I'm handicapped & challenged in maintaining the usual seasonal planters filled with annuals. I've discovered a simplier & much less costly method of getting those pops of color throughout the gardens.

I've been collecting unusual & colorful urns/planters & using them empty here & there in the garden as focal points...almost like sculpture. I've discovered that, when strategically placed, they can have as much or more impact than when I planted all of them.

I have 5 'Blue Angel' hostas that have between 12-15 eyes each (big plants!). I change out the empty planters that reside amongst them with the changing of the garden seasons. Late spring...I use a series of a muted soft purple, tall urn & a couple shorter, fatter ones because the hostas haven't expanded to full size yet & the vertical element of the urn covers for the hostas until they reach full growth around mid-June. Then, on July 4th weekend...I change out the urns & switch to summer colors using a hot orange planter turned on its side. It really pops next to the silvery-blue of the hostas. As fall approaches...I change again. This time to a bright yellow planter with purple polka-dots.

I do similar things nestled in the ferns. I tuck empty & colorful pots at the feet of shrubs once they've finished with seasonal (and all too short) bloom. The empty pots keep interest going around the shrubs all season with no effort required of me.

At auction, I picked-up 9 small, unfired clay South American (Aztec?) pieces. They have faded paintings & etching decoration on them. Those I cluster around lower growing groundcovers for additional interest & a bit of color.

In a large maple, I placed a medium-sized soft yellow planter in the "V" of two large limbs. It's planted with both chartruese & black potato vines & golden creeping Jenny...nothing that flowers...just colorful foliage. (I have to use a wand to water this one so it's not maintenance free.) I love the colorful foliage handing down from the maple...by July 4th weekend, it very full & hangs down about 3 feet.

I'd love to hear how others use urns/pots/planters to add interest without the upkeep of traditional annual plantings??

Tricia