South-of-the-Border Mixers
Some tropical plants make fabulous companions in container plantings. These mixers easily star in a container garden or accent other annuals. With tropical roots, these plants don’t survive winter outdoors, but stage a stellar performance during the hottest part of the growing season. Add a few of these beauties to your container gardens.
Purple Fountain Grass plays the role of thriller in a container garden. Burgundy stems stand tall in a container, growing 3 to 4 feet tall. Purple-pink seedheads rise above foliage in early summer and ripen to tan after frost.
Mix purple fountain grass with fillers like orange-flowered annuals (zinnia, dahlia) and purple flowering upright verbena or Persian shield. Use a spiller like Margarita sweet potato vine.
Alternanthera makes a striking filler in a container planting, featuring splashy foliage that offers more than traditional green. Black Knight alternanthera unfurls deep burgundy, nearly black leaves. Grenadine offers a burgundy-pink mix, and Party Time has green leaves with bright red centers.
Mix alternanthera with flowering annuals in complementary colors. Any of these alternantheras would look great paired with purple fountain grass and Margarita sweet potato vine.
Sweet Potato Vine is one of the best spillers
for container gardens. With colorful leaves, these tropical vines form
vibrant waterfalls of foliage. Blackie has deep burgundy-black leaves,
Margarita opens vivid chartreuse foliage, and Tri-Color has gray-green
leaves splashed with pink and white.
Mix sweet potato vine with nearly any annual, tropical, or perennial for
a container garden packed with head-turning looks. Use with cannas and
asparagus fern or purple fountain grass and bonfire begonia. Blackie sweet
potato vine sizzles with pink and purple annuals.
Tropical Mixers
• Purple fountain grass adds winter interest to the garden. Allow plants
to remain in place after frost to dress the winter garden with a mound
of brown sugar-colored stems.
• Pinch out growing tips of alternanthera early in the growing season
to produce branched, bushy plants.
• Give sweet potato vine room to trail—elevate containers for maximum
fall.
