The best plant pots and containers feature the perfect combination of flowers and foliage with colours, shapes and textures chosen to complement and contrast with each other. For inspiration, it's always worth looking at the choices favoured by garden designers, so we've gathered eight gorgeous ideas for beautiful spring pots, tried and tested by designers including James Horner, garden maker at Benton End in Suffolk, and garden designer Sarah Price.
Scroll down for the ultimate spring container planting inspiration for small and large pots, with options you can keep indoors and outdoors. The ideas include everything from delicate pastel combinations to bold, eye-catching colour, so there's something for every taste.
* Pot designs provided by James Horner, Sarah Price, Julia Wylie, Jinny Blom, Kristy Ramage, Benjamin Pope, Ben Preston and Alison Jenkins
Spring container inspiration
Veronica, bellflower and painted lady fern
Create a woodland-edge feel with this gorgeous combination of the pale-blue spires of Veronica gentianoides, zingy yellow-green Tellima grandiflora and cottage-garden classic bellflower Campanula persicifolia. Underneath is the dainty white Ranunculus aconitifolius ‘Flore Pleno’, the unusual grey-green foliage of the painted lady fern Athyrium niponicum var. pictum and masses of pale blue Omphalodes cappadocica ‘All Summer Blues’.
Erigeron and geranium
Start Erigeron karvinskianus and Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis' off in a trough like this and you'll soon see them cropping up in cracks and crevices nearby, thanks to their self-seeding tendencies. They are both attractive to bees and butterflies and will flower profusely from spring to late summer.
Mexican feather grass, viola and Dianthus
In this clever planting combination by landscape designer Jinny Blom, the plants go to seed quite fast so you'll get - in Jinny's words - a tawny mini-savannah in a few weeks. The pink Dianthus superbus has a disarming habit of keeling over, which works well here as it breaks the verticality of the Mexican feather grass Stipa tennuissima and blends with the sweet little Viola 'Roscastle Black'.
Solomon's seal, geum and Saxifraga
Elegantly arching from the back is the Solomon's seal Polygonatum x hybridum, an important tall focal point echoed by the smaller and more informal Disporopsis pernyi in front. Saxifraga x urbium and Geum ‘Lemon Drops’ gently bubble alongside, creating a contrasting surface for the bold and ultra glossy leaves of the Hosta ‘Devon Green’. Choose a lightly shaded location for this woodland-like display.
Melica altissima, red campion and aquilegia
Designer Julia Wylie was inspired to create this combination after seeing how the lime-green leaves and delicate flowers of the grass Melica altissima 'Alba' caught the light and allowed the blue Aquilegia alpina, red campion Silene dioica and tiny pink flowers of Geranium robertianum to gleam in dappled shade. The melica seedheads can be cut down after flowering to encourage a fresh flush of leaves and flowers. Leave a few seedheads on the aquilegia, silene and geranium as they will readily self-seed.
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Shield fern, Melica uniflora and purple spiderwort
Elegant arching fronds of the soft shield fern Polystichum setiferum ‘Pulcherrimum Bevis’ and the soft, golden tufts and floaty seedheads of Melica uniflora f. albida create a backdrop for the eye-catching deep purples of the Tradescantia pallida ‘Purpurea’ and Viola ‘Raven’. T. pallida ‘Purpurea’ will creep and trail, creating a waterfall of rich-purple spears.
Sempervivum
For fans of succulents, this combination creates a neat display. Working clockwise from the front, this selection includes the cobwebbed rosettes and red flowers of Sepervivum arachnoideum; Sempervivum 'Gamma', with its olive-green leaves with subtle crimson tips; the rich mahogany leaflets of Sempervivum 'Reginald Malby'; and Sempervivum calcareum 'Mrs Giuseppi', with light green and brown florets.
Sesleria, viola and Houstonia caerulea
In this repurposed incinerating bin, the Sesleria nitida sits bang in the middle of the pot like an erupting geyser. Tucked in near its root ball are the Viola 'Martin' that emerge through the Sesleria's fine leaves, with the steamy foam of little Houstonia caerulea tumbling down over the edges. Once it finishes flowering it looks like a lovely mossy mass.
White laceflower, poppy and Dianthus
This combination uses the white lacy annual Orlaya grandiflora, but Ammi majus would also work. It squeezes in the ladybird poppy Papaver commutatum and Dianthus carthusianorum for a clash of red and pink, and a few clumps of Allium sphaerocephalon, whose small, egg-shaped buds will swell and form claret-coloured cones.
Cardoon, ragwort and salvia
Shown here, the silver-leaved cardoon Cynara cardunculus takes centre stage, but soon the silver ragwort Senecio candidans Angel Wings (='Senaw') and trailing Helichrysum petiolare will take over, providing contrast for the ongoing deep-pink Salvia Love and Wishes (='Serendip6') and eye-catching, red Pelargonium 'Tomcat'. Also in the mix are Plectranthus ciliatus and night phlox Zaluzianskya capensis.
Armeria and succulents
Restricting and repeating plant varieties help to unify this display, and the soft, grey tones of the succulent x Sedeveria 'Blue Mist' and touches of burgundy from the stems of Geranium robertianum work together in harmony with the colour of the rusty tins. The bright-pink, pompom-like Armeria maritima adds important vibrancy.
Geum and mathiasella
Spring sun deserves to be celebrated with a bit of flamboyance and Geum 'Mrs J Bradshaw' has just the right amount of good old-fashioned style and intense colour to provide it. To provide the soft diffusing green, there is the glamorous Mathiasella bupleuroides 'Green Dream'. Just a shade more subtle is the fascinating 'slipper flower' Calceolaria integrifolia 'Kentish Hero', with Salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens'.
Sedum, succulents and Anthemis marschalliana
The key plant of this scheme is Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco', with its fleshy pewter foliage and starry yellow flowers, while the yellow daisy Anthemis marschalliana seems to hover as if weightless. Designer Sarah Price has added rugged clumps of succulent Jovibarba allionii for textural contrast but the closely-related house leek Sempervivum would also work. Also included is the unusual evergreen succulent Lampranthus spectabilis 'Tresco Apricot', chosen for its red-flushed stems and yellow midsummer flowers.
Tulip, fritillary and Prunus
These chunky-stemmed plants rise through late-winter, flowering as the season shifts, when they become a blazing statement. The creamy, goblet-shaped Tulipa ‘Purissima’ is reliably perennial, and along with the exotic-looking Fritillaria imperialis ‘Rubra Maxima’, they could all continue year after year. The twiggy Prunus tenella is shown off best against a dark backdrop. James Horner has also used white-flowered comfrey Symphytum orientale and purple periwinkle Vinca major var. oxyloba.
Tulip, primrose and Muscari
The key plant here is the pale-blue grape hyacinth Muscari ‘Jenny Robinson’, which contrasts with the peachy orange of Tulipa praestans ‘Shogun’. The tulips are clustered in asymmetrical groups, allowing space for the mahogany Euphorbia dulcis ‘Chameleon’. James Horner’s one indulgent diversion from the theme is the old-fashioned Primula ‘Sue Jervis’, which sits next to bold, red Anemone coronaria ‘Hollandia’ and the pewter-purple bells of Fritillaria uva-vulpis.
Fritillary and Narcissus
The tall and glaucous-leaved Fritillaria persica ‘Adiyaman’ often develops a quirky shape to its stem and brings movement to the arrangement. A shining, bronze-leaved Paeonia lactiflora, although not flowering here, connects the tall frits with lower level plants. Both the apple-green Erodium pelargoniiflorum and Lamium purpureum sing out within a chorus of yellows: Iris bucharica, Tulipa sylvestris and mini daffodil Narcissus ‘Eystettensis’.
Tulip and begonia
The cane Begonia ‘Comte de Lesseps’ with its foliage full of dots and stripes, holds this arrangement together. To create the textures, there is the grass Brachypodium sylvaticum with elegant, arching leaves along with the lacy foliage of white-flowering Pseudo-fumaria alba subsp. acaulis and eye-catching pops from a scarlet Tulipa sprengeri. Tallest in the arrangement are delicate Astrantia major and white Anemone leveillei.
Iris and foxglove
The colours of these irises, ‘Benton Nigel’ and 'Benton Farewell' range from a velvety nut brown through deep violet to a smoky pale-lilac iris suffused with lemon and bronze. The foxglove Digitalis purpurea f. albiflora brings vertical shape at the back of the arrangement, while simple flowers such as Allium ‘Eos', Allium schoenoprasum ‘Wallington White’, Dianthus superbus and double sea campion Silene uniflora ‘Robin Whitebreast' skirt the arrangement in a relaxed manner.
Pelargonium, red-hot poker and aeonium
Here, Kniphofia ‘Wol’s Red Seedling’ brings movement and height, while aeoniums form a round focal point. The mid layer of arrangement feels airy and it is pleasing how the bobbing heads of white sea thrift Armeria ‘Brutus’ arise on such a clean stem. Also included is peachy Pelargonium ‘The Boar’ and the tiny yellow flowerheads of Bupleurum angulosum.
