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Create Outdoor Mini Gardens with Potted Spring Flowers

It never fails. Spring rolls around and you realize you forgot to plant tulip and daffodils last fall. Never fear! Create outdoor mini gardens with containers of your favorite spring blooms. Place them near your front door or any place you wish you had remembered to plant flowers in the fall.

Multicolored spring tulips potted on the garden lawn

 

Tulips are usually the number one choice for the spring season. They’re available in an array of colors and bloom at various times throughout the season so you can enjoy a showy bloom of colors for months.

Potted spring bulbs by front doorPhoto by Greenhaven Landscapes Inc.

 

colorful tulips in a flower pot

 

When creating your outdoor mini gardens in pots, experiment with flower types and colors. Tulips look great with grape hyacinth, also known as muscari. The varying height of the flowers creates added depth and interest.

Pink tulips and muscari - grape hyacinth - in an outdoor mini garden

 

Of course, planting a single type of flower creates great visual impact too. I have grape hyacinth in my front yard by the boardwalk and love the way it naturally spreads each season. But it looks great in a container too!

Potted grape hyacinth in enamelware bowl

 

Get creative with your outdoor mini gardens and mix a few spring bulbs together. Hyacinth and tulips are always a great combination. Hyacinth have a wonderful fragrance so if you can place them near an open window, you’ll be able to enjoy their sweet scent from inside the house.

TIP: Purple hyacinths have a stronger scent than other colors of hyacinths.

Tulips and hyacinth in flower pots outdoor.

 

Mini daffodils are another spring flower that pairs well with others in containers and in the garden. They add height to an arrangement of companion plants like pansies, primrose, and English daisies.

Spring flowers planted in galvanized tub

 

How sweet is this arrangement of potted spring flowers? This would look great on your front porch or back deck. Anywhere that you spend time outdoors so you can enjoy it.

Potted yellow spring flowers - daffodils, pansies

 

Violas are cold-weather flowers that you can set outside in early spring. They have a tendency to wilt in heat so many folks prefer to plant them in pots. They’re easily moved to a shadier, cooler location in the yard when summer is in full blast.

Yellow and purple pansies in outdoor mini gardens

 

As a kid, I always loved the sweet little faces of violets and pansies. It was always such a delight seeing violets blooming wild in fields. I’d pick bunches of them for my mom. So how do you know if you’re looking at a violet or pansy which are from the same genus? Pansies have four petals facing up and one facing down. Violets, on the other hand, have three petals facing up and two facing down.

beautiful violas or johnny jump-ups in the garden

 

Saxifrage is another charming flower that looks adorable potted up as mini gardens. It blooms from March through April and is available in various colors. Saxifrage also makes a great ground cover, too.

White saxifrage flowers in pots

 

Don’t forget about snowdrop anemones! Here, they’re tucked into a little white crate. Just like saxifrage, it makes a great ground cover that rewards you with dainty, nodding blooms in spring.

White snowdrop anemone  in weathered crate

 

In addition to pots and crates, consider planting spring flowers like English daisies in unique containers like this enamel welcome basket you can hang on a door or fence post.

Green basket with welcome and pink English daisies

 

There’s so much you can do to create mini outdoor gardens during the spring season. If you don’t want to pot bulbs and flowers on your own, check out your local garden center. Many have potted blooms ready to go!

 

3 Comments

  1. I always just waited till it was time to switch out my porch evergreens to change things up till spring actually arrived but now I’m thinking I should brave a bit of cold and try to move things out and replace with some cooler temp bulbs or perennials….hmmm these are just so pretty! The dark purple with whites and magenta colors are my favorite. Hyacinths smell so good! Wish they lasted longer.

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