I like to compare the expertise and also the art involved in setting up a planter to that of flower arranging. Most of us have at sometime placed a handful flowers in a vase and enjoyed the results. A few of us have taken a little more time and arranged the flowers so that they show themselves off to best advantage. A smaller number of us really go to town on flower arranging and are always hunting for new flowers or foliage and unusual vases and vessels. There is a lesson that should be learned from your "go-ahead" flower arrangers, and I think gardeners could do worse than make use of some of their energy and ideas. But the flower arrangers have a simple time when compared with the planter gardener. They've got the advantage of having the ability to place their arrangements out of the way of strong winds, baking sun and drenching rain. Florists can always work happily with the knowledge that what they arrange will stay basically identical for the life of the display.
The planter gardener - with a few exceptions - has to have a vision of how a display will look several months on, when the planting matures. The few small plants planted at the start of the season are going to grow and by the end of the summer there will be a container burgeoning with flowers and leaves.
In the meantime, you will have had to water, feed, prune and pinch out and also do battle with the pests and diseases that do their best to thwart your efforts' It is not off-putting; it is gardening.
Colour
Plants in pots are in intimate contact with each other and their area of display is confined. So, in container plantings, the delicate colour details and mixtures which may easily become lost in any border setting are there to be appreciated, right before you.
If you are unsure about how to make use of colour in your planters, get inspiration from lifestyle and interior magazines and translate what you find there into ideas for plant and container colours. And take a look at the following colour combinations that I find work fine. I find white is extremely versatile: with green it achieves a unique freshness;
Combined with yellow and green it really is cool and lively; with pinks and blues it has a romantic feel; also it really spark off bright colours such as oranges and reds.
Purple works in many combinations: with grey and pink its sophisticated; with yellow more light-hearted; with brown it is sombre but classy; with crimson it will probably appear regal; with orange, jazzy; and with white, cool. Blue as a flower colour is in short supply, however any element of blue in a planting is eye-catching. Reds, yellows, and oranges are perfect for colourful displays; with magenta and violet they create vivacious mixes.