Creating an Entrance: Summer Planters

Last year I gave our home exterior and landscaping a makeover to help improve our curb appeal.  One of the updates we made, among the many shared here, was to line our front entry path with planters and boxwood's to help create an entrance:

I chose two large scale planters to line the start of the path so that I could add drama and color to the landscaping each year with annuals.  Today I'm going to share the plants that I chose this year to fill these planters.  By now I think most of us have heard the formula for creating an eye catching planter: thriller, filler, spill-er.  With this in mind, I made the following selection:




The woman at the nursery also pointed out to me that in landscaping there is a "law of three's" so aside from the "thriller" I selected 9 fillers and 3 spill-ers.  These planters is going to be FULL by the end of the season.  :)

This section of my yard gets 6+ hours of light, so with that in mind, I selected plants that would do well in full sun.  Last year the Banana Leaf plant really caught my eye; these plants can grow up to 4 - 6 ' tall during the season and are real stunners.  However, I waited until too late in the season to make my selections and missed out on these guys.  So this year I jumped at buying these at a local nursery at $35 a piece.  Ouch.  I didn't see them at Home Depot or Lowe's yet and I didn't want to miss out.  THAT is why I will be digging these up at the end of the season to store in my basement until next year to re-use (it works, the nursery where I purchased these does this every year for their banana leafs that they have displayed).

For my home I think the red banana leaf works best to contrast with the color of our exterior brick and siding, however they are also available in green and variegated green .  I chose to pair the banana leaf with vibrant pink SunPatiens as a filler.  I've always used sweet potato vine as the spill-er in the past, but I just think they look too messy by the end of the season so this year I'm trying a lime green aurora plant.

Some things to keep in mind while filling your planters:

• Make sure to work through the soil to make it loose;
• Gently loosen the roots of the plants, to help ensure the roots can establish themselves once planting;
• I like to bring the level of the soil at least 3 - 4'' below the top of the planter.  That way I just place my plants and then fill in with potting mix;
• Once planted, make sure to give it a good watering.  Lucky for me (ha) it started pouring down rain while I was filling my planter!

Here is what my planters looked like at the end of the season last year:

And my window boxes full of Dragon Wing Begonias, which I'm going again this year:

Please don't forget to stop by tomorrow and link up your own plant, flowers, and gardening ideas:

 I'll be joining Kristin, from My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Tiffany, from Living Savvy, Angie from Echoes of Laughter, Lucy from Craftberry Bush, Shauna, from Satori Design for Living to host the party!  Be sure to stop by and check out their outdoor projects!