Our top picks for 2025: THRILLERS, SPILLERS, AND FILLERS

Crabapple’s award-winning flower experts have weighed in and have provided their expert insights on the best flowers and plants for container gardening this season. They specifically highlight varieties that flourish in full sunlight, require minimal care, and exhibit outstanding shape and vibrant colors.

It’s important to keep in mind several pre-installation tips to ensure a vibrant and thriving container display.

Key Considerations –

Quality Planting Soil: Improving your soil by adding amendments, such as compost, will help your plants thrive all summer. Once every 1- 2 years, adding cowarts mushroom compost at a rate of 3cuft per 10sqft is recommended. Or cowart has a planting mix with compost in it you can add instead at the same rate.

Heat Tolerance: Ensure your chosen plant selection can withstand high temperatures.

Container Size: Larger pots retain more moisture, aiding in plant hydration between watering sessions.

Time to choose your plants!

THRILLERS

These are the tallest elements of your arrangement. Crabapple Flower Gurus recommended options include:

Canna Lilies: Known for their vivid colors and robust foliage, these thrive in warm, humid environments. They make striking focal points in containers and gardens, attracting pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Elephant Ears: Often used as centerpiece plants or included in mixed containers, they add an exotic touch to container gardens.

Mexican Petunia: Mexican petunia has an upright, somewhat spreading habit, making it ideal for the center of a container garden, where it can act as a focal point. The plant produces vibrant, trumpet-shaped flowers in shades of purple or pink, adding color and visual interest. While it prefers moist soil, Mexican petunia is also drought-tolerant, making it a good choice for warmer climate.
Purple Fountain Grass. These grasses are known for their arching fountain-like growth habit and come in various color. Its tall, upright growth habit and vibrant purple foliage make it a striking focal point, especially when paired with spiller and filler plants. The glossy, burgundy foliage and showy, It’s relatively low-maintenance, thriving in full sun and well-drained soil.

FILLERS

These plants provide mid-height support and contribute to a lush appearance. Our suggested fillers include:

Asparagus Fern: Characterized by its delicate needle-like foliage, it serves as an excellent filler, adding overall lightness and whimsy to the display.
Lantana: Varieties such as “Dallas Red,” “New Gold,” or those from the “Little Lucky” series offer vibrant blooms while maintaining a compact size.
Whopper Begonias: These begonias feature an upright growth pattern that is both compact and constantly throwing off vibrant blooms
Vinca: Vinca are beautiful, hearty and easy to cultivate in containers with minimal maintenance required. Fun Fact: Deer stay away from Vinca plants due to their sweet smell, as deer do not like fragrant plants.

SPILLERS

Trailing plants that cascade downwards add both color and texture; we suggest these choices:

Trailing Vinca: This variety of vinca is an excellent choice, due to its trailing habit, which allows it to cascade beautifully over the sides. It’s also a low-maintenance plant, requiring little deadheading and tolerating heat and sun well, making it a reliable choice for summer color. Note: this is a better choice than trailing petunias, as they can become leggy and messy, into the summer season.

Trailing Lantana: Perfect for pots due to its falling growth habit; it thrives in sunny spots and requires less upkeep than many other varieties. Its bright flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds, enhancing visual interest.

Sweet potato vine: This is a timeless classic for spillers, and we absolutely love it. The vibrant green foliage is robust and grows swiftly, contributing a breathtakingly lush aesthetic to the overall presentation. This true winner is also available in Purple and bronze.

Creeping Jenny Creeping jenny has a naturally trailing growth habit, making it perfect for spilling over the sides of containers and baskets. Its coin-shaped leaves come in various colors, including green, yellow, and golden, adding visual interest to your containers.