Pretty Pots for Your Patio

The easiest and quickest way to add interest to your landscape, patio or deck is to add a beautiful container filled with attractive foliage and/or flowering annuals. We have a number of already-planted containers for you to take home, or you can choose the flowers and the container and we’ll pot ’em up for you. If you’d rather do it yourself, come up and check out our large selection of flowering annuals, which will be beautiful in any of our colorful ceramic containers or the traditional terra cotta. To get you started, here are some suggestions:

	Containers are great at brightening up a shady spot. This one features a large hosta and some impatiens, but other choices for shade containers include elephant ear, caladium, variegated ivy, colorful heuchera (coral bells), begonias and ferns.
This window box, photographed at the Cincinnati Flower Show last year, proves that a container can be pretty without flowers. It contains a mix of ivys, begonia, sweet potato vine and elephant ears, among other things. This one can take some sun but would be just as happy in part shade.
	Sometimes the simplest flowers are the prettiest. This window box -- also displayed at the Cincinnati Flower Show -- features old-fashioned petunias and marigolds.
Ferns aren’t just for hanging baskets. This one, showcased in an unusual-looking pot, serves to soften a rock wall.
	For an extremely low-maintenance planter, fill it with succulents. This combination of cacti and sedums can brighten up a windowsill all summer. In the fall, bring it inside to enjoy all winter.
If your taste runs to unusual containers, duplicate this hanging basket filled with a variety of different types of lettuce. A wonderful early-season treat.
	Consider color when planning a container. This one makes a statement with only pink and purple flowers -- mainly petunias, million bells and salvia, with a variegated lantana in the center. It’ll bloom profusely in the summer sun.