Garden Decor Help

The plants and flowers in your garden don’t always have to be in the ground. Containers are great options for plants and vegetables. However, the soil is critical to the survival of the plants, so you need to be careful when choosing the flower pots you’re going to put the plants in. Containers can be made of a variety of materials. Regardless of whether you’re looking for wholesale flower pots or you’re handling your own pot crafts, you still need to be aware of which materials work the best with which plants.

Types of containers range from plastic flower pots or terracotta pots and saucers, to ornate glazed pots with hand-painted artwork. So how do you pick the right one? Here are five steps that should help you:

1. Maintenance. Terracotta absorbs moisture very quickly, but it also dries out very quickly. Ceramic containers are usually sealed with a glaze. Wooden planter boxes are unsealed, which means you’ll probably have to seal them year after year in order to prevent fading, rotting, and splintering.
2. Style. You’ll want to match the style of your containers with the style of your home. Tall pots will probably work well with more modern homes, while more casual, folk-art looking containers will fit well with country-style or ranch homes. Just don’t let the style of the pot detract from the beauty of the plant.
3. Location. If you have container garden and deck garden pots, they need to be sturdy and be able to hold up to the weather. Make sure you allow for drainage.
4. Scale. If you want to add an accent to your large porch table, a pot of chrysanthemums might work great. But a smaller table will look better (and you’ll have more room on it) if you adorn it with a bonsai tree.
5. Growth. This goes along with scale. Many plants do quite well in tight areas, while others require a lot of space to allow for an expansive root system. Ensure that you choose a container according to the plant’s growth pattern. Also, does the plant need direct sunlight, shade, or no light? Ask your local nursery if you’re not sure.

These 5 tips should help you choose the right containers for your garden. For even more advice, visit Garden Decor Help.

You might be thinking, “What on earth do principles of design have to do with a garden? I’m not an artist!” If you’re serious about creating a garden that’s aesthetically pleasing, then pay attention to these five principles, because they’re more important than you know. And you don’t have to be an artist to follow these principles. When you’re in the process of choosing the décor for your garden, pay attention to:

Scale

There’s nothing worse than too big or too small. The first step to choosing decorative items for an outdoor space is sizing up your space. Do you have large, uninterrupted blank exterior walls? You’ll probably want something large to break it up a bit, like a large cedar planter or trellis. Grouping similar items with decreasingly smaller scale can help to fill up your space and create inviting visual appeal. Just remember that the scale of each of these items is what you need to consider to make it work well. Notice that the above scene goes from large to small items, all grouped together.

Balance

You’ll achieve a balanced garden when all of its elements work together to become something bigger. Make sure no single item overshadows, competes, or gets the better of any other item. Of course you may want a certain item to be the focal point of the garden, but all the other items must support that choice.

Focus

Creating a specific location that draws the eye and keeps the attention and appreciation of your viewer is both an art and a principle (sorry non-artists). Anyone can place a gazing ball in the center of a flower bed, and the ball itself will be appreciated and admired. The challenge that is always sought after is to set the gazing ball in a way that draws the attention to the larger focal environment, or the scene in which it has been placed.

Harmony

Similar to balance, harmony is what should happen when contrasting items are grouped together. Contrasting colors, shapes and textures must work together and give more to the overall scene than any individual item could do alone. And despite what you might think, it is not similarity and homogeneity that create, but rather differences and contrasts, visual tension and range.

Rhythm

Rhythm, in design, is how often an item or a pattern repeats. Examples are the pickets of a fence, a string of patio lights, the pattern on a stone sidewalk, or the stripes on a patio cushion. You can use rhythm to provide a backdrop where other, more melodic elements will find their place to shine.

Use these five principles to help you identify items that are not just beautiful on their own, but also add beauty to the larger space. If you do, you’ll get a rare and enchanted quality from your garden décor.