Creating A Spring Planter

With the weather being unseasonably warm these last few days I've been longing to just get outside and plant something already! So off I went to the local garden center to get my fix!

I really shouldn't be let anywhere near a nursery with a credit card...

Really, at this time of year, when we aren't past the risk of another frost (April 29th in Hamilton/Burlington), there aren't many flowers that are safe outside overnight. Except for the pansy, which can survive a late spring frost. Pansy flowers in bloom at the time of the frost might wilt, but the plant itself will survive to bloom the next day.

I decided to go with a yellow pansy as I have yellow faux Forsythia wreaths on my front door. I thought a nice accent color would be the pale blue pansy.

I gathered up all I needed. My planter, that I use for every seasonal display. My pansies, some curly willow branches and potting soil.

Since pansies are pretty low growing plants I wanted to plant them high up in the planter. A planter of this size can hold a lot of soil, which can be heavy. I usually stuff the plastic containers the plants are grown in into the bottom of the planter and then cover them with soil. That helps with drainage and makes the planter lighter to haul around.

I placed the blue pansies in the center of the planter and surrounded them with the yellow pansies. I planted the blue pansies just a tiny bit higher than the yellow so that the whole display would look mound-like. Pansies are short flowers and can use all the help they can get in the height department, especially when in a planter.

You can see here that the pansies really aren't that tall! The height of the pansies compared to the height of the planter is wrong. I need to add some height.

I chose these Curly Willow stems because of their color and delightful curliness! But Pussy Willows would do well too. I took one branch at a time and inserted them into the center of the planter, filling in bare spots as I went, being careful not to impale any pansies.

Here is the finished planter. In a few weeks the pansies will have grown and filled in any bare spots.

I think the planter display looks fabulous with my door wreaths!