Great Ideas for Large Container Plantings and How to Maintain Them

When it comes to decorative planters to enhance your commercial property, think big.

Really big.

Supersize containers — big enough to hold trees — make an instant impressive impact when used in the landscaping of hotels, office buildings, shopping plazas and other commercial properties.

How big? What should you plant in them? Who waters them?

We’re happy you asked. Check out these landscaping ideas with large planters.

Why Use Large Planters?

Many commercial property owners skimp on planters. They either don't use enough to make an impact, or their planters are too small to be noticed.

Extra large planters are especially useful for sites that don’t have much green space. They become an instant focal point. They break up the monotony of a large flat wall. They can hide eye sores.

They create privacy. An HOA might use large container plants to screen a swimming pool. A restaurant might use them to make an outdoor patio more private.

Mostly, large containers of beautiful plants grab attention. They show visitors and customers that you care enough about the aesthetics of your property to make passersby exclaim, “Wow.”

Use Large Pots For Impact

People notice big pots with impressive plantings.

If your commercial property includes tall buildings, several stories high, small planters just get lost. Nobody notices them.

Large outdoor planters have a presence.

How large? These impressive pots can range from 2 feet wide by 2 feet tall to 4 to 5 feet tall and wide, or larger.

The Best Spots For Large Pots

• Entrances. Your entrance is automatically a focal point. Enhance it even more by flanking it with large planters. Everybody who walks in or out your door will notice a spectacular container of blooms and grasses or a statement-making tree.

• Signage. Draw attention to your property’s signage by placing a spectacular large planter near it.

• Public walkways and plazas. Break up typically bare areas and attract the attention of passers-by with huge, impressive pots.

Use Large Container Plants When The Ground Won’t Cooperate

Sometimes, planting in the ground isn’t an option. Maybe the soil is too shallow.

Large planters can make as much or more of an impact than flower beds. Poor soil? No worries. You can fill planters with top-quality potting soil more easily than enriching large flower beds.

Even The Planters Make A Statement

A beautiful large container is like a piece of art for your property, and it adds the same kind of impact.

There’s a large-scale pot for every architectural style. Tall, stylish cylinders pack a modern punch. Oversize urns are stately and elegant. Go bold with a bright color, or make a statement with a geometric shape.

What To Plant In Large Planters

Here’s where the fun begins. So many possibilities!

The larger the pot, the more plants you can fit in. That means more opportunity for drama. Here are just some ideas for large container planting:

Summer Plants For Large Pots

Large tropical plants add drama. Think banana trees. The Ensete maurelii and Basjoo varieties are great for large containers. Other stunning choices are white bird of paradise, alocasia and variegated ginger.

Palms make a big statement. Good picks include Majesty, Adonidia, King Sago and Robellini.

Annual grasses are great fillers. Pennisetum rubrum or Fireworks varieties offer a fun purple or pink punch.

Fall And Winter Plants For Large Pots

Once the cool weather moves in, there are still plenty of centerpiece options for a large planter.

Opt for Emerald Green arborvitae, Green Giant arborvitae or Blue Point juniper. Boxwood or holly are great choices, too.

Your large container centerpiece doesn't have to be a live plant. Bundles of striking red or yellow twig dogwood make a dramatic statement when tucked into the planter.

The Best Trees For Large Planters

Some trees do well in large containers throughout the seasons. They include smaller crape myrtles, flowering cherry or crabapples, Japanese maples and bamboo.

Water, Water, Water

Once you install these giant, impressive planters, they need water.

Unless you hire a landscape maintenance company to regularly water the large trees and plants in your containers, they often don't thrive. Even large pots dry out quickly in the summer sun and heat — faster than plants installed in the ground.

The best bet is to hire professionals to keep these large containers irrigated.

In some cases, particularly large commercial sites, irrigation is installed directly up through the bottom of the planter.

Seasonal Solutions For Large Container Planters

In our changing climate here in the DC area, one set of plants won’t work all year in a large container.

Sometimes we treat all of the flowers in these large planters as annuals and rotate them out several times per year, changing with the seasons. We might feature a large palm tree as the main centerpiece in a large pot, surrounded by flowers in the summer.

In the fall we may remove all of the plants and install a small evergreen tree, surrounded by autumn flowers, kale, and ornamental cabbage.

Another attractive idea for large container planting is to feature an ornamental tree as the planter’s centerpiece. The tree remains year-round, and the plants around it change with the seasons.

A Large Pot Problem — And A Creative Solution

Fertilizer-soaked water can stain concrete once it drains out of the bottom of large pots. And it does need to drain — otherwise roots become water-logged and plants die.

One creative solution — cut round holes in the concrete beneath each pot and fill the hole with stones. The water drains down through the stones. No more stains.

Are You Ready To Go Big?

One of the best ways to make an impact on your commercial property is with large-scale containers of attention-getting plants.

Are you ready to impress visitors and customers with the power of giant planters?

We’d love to get you started.

Contact Level Green Landscaping for a free consultation to see how we can enhance and maintain your DC landscape.