Get A Fixer Upper-Inspired Planter With A Gardening Rule Joanna Gaines Lives By

Between her work on the HGTV classic Fixer Upper and the Magnolia Network, Joanna Gaines has had years of experience not just with fixing up houses, but also with improving landscapes and gardens and helping homeowners with adding more curb appeal. This includes creating beautiful container gardens and planters that add a final touch to the home. While picking elegant containers like garden urns helps, the real trick lies in what you plant in them. As with many container garden lovers, Gaines notes in Magnolia Journal that she adores the classic container garden formula of using fillers, thrillers, and spillers.

Joanna Gaines is far from the only fan of this strategy, which involves combining a few different plants with different growth habits to create dynamic and aesthetic planters. A thriller plant is generally tall and dramatic, while a filler, as the name suggests, spreads and fills out the planter. Spillers are those lovely plants that trail over the edge of the container. This formula has been in use for decades now, but it never goes out of style. Whatever season or zone you're in, you can use it to turn your planters into works of art. You can also copy specific container recipes Gaines has used for her own planters. 

Joanna Gaines has mentioned in Magnolia Journal that during the fall, she likes to use coleus as a filler, potato vine (Ipomoea pandurata) as a spiller, and plants like coneflower (Echinacea spp.) as thrillers. Another favorite spiller of Gaines's is Swedish ivy (Coleus forsteri 'Marginatus'). While these might not all be perfect autumn options for your zone, they're ideal for that season at Gaines's home in Waco, Texas, which is in USDA hardiness zone 8b. And this combination doesn't have to be a one-to-one ratio. You can have multiple fillers and even a mix of plants for thrillers if you get the balance right.

Of course, ensuring that her planters follow the spiller, thriller, and filler recipe isn't the only thing Gaines keeps in mind when putting together the perfect container garden. She also considers what color palette she plans to use and how the textures of the different plants will go together. It's also essential to pick plants that thrive with similar amounts of moisture and sunlight if you want them to be able to share a container. Be sure to consider the size of your container and the size of your plants as well. Use smaller plants for small containers so they don't outgrow their space. There's plenty of room to play while designing planters, so feel free to get creative.