Summer Garden Planting Inspiration

Summer is here, although the weather hasn’t been kind to gardeners. With so much rain and little sunshine it’s been trickier to get outside and get gardening. But it’s easier to maintain a few key feature planters than planted beds. Plus, the texture of our cast stone makes it harder for slugs to navigate than glazed pots. Here are our tips on adding some beautiful containers to brighten up your garden this soggy summer (and all year round)

Small Urns To Brighten Up Walls and Corners

Small urns, often called vases or tazzas, are perfect for brightening up garden walls and unloved corners. These wide rimmed containers maximise the planting room. Attach them to gate posts or along low patio walls to create more opportunities to add seasonal flowering plants.

An elegant, small tazza, perfect for extra planting along a garden wall.

We create a wide range of styles, so why not experiment? You can indulge your romantic side with a Regency/Bridgerton inspired garden design, with ornate urns brimming with blousy blooms. Or you can opt for more classical style with pretty planters filled with more robust annuals or perennials for a low maintenance pop of colour.

An elegant small basket weave, style planter to allow planting along a wall finished with coping stones.

You would be surprised how adding even a small planter can make a big difference to your garden.  A simple, contemporary trough, overflowing with a hardy perennial like Erigeron, brightens up those underused spaces. Transform forgotten corners and over looked spots with a few flowers. You can easily add colour all year round, by popping some bulbs into your containers or topping them with cyclamen as the autumn creeps in.

A simple trough overflowing with Erigeron.

Pretty Pedestals

If you want your container displays to make a bold statement, raise them up on pedestals. This makes a feature of your planter or urn directly in eye line. Choose large urns with a wide lip to pack more plants in. Use a mixture of trailing and upright plants to add texture and drama.

Our bestselling Kew planter and pedestal, planted with summer annuals.

A raised planter creates a contrast with the rest of your garden design. Make a stand-out feature between Box hedging or formal paving with a distinctive urn and pedestal combination. Pedestals have a smaller footprint than a large planter too, allowing you to top them with a wide diameter urn to maximise room for your floral displays. This helps to make the most of your space.

A pretty, decorative urn and pedestal in a formal garden design.

Raised urns are also great for gardeners who struggle with mobility. There is less need for bending and weeding than traditional flower beds. The textured surface of our cast stone is less appealing to slugs to snails, which is a bonus. Plus, the added height of a pedestal makes it harder for these pests to reach your plants. It’s a positive way to reduce slug and snail damage without using slug pellets and increase flowering potential!

A traditional urn and pedestal combination to add planting space on a classic patio, whilst keeping your plants away from slugs.

Matching Pairs

Matching planters are a perfect way to create a smart and welcoming entrance for your home or garden. Add a pair of ornamental trees or standard roses to flank your doorway or garden path, to guide visitors in the right direction. Troughs and planters also soften your brickwork or boundary with appealing blooms, sweet fragrance or textured greenery. You can mix practicality and style, using kitchen herbs such as Bay trees or shaped Rosemary to decorate your planters and flavour your cooking.

A pair of large, contemporary Kent Bowls potted with matching trees to create welcoming entrance.

Whether you live in a country cottage, heritage Tudor house or a modern new build, we have a range of styles and sizes to suit your property.  We can even colour match our stone urns, planters and troughs to compliment your window surrounds and stonework features. Just ask our experienced team for more info.

A pair of Gothic Jardinières to compliment a Tudor doorway with matching Bay trees.

Be creative with paired planters. Dot them around your flower beds or design a set spacing plan with stone planters to punctuate steps, gateways and paths. These planters were made bespoke for Kensington Palace in the Sunken Garden. They provide a constant feature with evergreen topiary whilst the vast beds around them bloom throughout the seasons.

A pair of contemporary planters made bespoke for Kensington Palace Gardens.

Ornately Unique!

Why not switch things up and make your planter the main event? Opt for stylised evergreens in place of flowers to show off ornate feature pots. Make them the centerpiece, raised on lion feet on patios, between planted beds and on raised terraces. Our handmade urns and jardinières will create a beautiful garden feature all year round.

An ornate jardinière creates a gorgeous garden feature all year round.

Lidded urns, showcased on smart pedestals takes this design style a step further. This is a feature to shine all year round. The cast stone surface of our classical urns will twinkle with frost, brightening up the bleak winter. They also provide contrast between blooming shrubs and bright borders. A distinctive lidded urn also stands out between formal hedging as a cohesive focal point.

A lidded Longleat urn and pedestal makes a classical garden design sing.

Handmade For Over 70 Years

Whatever style or size garden urn or planter you choose, we will make it my hand, just as we have for over seventy years. Our master craftspeople use hand tools, never machinery, in our Kent workshop. This allows us to produce the fine details that our customers love.  Visit our gardens and see for yourself and gain some garden inspiration too! We can undertake bespoke or restoration work on request, please just ask.

Chilstone staff make all our urns and planters by hand.