Wax-Leaf Privet, Star Jasmine
Shop Columnar Apples
Shop Contorted Filbert
Shop Spring Camellias
Shop Olive Trees
Shop Evergreen Magnolias
Shop Columnar Yews
Shop Topiary Trees
Shop Star Jasmine
Filler Plants for Containers
Filler plants help fill in the space around your Thriller, and can be blooming or textural, depending on your preferred aesthetic. You can use annuals, perennials, grasses, and herbs as fillers, and they can be replanted each season or kept in the container planting for 1–2 years before replacing.
Our Favorite Filler Plants for Spring Interest: Hellebore, Nemesia, Ranunculus, Primroses, Pansies, Violas, Narcissus, Hyacinth
Our Favorite Evergreen Filler Plants: Carex Grass, Heuchera, Hellebore, Euphorbia, Hebe, Thyme, Sage
Shop Hellebores
Shop Evergreen Grass
Shop Heuchera
Shop Herbs
Spiller Plants for Containers
Spiller plants cascade, or “spill” over the edges of the container planting, adding yet another dimension of interest and softening the edges of the planting. Spillers are often a combination of seasonal foliage plants, seasonal blooming plants, and/or evergreen groundcovers.
Our Favorite Spiller Plants for Spring Interest: Nemesia, Calibrachoa, Bacopa
Our Favorite Evergreen Spiller Plants (also Groundcovers): Vinca, Trailing Ceanothus, Wire Vine, Trailing Euonymus
Annuals are sold as assortments and our selection is always changing! Visit us in-store for fresh seasonal finds and endless inspiration to help anchor your container color palette.
Spring Container Garden Design Inspiration
Find inspiration from our custom Spring container garden mood boards! Each mood board showcases stunning Spring thrillers, fillers, and spillers in elevated and intentional color palettes to make the most of the season, filling your containers with gorgeous flowers and textures.
1) Olive Tree, 2) Carex Testacea, 3) Heuchera ‘Changeling’, 4) Ranunculus, 5) Primrose, 6) Nemesia
1) Evergreen Magnolia, 2) Carex ‘Everillo’, 3) Heuchera ‘Berry Smoothie’, 4) Hellebore, 5) Wire Vine, 6) Pansy
1) Camellia, 2) Narcissus, 3) Carex ‘Feather Falls’, 4) Alaska Fern, 5) White Pansy, 6) Vinca ‘Alba’
1) Columnar Apple, 2) English Thyme, 3) Tricolor Sage, 4) Red Russian Kale, 5) Trailing Rosemary, 6) Mickey Pansy
Other Approaches to Container Garden Design
Premade Drop-In Container Gardens
All of our Garden Centers stock a beautiful range of seasonal drop-in container plantings. Drop-in pots are ideal for garden lovers with busy schedules or for those who prefer not to get their hands dirty. All drop-ins are planted into a plastic pot that can discretely fit inside your own decorative container at home to provide instant-gratification. You’ll have dynamic, colorful, curated arrangements that can be easily refreshed or switched out through the seasons!
Custom Container Planting Service
If you’d like our in-house experts to design and plant your container garden, our custom container planting service is the perfect fit. Call us to book a consultation, bring in photos for inspiration, and book a time to have us plant up your container at the garden center. We will create a memorable, high-impact planting that is perfectly aligned with your style.
Annual Container Design Subscription
Eliminate the guesswork in crafting the perfect container gardens for your outdoor spaces with our NEW Annual Subscription Service, provided by our Residential Landscape Maintenance Division. Gather your pottery, choose your favorite color palette, book your three plant rotations for the year, and we’ll design, deliver, and install beautiful potted arrangements on-site with fresh foliage and blooms for each season!
Need some guidance on how to care for your container gardens? Check out our blog here for best planting and maintenance tips to keep your container gardens thriving through the season!
Visit us at any of our garden centers to find new and unusual plants, high-quality outdoor pottery, and inspiration for stunning seasonal planting combinations. Our knowledgeable staff is on-hand to help you choose the perfect plants and pot for your space!