I love container gardening! Love it. I garden both in the ground and in containers at home, I can't keep from filling pretty much everything with soil and something growing.

I wanted to post this because not every pot looks good with every plant, some look truly wonderful together, and some just awful. I design for clients very differently than I treat my own container garden. I choose containers for clients that go with the architecture, the plants, and so forth.

In my own garden, however, the containers can be almost anything - kitty litter buckets with holes drilled in the bottom, nursery liners, and a random assortment of impulse purchases and gifts.

I think that the most important thing when putting together a container garden is deciding what you are showcasing; the plant or the pot?

Which plant looks good in a particular pot can be surprising. I have found that it is important to see them together if the purchase is an important one. If you're like me, and buy plants and pots on impulse, don't sweat it. But, if the container and the plant will be important focal pieces of your design, then it is worth it to take either the pot (or a small sample with the same finish) or the plants that will be used (at least a bouquet of the leaves and a good imagination) around with you when shopping.