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Arrange my pots!

Liz WarnerLiz Warner Posts: 199
in Garden design
Second post for the evening! This is my front drive. I need to display some pots or ‘ornament’ on the stones. I’ve put a standard rose and a tall container together but it needs a third item. What would people suggest? I’m really not great at garden lay outs and displays 
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited April 2018
    I think Phormium 'Cream Delight' would look good, adding movement, lightness and texture at mid height to connect the other two plants. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Liz WarnerLiz Warner Posts: 199
    That’s a really good idea. What about the container arrangement? That’s what I struggle with 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Statement pots on their own or else groups of 3, 5, 7 and so on.  Not even numbers.

    Pairs are for vases, candlesticks, bookends but not plants unless you have matching ones either side of a gate or door.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
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  • Liz WarnerLiz Warner Posts: 199
    A third pot , similar height to the tall one, behind the rose but on the left hand side? 
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    Think about scale. If you have a large blank space in that gravel area, you ought to think about a much larger pot/container. I think a much larger container to place against your current cluster of pots on the right side will give that area more balance.

    For a west facing sheltered border, you can train or grow free standing shrubs like evergreen Coronilla Valentina Glauca 'Citrina'. If you push your a large pot against your wall, it could be wall trained. Lovely lemon flowers from winter into spring, and plant other plants underneath if for summer. 
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    With a black door and black pots, it's a bit sombre for my liking.  I'd like to see a mini pond in a pot, maybe a bluey-green glazed pot, with a water lily in it.
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    Whats in the tall pot? Will it have any height?
    I would go for a low sprawly thing to add balance as you have a tall skinny thing (rose) and an unknown tallish thing so you now need to go wide and low. I would go for a wide shallow dish as big as you can get filled with sempervivums or something else low and sprawly. Perfect balance. 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    I'd move the standard rose into the corner more and have pots in front to cover up the bare stem.
    Devon.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Your pot for your standard rose - unless it’s very wide - looks a little bit short for rose roots. Could you move it to a bigger (taller) pot and use the existing one for something else? As Obelixx says, grouping them together in odd numbers always look better unless it’s statement pair either side of a doorway, set of steps etc. Three or five bigger ones are better than loads of little ones, otherwise it starts to look a bit bitty. The beauty of pots is that you can play around and rearrange them until you are happy, although if there is soil under the gravel I would be tempted to plant the whole lot...
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Posts: 2,851
    An Acer would look nice,and maybe splash out on a Japanese Pagoda,to be in keeping.It would tie in nicely with the black pots.
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
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