Spring is usually a very gentle, growing season filled with warm sun and light rain that will give gardeners an edge. Here are a few combinations of our favorite spring-flowering annuals and perennials that are reliable and generally low maintenance in our zone 5. For best results, follow one of the recipes below and plant in early spring. As a bonus, you can transplant the perennials at the beginning of summer or keep them in the container. Simply, replace the tired, spring annuals with fresh, summer-blooming plants.
MIXING ANNUALS & PERENNIALS
PANSIES and EVERGREENS: Pair bright orange and yellow pansies with perennials shrubs such as rounded Mr. Bowling Ball arborvitae, (Thuja occidentalis ‘Bobazam’), boxwood (Buxus ‘Green Velvet’) or low growing Blue Star juniper (Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’). The pansy colors really pop out from the solid green of the evergreens. You can change out the cool season pansies as the temperatures heat up at the beginning of June. Keep the evergreens in the container and replace pansies with summer-blooming annuals such as lantana, pentas, calibrachoa, celosia or upright and trailing verbena.
Light: Full to partial sun
Water: Keep moist in well-draining soil
Blooms: Plant solid orange, yellow pansies and blotch yellow and deep red orange throughout the container. They bloom beautifully in April and May. When the temps get warmer, the stems will elongate and pansies can be replaced with summer-blooming annuals. The evergreens will be a constant background color in the container. They both will thrive in full or partial sun, so choose annuals that love the same amount of sunlight such as ivy geranium, verbena, lantana or calibrachoa. In early fall, plant the perennial shrubs in the ground and they will keep their color in every season.
Container Shape: Round-y, mound-y
Tip: When planting evergreens in autumn, allow enough time to grow sufficient roots so the shrub will survive the winter months.
FLOWERS and BERRIES: Try this delicate combination of perennial spring flowers, strawberry plants and annual pansies for this outdoor spring container… pink and dark burgundy colors mix beautifully with the soft, silver foliage of Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) and lacy leaves of Artemisia (Artemisia stelleriana). Place the tallest plant, Hellebore (Lenten Rose), with its pink, white or deep maroon flowers, in the center. Tuck in a few annual Ranunculus with their vibrant pink and paper-thin blossoms. Mix in one or two of the burgundy-red leaved ‘Cherry Truffles’ Coral Bells (Huechera). Finish off this spring combination with large, white Matrix Blotch pansies and a number of Strawberry plants with white (Fragaria virginiana) or pink (Toscana or Pink Panda) flowers. If you wait long enough, you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Light: Full to partial sun
Water: Moderate but not soggy
Blooms: Early spring for flowers and later in early June for fruit.
Container Shape: Pyramidal, and mounding shape in container.
Tip: After the flowers die back, plant the perennials in the garden and you’ll enjoy them for many seasons.
HERBS, LETTUCE and PANSIES: Place a bouquet of the taller Romaine lettuce plants in the center of the container. Pair the reddish-purple leaves of Red Leaf lettuce with the light green, rounded heads of Butter lettuces (Boston, Bibb varieties). Float a cloud of red-violet Sweet alyssum flowers among white and red-violet pansies. The white color will stand out from the greens and deeper colors. Here’s a casual, spring mixture that looks like it was picked right from the garden… deserving of a willow garden trug or a galvanized steel container.
Light: Partial sun to part shade
Water: Moist but not soggy
Blooms: This Spring mix looks its best in the cooler days of spring.
Container shape: The Romaine lettuce is tallest and placed in the center. The other plants are shorter and add fullness to the mix.
Tips: Sweet alyssum flowers attract beneficial insects that will later control garden pests like aphids, mites, and whiteflies. The tiny sweet alyssum flowers act as a natural, non-toxic alternative to insecticides.
