Crisp White and Green Selections That Thrive in the Heat

1. The Rule of Three

"Instead of a boxwood or other shrub, you can use containers to anchor a space or garden bed," says landscape designer Carmen Johnston of Bespoke Garden Plans in Thomaston, Georgia. What's the trick to making it work? When choosing your containers, choose three that are the same shape and material — one small, one medium, and one large. She chose 'Cora Cascade Polka Dot' vinca as the base for all the containers. In the second container, she brought in 'White Delight' caladiums and 'Lemon Twist' plectranthus for height. In the largest container, she filled the same plants with 'Kimberly Queen' ferns, 'Peppermint' strap-leaf caladiums, and creeping jennies for warm, summery color. These are low-maintenance choices because, as Johnston says, “they can handle intense heat and full sun.”

2. Garden Type

“We don’t need to add flowers to create a beautiful display. It’s all about the texture and the foliage,” Johnston says of the bouquet of greens that spills out of the aged copper pot on the right. The planting expert always places the tallest fern in the center in the back. He used a shapely ‘Kimberly Queen’ fern for the center, then circled the edge with trailing kangaroo paw ferns, added some more dimension with light-colored ivy and ‘Florida Moonlight’ caladiums, and surrounded it all with delicate maidenhair ferns.

3. Grand Entry

A wide limestone basin allows plants to grow wild and free, serving as a focal point in an entryway. “Instead of doing a ton of small containers, I like to use one large one,” says Johnston. “The scale is key.” For symmetry, start with a large trailing fern in the middle, and balance the sides with lighter shades of green that add texture and interest. She chose a ‘Kimberly Queen’ fern to serve as the centerpiece because it provides height, then surrounded it with smaller caladiums and ivy to soften the edges.

4. The inside scoop

“If you don’t want to garden outside [whether it’s hot or cold], remember that you can still grow beautiful collections inside your home,” advises Johnston, who created this arrangement in a blue-and-white ceramic pot to reflect the surroundings. But don’t let the indoor environment diminish the scale. By choosing a container that is 12 inches or larger in diameter, you can make a bigger impact because your selections will have more room to grow. She used spreading plants like deciduous ferns and silver lace ferns to create depth, and layered in 'Glo-Go' syngonium and Japanese bird's nest fern for added dimension.