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Faux white Hellebores mixed with live plants in winter container

Faux and Fabulous: Stylish Tips for Winter Containers

By Cindy Funes | December 15, 2024

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Have you ever watched the game show Is It Cake? Contestants craft cakes that look exactly like everyday objects, trying to fool celebrity judges into thinking they’re the real deal. It’s a whimsical concept that playfully questions our perception of reality. I like to play a similar game in my container planting designs…

Yellow flowers covered in frost

Overwintering Tender Plants: Tips for Keeping Your Tropicals Cozy

By Cindy Funes | November 22, 2024

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE As temperatures drop this time of year, my phone buzzes nonstop with texts and calls from friends wondering how to protect their beloved tropicals-like hibiscus, citrus trees, and aeoniums-from the chill of winter. It all boils down to one word: overwintering. Overwintering is about giving your plants the care and protection they need…

Fall Foliage: The Secret to Stunning Container Gardens

By Cindy Funes | October 19, 2024

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE One big reason fall is a favorite season is the focus on foliage. Yes, those classic wine purples, burnt oranges, and golds that people travel to see. But as a container gardener, I appreciate foliage not just for its color, but as a design element for its texture and form. Just like layering…

Summer Garden Hack: The Self-Watering Planter

By Cindy Funes | August 4, 2024

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Gardening enthusiasts and newbies alike can agree on one thing: maintaining healthy and thriving container plants during the summer can be both rewarding and challenging because many gardeners struggle with either underwatering or overwatering their planters. One innovative solution that has gained popularity in recent years is the self-watering planter. These planters significantly…

Give Your Houseplants a Summer Break Outdoors

By Cindy Funes | June 25, 2024

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Houseplants Outdoors?  You bet!  Summer offers the perfect opportunity to give your favorite houseplants a rejuvenating vacation while simultaneously creating a beautiful outdoor oasis. By moving these indoor favorites outside, they can easily transform into stunning shade container beauties. This shift allows you to think beyond traditional seasonal choices and create a lush,…

The Art of Selection: Crafting a Stunning Container Garden with the Right Plants

By Cindy Funes | May 16, 2024

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE As garden centers burst at the seams with an array of plants in all sorts of pretty colors and interesting textures, the task of plant selection can at times seem daunting. But, following a few nifty guidelines and simply decoding the plant tag will help you select plants that will give you success…

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Designing a Container Garden for Sensory Delight

By Cindy Funes | April 17, 2024

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Container gardens offer a fantastic opportunity to craft a lasting experience that engages, sight, smell, touch, even taste, right outside your door whether it’s at your front entry, balcony or patio.  Plus, sensory stimulation enhances our well-being. At this point in my career, incorporating the five senses into my container garden designs and…

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March Makeover: Tips for Refreshing Your Spring Containers

By Cindy Funes | March 12, 2024

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE March can be such a tease, luring us with its transition from winter to spring and often bringing about unpredictable weather changes. It can be a mix of warm spells and sudden cold snaps. During this period, our container plantings might start looking a bit dreary. So how do you transition your container…

Growing Citrus in the Pacific Northwest

By Paulina Ung | January 27, 2023

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Citrus, the fragrant, fruit-bearing beauty Citrus has a special place in my heart. When most people think of citrus, they think of its fruit but some citrus is grown for its fragrant leaves and flowers. It’s all of this and more for me. My parents have been taking care of kumquat trees since…

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Designing a Winter Planter with Style

By Cindy Funes | December 19, 2022

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Get Creative and Stylize Your Winter Container Planting this Holiday Season I recently partook in a “Winter Style-It Container Challenge” sponsored by Monrovia and Digging In Gathering. The structure of the competition was to have a small group of container gardeners from various regions across the country design a winter planter using Monrovia’s…

Bring a Sunny Disposition to Your Container Plantings

By Cindy Funes | April 29, 2022

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE There’s just something about yellow Last month, I shared that tete a tetes signify the arrival of spring for me. I recently found myself thinking about what is it about tete a tetes that makes me feel so cheerful and happy.  Is it something as simple as their color? Yellow symbolizes happiness. One…

Narcissus ‘Tête `a Tête’ – The First Sign of Spring

By Cindy Funes | March 30, 2022

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Narcissus ‘Tête `a Tête’ nodding to a new season’s arrival Because of the Narcissus ‘Tête `a Tête’, there is literally no need for a calendar to signify spring.  One of the first signs of the new season, it offers up sweet fragrance, bright color and cheer. ‘Tête `a Tête’ is a French term,…

Sowing Sweet Peas for Spring Container Charm and Beauty

By Cindy Funes | February 14, 2022

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE It’s time to sow those plans for spring! Seed racks begin rolling into the garden centers this time of year, and sweet pea seeds will be one of the many offerings. The sweet pea, Lathyrus odoratus, is a flowering plant that’s native to parts of the Mediterranean, but grown all over the world…

Simple Ideas to Bring Festivity and Warmth to your Winter Container Plantings

By Cindy Funes | December 13, 2021

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Winter is around the corner! I know this because daylight savings has ended, dogwood branches are bare, rose hips are visible, and I’ve shifted my drink of choice from a sweet chai latte to a Tiger Spice Chai latte.  These things – seeing the bare branches, noticing gorgeous winter colors, and walking past…

10 Tips For Planting Your Fall Containers

By Cindy Funes | September 29, 2021

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Fall reminds us that change can be beautiful. While fall brings opportunity for fresh starts, new beginnings and rejuvenation, it’s always a little hard to say goodbye to summer. For those of us in the Pacific Northwest, gone are the long days of sunlight, and host of outdoor activities, dining and socializing. It’s…

Garden-to-Glass: Container Gardens to Spice Up Your Summertime Beverage

By Cindy Funes | August 12, 2021

I recently returned from a blissful long weekend boating on the Columbia River with dear friends.  One is a budding container gardener, the other (wrongly!) claims to be incapable of putting together any sort of container planting.  I took the opportunity to host an informal Q&A on the topic. Both wanted to know more about…

Hot Summer Tips for Water-Wise Container Gardening

By Cindy Funes | July 10, 2021

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE The heat has arrived and forecasters throughout the nation are telling most of us that it’s going to be an unusually warm and dry summer. This can be stressful not only for us, but for the container plantings we care for.  How do we get the best from our container gardens – which…

Repotting Your Indoor Plants

By Tina Dixon | May 27, 2021

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Does your baby need new shoes?  Are your plant’s roots cramped into tight quarters?  It might be time to move your plant into a bigger pot.  Before you get started, you’ll want to make sure it needs more space. The best time to assess your plant’s repotting needs is in spring, as this…

Soil: The Underrated Secret Sauce

By Cindy Funes | April 23, 2021

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Soil is the secret sauce to beautiful container plantings that’s often not considered enough. Choosing the right soil is the foundation to any successful container planting. The quality of your potting soil is the key to ensuring that you have happy, healthy plants which will receive the nutrients they need to grow.  If…

Tips for Choosing Your Next Garden Container

By Cindy Funes | March 18, 2021

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Ready to Purchase a Container? March is a wonderful month to shop for outdoor containers. Retailers typically have received new arrivals, and offer a  wide selection. Many run beginning-of-the-season sales to help them move product from previous seasons, making for some great value purchasing.  Despite this, in March they aren’t crazy busy with…

Pruning Techniques

Let’s Talk Pruning!

By Cindy Funes | February 26, 2021

  CONTAINEDBRILLIANCE Container Garden Pruning 101 BRRR! It’s cold outside. How are you spending your time during these cold, dark, February days? A fair amount of my time has been spent indoors dreaming up future container plantings for spring but I’ve also been kicking around my yard, lightly pruning my Diane Witch Hazel, bringing in…