Secret to a Show-Stopping Planter

Scroll down for a $50 President’s Choice gift card giveaway open to Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) over the age of 18. 

So, it’s finally feeling like summer! The weather is beautiful, I’ve got some vegetables growing in the garden for some fresh salad recipes I’ll be sharing over the summer. Today I thought I’d do something a little different and bring you a different sort of recipe. A recipe for success (Ha – I’m here all week, folks!). But don’t worry, I’ve got some delicious summer grilling recipes up my sleeve – just check out what I’ve been up to on Instagram for a taste of what’s to come.

Anyways, there are lots of secrets to a show-stopping planter, but I’ve got a few of my favourites to share with you. I’m by no means a gardening expert, but I was invited to a fun President’s Choice Garden Party earlier last week hosted by the wonderful Lindsay of Little House Blog and we got to learn all about the amazing, high quality plants and vegetables they have in their garden centre and all the secrets to creating a show-stopping planter. And this was all from two extremely knowledgable gardening experts Peter Cantley and Bob Martin, so naturally, I thought you guys would want to know.

1. Thriller-Filler-Spiller

Ok, call me crazy but before my lesson from the PC Garden folks, I had no clue there was an actual method to building a gorgeous planter. But there is, and it’s genius. You use a thriller, a filler and a spiller. It’s a simple, three step process.

The thriller is the tall, spiky plant that you put in the centre of the pot. It’s kind of like the big attraction.

The filler sits beside the thriller and fills in the spots around it. You place the filler in a triangle formation around the thriller. For my filler I used a few different types of flowers. The bright pink are hula hot pink, the darker pink are the hula cherry and the gold are hula gold. The purple are the “Blue Jays” petunia.

The spiller are the flowers that will “spill” down the sides of the planter. You use the spiller to fill in the spaces. I used the Namid™ Early Yellow and Atlas™ White.

2. Colour 

I’ve always kind of shied away from lots of bright, vibrant colour (the amount of grey, black, white and navy I own is ridiculous), but I quickly realized that when it comes to flowers you need to have lots of colour! It makes all the difference and it will really make your planter standout.

3. Add some white

I know that I just talked about colour, but I have to say that the white flowers were the last thing that I added to the planter and they were what really pulled the whole thing together. Kind of like the way a scarf can pull together an outfit. I just love the way the colours bounce of the white and I find that the white kind of helps to “ground” the whole planter.

Now for the giveaway open to residents of Canada (excluding Quebec) over the age of 18 (see terms & conditions for more info). It’s super simple, all you have to do is enter your name and email in the rafflecopter widget and then leave a comment below.

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Disclaimer: I was invited by President’s Choice to the PC Garden Party and they have generously provided the $50 giveaway for one of my readers. The decision to write about my experience is completely my own and all opinions are mine. Thank you for your support!