This is a container I put together for my parents’ house. It sits next to their front door, under a north-facing overhang. If you live in a mild climate, all of these plants will do fine this time of year, otherwise, file this one away for Spring.
A — Spotted Deadnettle (Lamium maculatum)
B — Coral Bells (Heuchera sanguinea)
C — Cut-Leafed Daisy (Brachyscome multifida)
This was a pretty simple pot to put together. There is one thriller (the Coral Bells), one filler (the Daisy) and one spiller (the Spotted Deadnettle). If you’re overwhelmed by the idea of planting more than one plant in a pot, I think three plants is the way to go. When I was picking these three, I wanted to have three plants with different characteristics to make a rather simple pot more interesting. The Deadnettle has variegated foliage, the Daisy has finely textured, feathery leaves and small white flowers, and the Coral Bells has deep purple, ruffled leaves. I wouldn’t have selected three plants with very similar foliage color or texture, for example.
The pot will be a bit more dramatic, and have some nice height when the Coral Bells flowers. They have tall spikes covered in bell-shaped flowers. The one I planted in this pot has pale pink flowers. Or at least, it is supposed to have pale pink flowers! I guess we’ll see next year when it flowers.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I like the idea of a thriller, filler, and spiller. I’ll have to remember that next spring when I can put some containers together again.
Fern, just recently I learned about this thriller, filler, and spiller thing and till then my only idea was one plant for one pot. This example is great and if possible can you post some nice ideas of different thriller, filler, and spiller combinations. Thanks!
How beautiful…lucky parents!!! Will you be my daughter???
That’s a lovely combo, one I’ll definitely keep in mind next spring. I’ve grown all three you’ve got there but never together in a pot. And I like the “thriller, filler, spiller” description too.
Love it, Fern!! Heucheras and Lamiums are some of my favorites.
I’ve got a rather wicked-looking Lamium called ‘Hermann’s Pride’, if memory serves, that I just love. Yellow flowers and the leaves are sort of spiky instead of rounded, but a similar habit to yours.
Cindy — I love it too. I learned about it from container gardening expert Steve Silk (he writes for Fine Gardening a lot).
Gen — I love it when plants have funny common names. Who the heck is Herman? Did he work really hard on developing Lamiums and ‘Herman’s Pride’ was the culmination of his life’s work?
TC — I’d love to see pics if you give it a try next Spring!
Julie — LOL!
Sarada — I’ll post some more photos, but here are some links to posts I’ve done in the past on the spiller, thriller, filler topic: Gardening Inspiration is All Around Us, and Designing Containers with Succulents.
Fern, this is some great info. Thanks
Fern,This is great ….You are an inspiration. I am glad I found your site as I am looking to revitalize my lil balcony garden. Thanks.
Vani — Glad you liked this idea! I hope you subscribed to Life on the Balcony, I have lots of good stuff in the pipeline!
How fast/virulent of a grower/spreader is the spotted deadnettle? I liked the look of it in this container and checked it out at Lowe’s — but the plant marking said it was a fast growing, spreading groud cover. Doesn’t that mean it will quickly outgrow/overtake the container arrangement?
sdat — I did this container last November and it hasn’t taken over the container at all. It spends all of its energy making vines that spill over the side. I just cut it back hard the other day to refresh it, but other than that, it has required zero maintenance (other than water).
Thx – I think it may depend on the particular variety of spotted deadnettle. I did some more research and found Lamium maculatum “Cosmopolitan” variety is recommended for containers, that will spill over but not overrun other plants. The kind I saw in Lowes was a different type (I didn’t write down the variety, but it was more yellow and green rather than silver and white) and I think it might be one of the strains that was marked as more invasive. I’m thinking of using this in a container under a full sized yellow hibiscus (so in a sunny spot, but shaded under the hibiscus) along with some blue lobelia.
sdat–Interesting info. Thanks for checking back and adding what you learned. I’m not sure where in the country you are, but if you’re in California, you should be able to find the variety of Lamium pictured above (White Nancy) at Armstrong’s. I can vouch for its non-invasive personality.
Fern,
I love all of your container ideas. I would love to see more shade container ideas. I don’t have much experience in this area. I’m used to dealing with sun, sun, sun.