35 Unique Container Garden Ideas to Make Your Outdoor Space Pop

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Whether you have a sprawling backyard or a small patio, a container garden is an easy way to elevate any outdoor space—and is a great method for every level of gardener.

From easy-to-cultivate herbs to a mini citrus garden, simply choose the plants that align with your gardening skills and style and get growing.

If you’re looking for some inspiration, we’ve rounded up a variety of creative container garden ideas you can use for your next horticultural endeavor.

Let It Spill Over

Container Garden with 'Electric Lime' coleus, pentas, bicolored lantanas, and 'Silver Falls' dichondra

Garden expert Mark Thompson took inspiration from the color wheel for this bamboo planter, choosing analogous colors.

Vibrant pink and orange blooms are this container’s main elements with yellow-green accents.

“Designed to be against a wall, this one descends from the highest growing to the lowest,” says Thompson who used ‘Electric Lime’ coleus, pentas, bicolored lantanas, and ‘Silver Falls’ dichondra.

Make A Statement

This stunning ‘Charlie Boy’ cordyline creates a striking base for this summer container arrangement.

To balance and soften the prickly plant, the base is filled with vibrant greenery and a few complementary blooms.

Plant expert Linda Vater recommends evaluating where your pot is going and how much light the spot receives before planting.

This composition is ideal for a mostly sunny spot.

Incorporate Evergreens

Designer Mark Thompson anchored these complementary vessels with evergreens in the centers: blue juniper in the smaller arrangement and dwarf arborvitae in the larger one.

He then filled in the gaps with viola, pansy, and Panola (a pansy-viola hybrid with medium-sized blooms).

In the bigger pot, he also included lamb’s ears (a semievergreen perennial).

“Traditionally, it does pretty well through winters in the South,” says Thompson. “In colder climates, it may die back but will return in the spring.”

While the shrubs are hardy enough to last the season, that’s just one of the reasons the plant pro likes them. “They offer a nice contrasting texture to those soft pansy leaves,” he says.

Play with Purple

Pair of Terra-Cotta Pots with angelonias, 'Orange Marmalade' crossandras, ornamental oregano, and purple fan flowers

Pair purple and orange tones together for a playful and eye-catching display.

Here, Mark Thompson filled a pair of rust-toned terra-cotta pots (which complement the orange flowers) with purple angelonias, ‘Orange Marmalade’ crossandras, ornamental oregano, and purple fan flowers.

Plant A Pot Of Pansies

For a low-effort, high-impact look, Mark Thompson—owner of Shoppe, a garden store and nursery in Birmingham—filled an eye-catching, shallow urn with a combination of violas and pansies.

Opting for an arrangement that’s composed entirely of these blooms makes a bold addition to the front porch during cooler months.

“You can mix colors to your liking or do all one hue,” says Thompson. “They create a mound of flowers that’s really full.”

The plants are also inexpensive compared to fillers such as ornamental grasses, explains the gardening expert. “You can get a lot of bang for your buck.”

Vary Heights

This sun-loving pairing make for a fantastic summer container with a pop of color.

Ever Amethyst agapanthus stands tall in the pot on the left with golden moneywort while Suntastic Peach abelia serves as the main element in the second container.

Fan flowers and Million Bells Trailing Blue calibrachoas add color and Licorice plant spill out on the right side for a balanced look.

Adorned Windows

DIY window boxes make great container gardens and can inject a lot of color and texture into your home’s exterior.

They’re such an easy way to spruce up your home and front yard.

These are perfect for the spring, showing off purple and pink flowers among some ferns.

A Greeting of Tulips

Steps lead you up to a front porch, where container gardens full of various shades of tulips greet you.

Seven to eight tulips have been grown in each pot, giving just enough growing room so they can thrive but being close enough together that they still make for a lush bouquet.

Tulips can easily be grown in containers that you can keep outside like these or inside when the weather gets cooler.

Autumn Urn

This fall arrangement of greenery and flowers has been placed in an urn in the front yard of a home.

A few mini pumpkins have been added along with some autumn berry sprigs.

An ornamental cabbage is used because they love the cooler weather.

It’s a lovely container garden that proves it doesn’t have to be spring or summer to have a beautiful centerpiece for your yard.

Orange Container Garden

This container garden embraces the warm months of summer.

Red flowers and plants come together in a stunning combination that plays off the slight color differences.

It’s placed front and center by the front door so everyone who visits has the joy of seeing it.

Mixed Color Combo

A large container garden with colorful flowers

An expert container garden idea is to choose a color combination where the colors can play off one another.

This striking container garden features red, purple, and white flowers with some trailing greenery.

A hayrack planter makes a lovely window box that can be sat in the shade or sun.

Moss Gardens

The woodland near Martha’s home in Maine is lush with mosses, lichens, and ferns, which she pots in decorative faux bois containers.

After filling her pots, she brings everything back outdoors to display on her property.

Chimney Flues

If you want to enhance your curb appeal, chimney flues filled with plants are a stately way to do so.

Choose antique pieces and place a plastic liner inside each.

We filled ours with purple cordylines, silver tradescantia, and rex begonia vine.

Vertical Garden

Herb wall featuring aluminium pots, hanging on black frame against a gray brick wall.

Potted plants don’t have to take up a lot of space in your yard.

Instead, go vertical by placing small plants in containers and nestling them inside slots on an out-of-the way rack.

Upcycled China

Whether you’d like to make use of your mother’s favorite china patterns or simply enjoy a unique DIY project, create a small container garden with multiple up-cycled planters, like these.

Pumpkin Planters

This simple DIY will look beautiful in your container garden during fall.

Fill small pumpkins with succulent potting mix and your favorite succulents for a fun display.

Herb Garden

Growing herbs is one of the easiest ways to start an edible garden.

Situate basil, parsley, thyme, and other low-maintenance herbs in small containers in a sunny spot near the kitchen for easy snipping.

Succulent Garden

Succulents are ideal for container planting because they have shallow root systems that can thrive in compact environments.

The arid plants are also great if you live in an area prone to drought, as they only need to be watered once a week.

Mediterranean Plants

Mediterranean plants are low water, making them a perfect addition to container gardens, which dry out quickly.

Fill them with lavender, rosemary, bay laurel, and more varieties.

Window Boxes

Window boxes are big enough to grow all sorts of plants, from perennials and annuals to herbs and vegetables.

The low-maintenance style of gardening is a great way to add curb appeal to your home.

Citrus Garden

Turn your backyard or home into a tropical oasis by planting a citrus tree (or group of trees) in containers.

Position your potted trees beside a south-facing window with good airflow and water regularly without making the soil overly moist.

When it’s warm out, move your trees into the fresh air.

Ivy Topiaries

Create an ivy topiary—which just requires filling containers with soil and ivy and pruning the plant into topiary forms—for a structured garden masterpiece.

Vegetable Garden

A colorful basket of vegetables sitting on the ground in a garden.

Create a thriving vegetable garden in containers, which is a great option if you have limited backyard space.

Make sure to plant different vegetables in each pot so they don’t compete for nutrients.

Herb Tower

Get creative with your herb garden by growing different varieties in multiple containers piled on top of one another.

In this potted plant display, rosemary, sage, parsley, thyme, oregano, basil, and chives are grown in separate, stackable pots.

If you want to grow mint, plant it on its own in the top pot, since it can overwhelm other herbs.

Hanging Baskets

Hanging baskets are an easy way to display plants without taking up square footage.

Martha recommends filling yours with rhipsalis, sedums, staghorn ferns, and senecios, which all do well grown in containers.

Cacti in Containers

If you live in a dry climate or want to reduce your water use, growing cacti in containers in the way to go.

Just make sure your pot has holes in the bottom so they can drain easily when they do get a drink.

Plants With Visual Interest

pink and green polka dot plants in black containers

If you’re looking for a potted plant idea that will bring style to your backyard, choose varieties with pops of color—like the polka dot plant (Hypoestes Phyllostachya).

This houseplant comes in red, white, and pink hues for an eye-catching display.

Terra Cotta Garden

Terra cotta pots are porous, so they’re ideal for plants that need well-draining soil.

Elevate your display by using painters’ tape to design patterns on your terra cotta containers.

Potted Ferns

Ferns are low-maintenance plants that thrive on humidity.

Our pro tip?

Add colorful pebbles to the bottom of a decorative planter and place the pot on top of the stones to increase the humidity level.

Raised Garden Bed

For those looking to grow multiple varieties of their favorite flowers, a large raised garden bed is a great way to create a container garden without limiting yourself to just one or two plants.

Vining Plants

Take advantage of hanging planters by showing off your favorite vining plants.

Placed near adequate sunlight, varieties like English ivy, pothos, and string of pearls are sure to wow.

Water Garden

A water garden instantly gives aquatic plants, like water lilies, an artistic flair.

These plants need sun, but they don’t require soil because they get their nutrients from water.

Stock Tank Garden

Repurpose an old stock tank for a unique container display that has a vintage feel.

Drill drainage holes into the bottom so water doesn’t get trapped, then fill the tank with your favorite flowers.

Coral Bells Container

Coral bells are a beautiful addition to a container garden and can be grown on their own or to add interest to an existing pot This plant can be semi-evergreen, so it provides interest across multiple seasons.

Pollinator-Friendly Containers

Welcome pollinators, like bees and butterflies, to your garden by filling containers with flowers that attract wildlife.

Some examples include asters, columbine, coneflower, bee balm, and goldenrod.

Collection of African Violets

african violets in brown pots on gold tray

African violets have vibrant blooms that look beautiful in containers—here a collection sits on the windowsill in Martha’s servery where they get plenty of sunlight. “They’re not happy someplace where you don’t look at them all the time,” she says.