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Thrillers
Chillers
& Spillers
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No, they’re not the three kinds
of adolescent slasher movies showing at the Monument
Mall this weekend, it’s how you select your flower
and foliage plants to get those dramatic
flower-filled planters, pots, and containers that
you’ve been seeing in catalogues and magazines all
winter.
Wyobraska homeowners appear to
be following the national and international trends
in gardening and doing more and more of their flower
gardening in containers, or as we used to call them
in the old days—flower pots. There are many good
reasons that this trend is likely here to stay.
First, it’s generally a lot easier to grow flowers
in containers than in a garden—no soil problems, no
weed problems, for example. Second it’s easy to get
flowers right into the middle of your outdoor living
when their in pots. Just set a grouping of flower
pots around the deck or patio, or near the front
door, and presto—instant flower garden. Third, with
all of the colorful flower pots on the market these
days, the containers themselves are often a visually
attractive part of the “flower garden”. And in
recent years, the trend has even expanded, with many
homeowners now placing flower filled containers out
in their landscape plantings in locations where they
want to jazz up the landscape for the summertime. |
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Chillers are the flowers or foliage plants that fill
our the top of the pot or planter. They are
generally plants that reach 4-8 inches in height
with an upright, mounding, or spreading habit of
growth. Blending complimentary colors of flower
and/or foliage (like pinks, purples, and blues) in
your chiller plants creates a peaceful, relaxing
container garden. Using strongly contrasting colors
(like reds, yellows, and blues) creates strong
visual interest for pots or containers that will be
viewed from a distance—for example entry planters,
or those accents containers placed out in landscape
beds. Geraniums have been the chiller of choice to
go with the thrilling spike in the traditional
planter, but there certainly are a whole new cast of
chilling characters to choose from. Finally,
spillers are the trailing plants that carry the
color theme down over the edge of the pot or
container and finish out the container with some
nice background foliage. Spillers are generally
not visually strong plants—rather, they are like the
extras in the movies. They are necessary to make
the movie (or the flower planter) complete, but they
are not the stars. Vinca vine served as the
spiller in the traditional planter, but Swedish ivy, |
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Previous Articles
Fractions March 15
Yardner March 8
Urban
Legends of Trees March 22
Que
Serra, Serra March 29
Grocery Store or Garbage Dumpster Plants April 5
Planning Your Landscape Project April 12
Planting
Cool Trees April 19
Keeping
Trees Alive April 26
2006 Articles |
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The thrillers, chillers, spillers approach makes
selecting plants for your containers almost
foolproof.
Thrillers are the tall plants
that serve as the focal point or accent plant for
the container. The traditional “spike” has been
the thriller of choice in years past, but now purple
fountain grass, Mexican feather grass, and a variety
of upright foliage and flowering plants are great
options for the thriller in your flower pot. For
pots or containers less than 18” in diameter, one
thriller is probably the limit. For pots or
planters greater than 18 inches in diameter, three
or more thrillers are possible.
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licorice plant, bacopa, and million bells are
quickly becoming the spillers of choice in
contemporary planters. Foliage density, texture,
and color are often more important than flower color
in selecting the right spiller for your pots,
planters, and containers. Of course, plant your
spillers near the edge of your pots and containers.
Here’s a few previews of coming attractions (to
flower pots and containers all around Wyobraska).
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