Plants in pots are easy to move. Brighten a dark corner with pots of white, pink or yellowing flowering shade lovers such as impatiens and Helichrysum. Some plants with a short blooming period, such as lilies or foxglove, look magnificent in containers and grow well in those temporary quarters. Transplant them to the garden when they’re finished blooming. As the seasons change, you can easily repot and replant containers to freshen your garden displays. Of course, if you are about to move to a new home, your container garden can come right along with you.

Potted plants and garden planters create interest. Grouped in strategic places, they can break the monotony of a terrace or a patio and create an ambient scene. Build a simple theme garden around a color, texture or an idea. A collection of yellow and blue bloomers, such as pansies and heliotrope, makes a cheerful display. Pots of Sedum and Sempervivum bring a desert them to your patio, balcony or garden.

Rearrange plantings to suit the season, your mood or blossoms as they mature and change color. Enjoy planters full of violets and narcissus in spring, petunias and dusty-miller in summer and Coleus and Kale in fall. Create new planters to dress up your patio or deck for a party or special event. Container gardening doesn’t need to stop in the winter plant winter-hardy heathers for colorful displays in cold weather.

Contain rampant growers that are too invasive to let loose in the garden bamboo and mints are great examples of plants that do well in containers, but will take over an in-ground garden. Plant these and other vigorous growers in garden planter, then plant the pot in the ground with the lip of the pot even with the soil surface.

Garden planters set the stage in outdoor rooms and may even steal the show. Group sun-loving plants around a large houseplant thats summering outdoors. A jumble of various pots stacked on stands and clustered loosely lends a pleasant casual look. Containers aligned with precision and planted with trim specimens such as rosemary standards or ivy topiaries create instant formality. A trio of large pots makes a garden appear more settle, they suggest the accumulation of years of growth.

Finally, plants that require a longer growing season can be started indoors to bloom outside in summer. Many frost-sensitive plants make wonderful houseplants in winter and can spend the summer on your patio or deck.