- Home
- Plant Finder
- Garden Centre
- Bistro
- Fashion
- Christmas
- Events
- About Us
- Current Ad
- Store Hours
14” Hanging Basket
from Dutch Growers
Designing Annual Containers
At Dutch Growers, we use a simple 3 step process to design our containers. We choose our favorite plants and classify them according to their role in our containers. We label them Thrillers, Fillers, or Spillers.
Container Recipes and Video Links
Thrillers
Thrillers are big, bold, and bodacious. They shout, “Hey! Look at me!”
Thrillers provide the focal point for your arrangement. They are usually tall and upright with outstanding qualities such as dramatic leaves, amazing flowers, or unique shapes.
If your pot will be viewed from all sides, place your thriller in the center of the pot. If your pot will be placed in a corner or against a wall, place your thriller towards the back of the arrangement.
Thrillers for Sun
- Cannas
- Draceana
- Geraniums
- Grasses
Thrillers for Shade
- Caladium
- Coleus
- Cordyline
- Impatiens
Fillers
Fillers are a team player. They say, “Aw shucks… Things are always so much better when we work together!”
Fillers add volume to your container. Without them, the container looks bare and unfinished. The fillers will connect the thriller to the spiller and hide the base of the thriller. Fillers can also add interesting texture to the container. Usually fillers have a mounding shape and look billowy.
Fillers for Sun
- Bacopa
- Dusty Miller
- Nemesia
- Osteospermum
- Petunia
- Vinca
Fillers for Shade
- Bacopa
- Browallia
- Diascia
- Nemesia
- Pansy
Spillers
Connect the plants to the pot. They say, “We belong here”
By cascading over the sides, they soften the edges of the pot and anchor the entire arrangement to the ground.
Spillers for Sun
- Calibrachoa (Million Bells)
- Ivy Geranium
- Lotus Vine
- Lysimachia (Creeping Jenny)
- Trailing Petunia
- Trailing Verbena
- Potato Vine
- Vinca Vine
Spillers for Shade
- Lamium
- Ivy
- German Ivy
- Lobelia
- Vinca Vine
Design Notes
The Pot
The pot does double duty. Not only is it the container for the plants, but it is also the frame for the arrangement. Consider the size, shape, and color of the pot when choosing your plants.
Design Rules Guidelines 101
Scale is important. Most designs look best when the fillers are either 1/3 or 2/3 the height of the thriller. But, I’ve seen this rule broken in some marvelous ways! Last year, I planted a Japanese Maple and filled the base with Wooly Thyme. It looked like a Zen garden!
Is it a Thriller? A Filler? A Spiller?
Well, that depends on the scale of your design. In a smaller container, a plant like Fiber Optic Grass could be the star of the arrangement and be your thriller. I’ve also seen it used effectively as a spiller in a grand entrance urn. In that arrangement, a pink hydrangea was the thriller, Supertunia Bordeaux was the filler, and the Fiber Optic Grass was the spiller. It’s all about the scale of the arrangement.
The Dutch Growers Grow Guides are a work in progress. New recipes are added as they become available
