For a lot of people gardening can be a therapeutic and vitalizing experience. Keen gardeners often point out that the satisfaction they receive from growing their own beautiful flowers and healthy vegetables is worth much more than the effort they put in.

Gardening for many is an art-form. Gardeners will mix different colors and heights of plants to create magnificent floral displays. Container gardening design is simply an extension of this art. In fact, the use of the container offers a further opportunity for creativity and flair in the garden design. Manufacturers are well aware of this fact also and as a result we see a tremendous amount of different styles, shapes and colors for plant pots and containers.

The classic flower-pot is a common choice in container gardening design, typically these would be terra cotta or earth-colored plastic pots. More creative options see gardeners using baskets with a plastic liner or wooden crates or barrels to produce more decorative displays.

For the more adventurous of eccentric gardener any container is a possibility - form old tree trunks to car-parts, anything is an option. Any container can be used provided it is modified to include suitable drainage.

Regardless of the container choice, the actual plants you decide to use will have the greatest impact on your container gardening design. It's a good idea to choose flowers or plants with similar needs. That is to say, they should all require about the same amount of sun, water, and fertilizer. To add more visual effect to your design, the flowers should have varying heights and colors.

Hanging plants can look fantastic draping over the side of your planting container and you don't need to just restrict yourself to flowers, vegetable gardens can be just as effective at creating a stunning display. The same design practices apply here also - use a variety of vegetable plants to create your display.

Some novice mistakes to avoid in your container garden design are errors like small plants in a very tall thin container or plain green plants such as grasses in an ornamental container. Its good to experiment though and before long you will know what will and won't work before you try it.

To add more appeal you can use other items as well as plants - consider rocks and stones and small colored pebbles to add more design elements to your feature.

Your container gardening designs are limited only by your imagination. try working with different types and styles of both container and plant to produce an unlimited amount of display possibilities.

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