This post is meant to help those interested in container gardening to know how best to place their plants in the pot.  The examples shared in this post for plant layouts were shared during a Saturday morning class at Ladyslipper in Woodstock, GA.  For those of you that live in the area and that enjoy gardening you may want to check out Ladyslipper’s Saturday morning class schedule.  Regardless of where you live, hopefully this post will be helpful.

I attended the class with my oldest daughter, Mannah, and my mom, who we call Oma.  When we arrived, Casey, the owner of the nursery, taught a short lesson on Container Gardening, covering things like soil selection, plant selection, container selection, fertilizing, and other interesting things about finding success with container gardening.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take great notes (like my mom) so I can’t really share much of that knowledge.  Casey did pass out some sheets showing how to best place the plants in the pot so I can share that information.  I have converted those paper notes into the following images:

The main thing to notice regarding the plant placement is that in a larger pot the placement is based on a square pattern and in the smaller pots the placement is based more on a triangle pattern.

After the class, Casey gave everyone the opportunity to create their own container garden while he provided guidance, answered questions, and helped everyone locate their desired plants in the nursery. First, he brought up a large collection of pots and a huge bag of quality container soil to use as a base:

Mannah wanted to do an ornamental display but Oma wanted to create a “Salsa Garden” with tomato, onion, cilantro, and pepper plants. Casey guided Mannah around the nursery, taking her right to where her desired plants were located:

Meanwhile, my mom was busying catching up with Geneva.  Geneva can answer almost any gardening question you have and she answers every question with a smile:

Casey helped us lay out the plants in the pot first, before actually planting them in the soil:

Once they were both satisfied with the plant placement, Mannah went ahead and planted her ornamentals in the pot:

Here is Mannah with her final product:

Mannah laid out her plants using the “Visible from One Side” approach and her plants included the following:

• Side Trailing Plants: Blue Torenia
• Back Tall Plant: Cordyline
• Medium Thrill Plant: Wandering Jew
• Front Trailing: Creeping Jenny
• Medium Plant: Spider plants

Here is Oma with her Salsa Garden:

The class was a ton of fun and now, when you walk up to our front door this is what you see on the left hand side:

If you are interested in attending one of Ladyslipper’s classes or in purchasing your plants there you can find more information on their website: http://www.ladyslipperrareplantnursery.com/