Green Thumb: The Anatomy of a Wine Barrel Planter

When Butch and I got married in 2011, my old bosses at Kring’s Nursery & Greenhouse gave us a pair of wine barrel planters. I’ve done a few different arrangements in the years since, some better than others, but I really wanted to nail it this year! So I looked online for inspiration:

via David R. Wetzel Photography

via Midwest Living

via Pocket Full of Posies

All different in the flowers chosen, but the same in that they all contain the three major parts of any good container garden: The Thriller, the Filler and the Spiller.

So how did I do?

I couldn’t resist buying two Canna plants (aka Tropical Rose) as the “thrillers,” but it took me a while to figure out the rest. I didn’t want too many other bright colors (detracting from the Cannas, or looking too garish), but couldn’t go too dark (the house is dark brown and the planters are far from the road). Geraniums were out (too easy), Dahlias had to be included (my wedding flower), And I wanted the mix to be interesting.

I chose to do front-facing arrangements, with the Cannas in the back. For the “filler:” Beside each Canna are two lovely purple Salvias. A pair of white Dahlias are in the middle, with Coleus flanking them (Coleus comes in SO many varieties, you could just use that as filler!).

For the “spiller:” One of my favorites – Sweet Potato Vine, in contrasting colors. I actually chose the Coleus to match the dark colored vine, so that nothing looked out of place.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how my planters came out – and they’ll look even better once the plants fill in a little more – definitely my best yet!