Learn How to Use the Thrill, Fill, and Spill Container Gardening Method

In the spring of 2010, Better Homes and Gardens magazine introduced the "thrill, fill, and spill" method of creating a container garden in one of their issues. Since then, the design has been the mainstay of container gardens everywhere.

At homes, squares, and malls, you are likely to see container gardens on every corner. Think about the container gardens you see all around the neighborhoods and towns. You will see that the design for these container gardens fit the thrill, fill, and spill bill.

This article will explain how the method works and provide plenty of information and suggestions for how you can use it to create your own wonderful container gardens.

The thrill, spill, and thrill container garden method creates an aesthetically visual effect. The design’s roots may lie in a sort of structure popular in the thrill, fill, and fill floral design.

The first step is obvious. Choose plants that will have the same growing needs in the way of light, water, and fertilization. Pick something for the thrill, the fill, and the spill.

Pick something stunning, some floral “eye candy” so to speak, to be your focal point. Cone-shaped evergreens and climbers such as clematis are good choices.

After the eye candy or focal point, concentrate on fill-ins that will complement your choice as the thrill. In this arrangement, Dusty Miller makes a great silvery fill-in that will complement the delicate pink clematis blossom. It grows up to 12 inches tall and gets really bushy. Sometimes two or three different fill plants may be nice, but I think the Dusty Miller will be enough here.

For the spill, choose plants that tend to cascade and spread like vines and groundcovers. For my spill, the little petunia-like blossoms of calibrachoa will grow and cascade down the container. It's sort of romantic, isn’t it?

The charts below give a few ideas for flowering plants to use in container gardening. Choose plants that will need about the same type of care. Have fun and pick what you think would look good together.

My eye candy, or thrill, is a saucy pink clematis growing up a trellis. This vine plant, with its delicate pink flower, needs full sunlight. It is an easy-to-grow vine plant that loves to climb trellises and posts.

Dusty Miller (Senecio cineraria) is a silvery, fern-like plant commonly grown in landscaping and container gardens. It too requires full sunlight. It's easy to grow and very hardy. It bushes out, making it great for the fill of this container garden.

Calibrachoa is the perfect spill for my container garden. These tiny, petunia-like flowers grow quickly when fertilized and will cascade over the planter in an enchanting way.

Thrill, fill, and spill container gardens don’t have to be limited to flowering plants only. Flowers and veggies alike can come together in an awesome thrill, fill, and spill container garden design. Tomato and pepper plants are often used as the thrill while a mixture of herbs and flowers provides the fill. Sweet potato vine is perfect for the spill.

Growing flowers with the thrill, spill, and fill method is widely used. Stroll around the square with me and get inspired to make a container garden. These are all freshly planted and will grow and fill out over the summer. I'll be checking back to see their growth.