Whether rustic or refined, edible or ornamental, the direction of a home’s container plantings is often as unique and personal as the home itself. And with an abundance of plants to choose from, the possibilities for container designs are endless… which can make narrowing a design style down the biggest challenge of all!
In fact, this was the challenge confronting Steph Green, the visionary designer behind Contained Creations, when she began envisioning the dazzling container plant combinations for the 2025 Southern Living Idea House in her home state of Virginia. With so many design styles to choose from, what would be the best way to reflect the “modern homestead” vision at the heart of a Virginia home?
Steph’s container design process began as it always does, with the home’s geography—its USDA Zone, sun exposure, and surrounding environment. She then considered the style of the house itself, as well as legacy trees, shrubs, and existing hardscaping. These factors helped Steph select plants that will not only thrive in containers but will suit the home’s existing landscape, character, and environmental conditions for years to come.
Working with planters selected by the project’s designer, Charlotte Moss & Co., and guidance from landscape architect Waterstreet Studio, Steph crafted eye-catching container combos in three distinct styles that were expertly mixed and matched across the property.
RUSTIC
Evoking the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains, the Idea House front door is flanked by two grand, rustic planters crafted from wood logs and bark. For a natural, woodland-inspired design like this one, it’s best to choose a loose-form shrub with strong branches and deep emerald foliage. October Magic® Ivory™ Camellia is perfect for the job: with its impressive scale, glossy evergreen leaves, and ruffled, carnation-like white blooms in fall, it brings a commanding presence that pairs beautifully with the rugged container. Ferns echo the look of a forest floor in this design, while white-blooming annuals like euphorbia add delicate contrast and a touch of brightness to the mix.
FORMAL
To echo the classical architectural details of the Virginia Idea House, the design team chose a more formal container style for the home’s outdoor dining area. These elegant terra cotta urns showcase key sculptural features to keep an eye out for if you enjoy formal design, including a delineated foot, fluting at the top, and a subtle basket weave. The plants themselves have a near-symmetrical design often seen in formal container designs. Mini Touch™ Holly is a dense, fine-textured evergreen that dazzles in pruned balls and topiaries. Greek thyme grown around it is a hat-tip to the outdoor eating area; it also ties this planter to nearby edible plantings. In the second planter, a towering Oakland® Holly brings distinction and height to the urn arrangement. Blooming Little Lucky™ White Lantana and scaevola add attractive flowers, while sage and thyme carry on the outdoor room’s edible themes.
EDIBLE
Edible gardens are elevated from tasty snack to eye-catching delight when they’re treated like ornamentals in container designs. At the Virginia Idea House, edible favorites such as DownHome Harvest® Bless Your Heart® Blueberry, Little Miss Figgy® Dwarf Fig, and ‘Osage’ Thornless Blackberry are artfully staged in elegant containers, paired alongside blooms like Diamond Spire® Gardenia and REALFLOR® ‘Real Charmer’ Leucanthemum. These neighboring blooms not only add fullness and seasonal color but also attract pollinators to help boost fruit production. The result is a container display that’s both beautiful and bountiful.
Steph’s Pro Tips for Mixing Container Styles:
Carry Through Consistency with Plants:
Repeat key elements like foliage color, plant varieties, or bloom hues. At the 2025 Southern Living Idea House, deep emerald green foliage served as a unifying thread, seen in plants like Oakland™ Holly, Mini Touch™ Holly, and even the edible ‘Little Miss Figgy’ Dwarf Fig. Throughout the seasons, white blooms also provide a consistent visual theme, from the crisp cool weather flowers of October Magic® Ivory™ Camellia to warm season annuals like browallia, euphorbia, and scaevola.
Pick Planters that Complement:
Your planters don’t have to be matchy-matchy. After all, where’s the fun in that? But echoing key design elements among your chosen vessels, whether material (such as stone, terra cotta, or metal), size, or color, can help create a more cohesive look and feel.
Use Seasonal Swaps the Smart Way:
Design containers with a mix of long-term anchor shrubs and seasonal accents. Evergreen perennials or woody shrubs will shine year-round in your containers, while seasonal annuals or edibles can be swapped out to reflect the time of year without redoing the whole display.
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