Cute up your front porch--Part 2 (Flowers)

Once we had our comfy chairs done, we needed some color and texture. We got it with potted flowers and hanging flowers.

Potted flowers
I love giant pots, but didn't know what to plant in ours to really fill it out. Then I saw a whole article on the subject in my Better Homes and Gardens. According to BHG, there are three elements to a pot like this. You need a thriller, a filler, and a spiller. (Don't you love that?!) For my thriller, I chose these tall, coral geraniums. Aren't they gorgeous? (Next year, I think I'll choose an even taller thriller.) For my filler, I used purple and white petunias, and they are doing their duty! (Note: these are wave petunias, not cascading petunias.) And, can you see my spiller? It's the chartreuse sweet potato plant in the bottom right corner. Once they get going, they'll spill down the pot. Beautiful! (You can also get sweet potato plants in a deep purple color--also gorgeous.)


Hanging flowers
The main thing to know with hanging flowers, is that you need a flower that will cascade. You can buy something already potted, of course (like these charming purple geraniums I got for my birthday).
But often hanging plants are really spendy, so this year I made this hanging petunia pot on my own. Using a basket from last year's hanging plant, I filled it with cascading petunias (not wave petunias). They will continue to grow and cascade as the summer goes on, until you can hardly see the basket. So great!
Now, I have a sunny front porch, so I chose sun-loving flowers for these hanging pots. In truth, my absolute favorite hanging plant is fuchsia. If you have enough shade, get one!

So do you want to see the big reveal?

Remember, we started with this:
And now, we've got this:

Now I just need to hang up my American flags...