Count on our preplanned container gardens to provide months of pleasingly relaxed balance and color, outdoors or inside. The three collections shown above were among your favorites last year. Coleus Confetti, a six-plant tapestry of brilliant foliage, thrives until first frost in bright sunlight or partial shade. So does Hummingbird, a study in the pinks, corals, and reds attractive to hummingbirds. Pastel Patio requires bright sunlight to create a misty cloud of lavender Heliotrope, lilac-pink Verbena and variegated Helichrysum petiolare. To see these three collections in different pots we offer, use the animated Annual Container Designer link here and on our Web site. If you prefer to design your own container, we offer a wide assortment of annuals.

Our Queen Anne Collection

We're taken with the eye-catching 2in balloon borders on all the containers in our new Queen Anne Collection. Each of these early eighteenth-century reproductions is constructed from galvanized steel with a powder-coat, antique-green finish and has a disease-resistant, cocofiber liner to provide plants with maximum drainage and aeration. The stepwise planters (featured at top) are available singly and in sets of three. The parasol hanging planter (shown left) and the round hanging planter (shown right) each come with hanging chains and measure 14in in diameter. (We also offer a green bracket for these and other hanging baskets.) To see our complete selection of Pots and Containers click here. It also includes a fine line of Mediterranean earthenware.

Tips on Creating and Maintaining Great Containers

I. Choose your pot and growing mix carefully. Most of the plants we offer can be grown in containers--any clean container with a drainage hole in the bottom is suitable. The growing medium in containers must drain much more quickly than garden soil does. We recommend using a potting mix specifically designed for use in a container. Such mixes are now available at most garden centers and hardware stores.

2. Before you actually begin planting, add moist potting mix to your container until it is about half full. Then set the plants on the mix, spacing them much more closely than you would if you were planting them in the ground. Put the tallest plants in the center and surround them with shorter, mounding plants. Put trailing plants along the edge. When you are pleased with your arrangement, add potting mix to bring the level to within an inch of the container's rim and firm lightly. Finally, water thoroughly.

3. Caring for your container properly is critical. Plants in containers dry out more quickly than plants that are in the ground; in the heat of summer, you may have to water them daily. To decrease the need to water, we suggest incorporating a super absorbent gel into the potting mix before you plant. With frequent watering, nutrients wash out through the bottom of the pot. We recommend that you mix a timed-release fertilizer into the potting mix before you add the mix to the container. In addition, to keep annuals growing and flowering, we suggest you water with a balanced (20-20-20), water-soluble fertilizer, mixed as directed, every other week in summer. (Bulbs, perennials, and shrubs need less fertilizer; a half-strength solution applied once a month through August is enough.)

Finally, plants in containers may need grooming. Remove spent flowers regularly and prune the stems of vigorous growers to keep them in check.