Herbs and flowers are longtime friends and make winning combinations. They make great companion species in the garden, attracting pollinators and repelling pests. In a container, they combine beauty, fragrance, and edible possibilities. Here are our favorite combinations that give you picturesque displays and culinary delights all in one!
Beautiful Herb and Flower Containers for North Dakota
1. Lovage – Angelonia – Sage – Creeping Thyme
Lovage, the famous perennial herb of the celery family, makes a stately center point of this display. Valued in ancient times for relieving exhaustion and its use in love potions, lovage is rare today but still a potent herb for the kitchen. Combine it with Angelonia’s purple flowers and sage’s silver-green leaves. Then let thyme’s pink flowers and creeping leaves spill over the edges, and you have yourself a majestic, edible, and fragrant container mix!
2. Basil – Lobelia – Chives – Sweet Potato Vine
Enjoy a tall tower of basil in the center of this container for a laid-back but delicious center point. On one side, plant the purple flowers and green spears of chives. Spilling over the other side, enjoy an indigo cloud of lobelia. Where you see fit, tuck in some sweet potato vine to spill over the edge of the pot. This combination gives you a rustic, asymmetric, fragrant mix of herbs and annuals!
3. Canna – Calendula – Chamomile – Nasturtiums
The canna lilies are a classic choice of “thriller” to catch your attention in any container. Surround them with a mix of orange calendula to echo the color of the lily, and bring you tasty tea. Intersperse the calendula with patches of white chamomile to soothe the palette—of both the eyes and tongue. Plant nasturtiums along the edge to trail across the planter’s edges as a final touch. The beauty of this flower combination will inspire all of your senses!
How Do You Make a Beautiful Container Garden?
Now that you’ve seen what’s possible, you can easily make your own container combinations of flowers and herbs. Here are some ways you can create an appealing display of your own:
- Thriller, Filler, Spiller Technique: this is a tried-and-true method to engage your senses with a flower combination. The thriller is the tallest, most colorful, or leafiest plant of the three. It grabs your attention at first. The fillers bring appealing texture, foliage, or flowers around the center point. You can include more than one filler. The spiller is either a vining, trailing, or leaning plant that beautifully falls over the edge of the pot. This application makes the container look like a slow-motion waterfall, which is highly appealing and completes the trio of plants!
- Flowers and Spillers: a second container technique combines several colorful flowers or herbs that you find appealing. You don’t have to have one that stands out, but you can enjoy several plants’ color and texture combinations. If you arrange them well, you can have some of them spill over the edges to create an irresistible look of abundance!
- Match Sunlight and Water Needs: when selecting plants, remember that each pot’s combination should share similar water and sunlight needs. You don’t want to place a full-shade herb in the same pot as an annual that needs full sun. It would be easier to satisfy them both if you strategically use the shade of a taller plant. It’s the same with water. Group them with plants of similar moisture needs.
More Ideas for Container Plants to Use in North Dakota
Now that you know how to create your own designs. Here are more ideas for herbs and flowers that you can include in your combinations:
- Possible Thrillers: canna lilies, elephant ears, ornamental grass, geranium, begonias, snapdragons, salvia, lovage, horseradish, basil, and ornamental kale are examples of impressive thrillers.
- Potential Fillers or General Plants: Petunia, zinnia, nemesia, lantana, rosemary, sage, tarragon, marigold, oregano, mint, chervil, cilantro, and chives are some of the many possibilities to use as beautiful fillers in your combinations.
- Prospective Spillers: sweet potato vine, nasturtiums, licorice vine, portulaca, vinca vine, bidens, creeping Jenny, thyme, calibrachoa, and oregano.
We often think of growing edible plants separately from ornamental ones, but there’s no reason why we can’t combine them. Many herbs offer beautiful colors, textures, and flowers worthy of any ornamental container or flower border. Plus, they have the added benefit of bringing spice, flavor, medicine, and nutrition to the kitchen. Even more so, they’re a favorite of beneficial insects like bees and butterflies, who are always welcome guests in our garden.
You open the door to more creativity when you start to see the beauty of all of your plants, whether they’re vegetables, herbs, annuals, or perennials. For more inspiration for container combinations, visit our Bismarck, North Dakota garden center!