Planting Containers with Southern Living Plant Collection

It’s not a secret that I’m a big fan of Southern Living magazine.

The magazine and all that it embodies is a Southern icon that I’ve been drooling over for years.  My mom loves the magazine too and it’s always been around our homes.  To meet them and rub shoulders with the brand as a blogger is just amazing to me and I’ve had the privilege to be invited to their Idea houses twice now, in Senoia and Nashville.  Pinch me moments for sure!

Did you know that Southern Living has their own plant collections, that are sold at the big box stores, as well as lots of other local nurseries?

No, I didn’t either until this summer when I visited the Southern Living Idea House in Nashville (go ahead and click that link above!) and saw all of their beautiful landscaping in the courtyard areas. Landscaping totally makes a house and I can’t wait to start working on the outside of my house. Ummmm, I’ve been just a bit busy with house renovations, but I’ve always loved digging in the dirt and it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to do that. I love planting flowers and watching plants bloom in the spring and I’m eager to get started on that again at my new house.

So excited!

These are some of the beautiful plants at the Southern Living house in Nashville I visited this summer.

I connected with such a fun gal, Carmen, at the Ideahouse.

She’s a Southern Living lifestyle and garden expert and you might have seen her pretty face in the September issue of Southern Living magazine showing off their plant collections. That’s one of her magnificent container gardens directly from the Southern Living plant collections website.  Gorgeous, isn’t it?

We hit it off right away when we met in Nashville and she was telling me about all the Southern Living plant collections.  I told her I’m a blogger with a house I’ve been renovating and she asked me about the outside of my house and I told her it’s a blank slate, a really blank slate.  She later got in touch with me and made a date for planting some containers at my house to add a little color until I can get a landscape plan in place.  And it looks like she is going to help me with a plan and maybe some plants for my house too.

Y’all! I cannot wait!

So, Carmen emailed me and said, let’s plant some containers for your house!  I squealed and said YES, let’s do!  It’s late in the year to start planting in the yard and we needed a plan first anyway, so she drove up from Columbus, GA and we had an afternoon of planting.

She brought these beautiful lightweight urns to plant in that came from Home Depot.  And she brought a huge collection of plants that were so vibrant with all their textures and colors. We drilled holes in the containers to make sure they could drain water.

Check out all the beautiful plants:  Purple Pixie Loropetalum, White snapdragons, Angelina sedum, and Rosalyn pansies.

I love that purple Loropetalum and here’s what Carmen told me about that plant:  With its dwarf size and weeping habit, Purple Pixie® is just the plant we’ve been crying for. It grows only 1 to 2 feet tall by 4 to 5 feet wide. It’s a great choice for a ground cover, but it can also add vibrant color to hanging baskets, window boxes, and other containers. Showy pink flowers combined with rich purple foliage will move you to tears.

Don’t you want some of those now?

Beautiful Angelina Sedum. Sedums have always been a fave of mine and this one is so vibrant green.

She first filled up the pots with some wonderful potting soil and she said to be sure and get a good one with nutrients inside.

I have learned this much about container gardens, probably from reading magazines, but you’ve probably heard the term, Thriller, Spiller, and Filler, right?  That’s how the best containers are done.  A tall thriller plant, with spilling ones that cascade down and the filler plants that add color and texture. It’s a true recipe for success.

Carmen’s has her own method of “stuffing and shoving” as she calls it, adding as many plants as she possibly can. I loved her terminology too!  She said this loropetalum doesn’t like wet feet and planted it high in the pot so it drains well.

Every spare inch got a plant, with the pansies going in last. I love how she mixed in small shrubs and flowering plants too for lots of texture and colors.

Isn’t that gorgeous?

I just love how Carmen plants all of these containers. They are so pretty and I’m now enjoying just a little color around my house.

Thank you, Carmen!

My barren front yard will hopefully come alive one of these days in the spring, as we come up with a planting plan for my yard. Lordie, does it need help!  Carmen said we are going to disguise the outside part of the fireplace with a trellis of some sort, with a climbing vine.  Great idea!

In fact, here’s the look I’m going for on my front porch.  This is my friend, Kelly’s house, it’s a beautiful historical home and I just love it.  This front porch is so beautiful and will fit my house too, I think.  Just picture this without the brick stairs, with wooden stairs. I’m going to try to put rock on the sides of my porch later on, so I’m asking my builder guy to prepare it for that. Then I’ll paint it all white. I’ll be doing square columns I think, instead of round ones.

Next week is the week! This porch job is too big for my dad and me to handle, so I’m hiring this one out. I know a guy that grew up in my dad’s church and he does all sorts of remodeling projects now, so he’s doing it for me.

Carmen is so sweet and knowledgeable and it was so fun getting to know her. I know we’ll be doing more projects together in the future and I can’t wait.

I had 2 extra containers that were empty, so she planted those up for me too.  Stuffing and shoving, til they were both filled up.

Like this!  Gorgeous, gorgeous!

Carmen knows her stuff and I can’t wait to learn more from her expertise as a Southern Living lifestyle and garden expert.

She sure added some beauty to my front door.

I love these urns and when my front porch is finished next week, they will look even better.  That’s another project that I simply am beside myself to get completed, that cute front porch of mine!  This time next week, it just might be done.  He will be here next Monday to start, weather permitting!

These containers add some beautiful fall color and these should last on into the winter months. Carmen told me to snip off the blooms once the snaps quit blooming and all of this will last into the cold.

I added one pot to my garage door.  I love how she adds small shrubs in these containers, like the Flirt Nandina.  This one also has pansies and Parsley added for additional texture.  How fun that you could actually pick and use this straight from your container garden.

And one by the back door.

Soon, I hope to be planting that front yard and really waking up this house.  I do love plants and digging in the dirt and can’t wait to do it again, now that the inside of my house is finished.  The outside awaits! Big thanks to Southern Living Plant Collections for coming to my house and planting these containers with me.  Thank you, Carmen!  It was so much fun!

You can find lots of great planting information at the Southern Living Plant Collection website and check out Carmen’s page over there.  You can see videos she has done on container planting and lots more.  She’s so good and I’m so glad that we met!

You can stay in touch with Southern Living Plant Collections on Facebook, where Carmen shares some great plant ideas on her weekly posts.  Pinterest has lots of great ideas for planting container gardens too!

I have a feeling Carmen and I are going to be BFF’s in gardening!

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