Container Gardening... Keep it Simple

Last week, my mom helped me spruce up our 2 pots by our front door.  I've let go of most of our gardening and weeding this season, but I just had to get these fixed up.  I couldn't let people come to our house and be greeted by 2 pots of dead rosemary bushes!  :P

So here they are... new and improved.  I kept things simple this year and love how they turned out.  For the first time, I just stuck to one accent color, purple.  One of the things I've been learning about gardening the last few years is to resist the temptation to buy one or 2 of everything and start plomping down everything single flower that I like.  (But there's so much that I like!)  It makes for a scattered, uncohesive look.  I've tried to limit my plants to whites and purples.  It makes it slightly easier to shop and it really does make a garden feel put together when there's a common color or 2 to tie everything together.

Here's one of my purple beauties in the garden, my clematis.  For some reason, she just loves this spot next to the fence!  I also have lots of lavender and my alliums just finished blooming.

I'm always looking for one large plant that will anchor my pots.  I can save money by just changing out seasonal annuals.  This year, I'm trying out 2 jasmines.  They have an incredible fragrance and I'm hoping they'll stay with me through the winter and will work for many seasons.  I've also kept things simple with traditional pansies, petunias, snap dragons and no container is complete (in my humble opinion) without some gorgeous, bright green sweet potato vine cascading down the side.

Hope this helps you go to the nursery with a little more focus and confidence in building your own beautiful, summer containers!

Lastly, today's the last day to enter the Savory Sweet Life Cookbook Giveaway!  I'm so proud of Alice and excited to be part of her book launch this week!

TO ENTER TO WIN:

1. Be a US resident

2. Just go to Facebook and like Savory Sweet Life's Facebook page.

3. Post a comment to my original post here, about a recipe you've tried or would love to try.

I've heard from some people that they've had trouble leaving comments.  So if you're having trouble,go ahead and send me a comment to picketfencedesign@gmail.com and I'll happily include you in the giveaway!

One lucky winner will be drawn on Friday!