The Porch Planters That Finally Worked
Every spring, I get the urge to fill our porch with flowers.
In my head, the planters are always overflowing with blooms, looking like something straight out of an English cottage garden.
The reality has been a little different.
By mid-summer, I’ve usually found myself staring at struggling plants and wondering where things went wrong.
Part of the problem is that I tend to fall in love with one particular flower and fill an entire planter with it. Winter usually means pansies. Summer usually means petunias. There’s nothing wrong with either, but the planters always felt a little…flat.
And then there’s my love affair with coconut-lined porch planters.
I absolutely love the way they look hanging from a porch railing. Unfortunately, they also seem determined to dry out faster than anything else I own.
Beautiful in May. Exhausted by July.
So this year, I decided to try something different.
And a few months later, my planters are not only still alive, they’re actually filling in beautifully. Considering my track record, I figured that was worth sharing.
The Simple Formula
I finally tried something I’d heard gardeners talk about for years: thriller, filler, and spiller.
The idea is pretty simple. Instead of filling a planter with one type of flower, you combine plants that give you height, fullness, and something that trails over the edge.
It turns out, this really does make a difference.
Start With a Thriller
The thriller is your tallest plant and gives the planter some height.
For my porch rail planters, I chose pink geraniums. I’ve been working toward a more cottage-inspired look around our house, and I love the way geraniums look against the porch.
For each 30-inch planter, I planted two geraniums.
Add Some Fillers
For the middle of the planter, I chose purple petunias.
Our porch gets a fair amount of afternoon sun, so I went with something I knew could handle it. The petunias have filled in quickly and look so pretty with the pink geraniums.
And Then Let Something Spill
This is my favorite part.
I planted sweet potato vine for the first time this year, and I’m already a fan. The foliage adds a little contrast, and it’s starting to trail over the sides of the planters just like I hoped it would.
That’s the part that gives them that relaxed, slightly overflowing look I was after.
What I Planted
For each of my 30-inch porch rail planters, I used:
- 2 geraniums
- 2 petunias
- 3 sweet potato vines
Seven plants total.
I wanted them to look full without packing them so tightly that they wouldn’t have room to grow. So far, that seems to be working.
The Coconut Liner Trick
Now for the thing that may have made the biggest difference.
If you use coconut-lined planters, line them first.
Seriously.
For years, I planted directly into the coconut liners because I loved the look. What I didn’t appreciate was just how quickly they dried out. Once summer arrived, it felt like I was watering constantly.
This year, I lined the baskets before adding the soil, and the difference has been dramatic.
The soil stays moist much longer, and the plants aren’t drying out nearly as quickly.
It’s not exactly an exciting gardening tip, but it may be the reason these planters are still looking good.
A Few Months In
I’m really happy with how these turned out.
They’re certainly not professionally designed, and I’m not pretending I’ve suddenly become a gardening expert. I just tried a different combination of plants and finally figured out what my coconut baskets needed.
And now, every time I walk up to the porch, I love seeing them.
If you’re thinking about planting a few porch containers this year, try mixing a tall flower, something to fill in the middle, and something that will trail over the edge.
And if you’re using coconut liners, do yourself a favor and line those things first.
Apparently, I only needed about five years to figure that one out.
