Outdoor Styling… pots!

Don’t forget how your style can be expressed in these portable beauties!

Even though these combinations can sometimes be purchased, I usually prefer to combine my own personalized combinations. How do you make these pots look good? It’s not as difficult as you think. Here is the approach I use:

First -Pick a color combination.

A simple guide:

monochromatic -( very close to being the same color) for example all shades of purple, or all shades of pink, or all shades of green(think foliage)! These speak harmoniously and with a touch of sophistication.

complimentary- (opposites on the color wheel) for example blueish purple and orange, yellow and violet. These add drama and flair.

Analogous- (colors that are beside one another on the wheel) for example yellow, red and orange are a warm trio. An intermediate between complimentary and monochromatic.

Flowers do come in a multitude of colors but pay attention as a purple can have a very blue undertone or a purple can have a more red undertone almost looking wine colored. That’s why its ideal as you shop to categorize the undertones in the color and place it in an area of the color wheel. Once you do that you simply put together the other flowers based on the color scheme your going to make.

Secondly- Scale & Shape

Now that you have decided on a color scheme start building around scale & shape. I am going to give you a general idea of what I do but if you find you prefer a different look – have fun!

Scale will involve several things- height, leaf/and or flower size. Shape has to do with anything from a wispy shape to a more beefy leaf or flower.

Usually its ideal to have one or two tall items, some intermediate height and lower and/or trailing plants. The idea is to have a flow of plant material to have a flowing overall shape to the pot.

As far as the shapes of the individual plants themselves… I like to mix some “beefier” items such as caladiums with more delicate million bells. Caladiums have a large scale shaped leaf and million bells are smaller leaved and flowered petunia type plants.

If you refer to the above combination photos with the colors you will see the shape and scale of the foliage and flowers are mixed.