31 Outdoor Planter Ideas That Will Brighten Your Porch or Patio

Looking for beautiful flower pot ideas to brighten up your porch or patio? Here are 31 real-life planter ideas—from classic container gardens to creative flower pots—that will inspire your next summer planting. I love walking around my neighborhood to see how people use color, texture, and plant combinations in their outdoor planters. Whether you're updating your front porch planters or searching for the perfect DIY flower pot arrangement, you'll find plenty of inspiration right here.

planter with red geraniums, purple petunias, yelliow million bells and trailing bright green sweet potato vine. All in a black urn flower pot.

I'm sharing these with you in the hope that you will find an idea or two that works for you and your home. Are you also looking for ideas for specific locations? I've written about planters in front of the garage and window box ideas too!

Planter Ideas

Here is my front porch planter, all grown up! I say that because this is the planter I showed you when I did the How to Plant a Flower Pot tutorial. I just love having flowering planters with constant blooming flowers at my front door!

Tall planter with pink geraniums, purple petunias and lime sweet potato vine. The planter has a tall rust colored decorative stake in it.

Enjoy these beautiful planters! Most of these planters are mine or my neighbors. I talked to the owners of these planters, and they shared their main tips to keep them healthy and beautiful. I share those tips at the bottom of the post.

Many planters follow the thrillers, fillers, and spillers recipe. I'll quickly review what each term means.

black and white painted flower pot with red geraniums, purple and white petunias and tall purple fountain grass.

Some Theory behind Beautiful Planters

Did you know most planters follow a planting guideline by having thrillers, fillers, and spillers? I'll explain below, and you can look at the rest of the planters to see if they all followed the rules.

red geraniums in black and white painted pot

Thrillers

Thrillers are the first part of the traditional planter plant formula. Those are usually the taller plants. Think of the tall spikey plant you often see in the middle or towards the back of the planter. Sometimes a plant is a thriller because it is the center of attention due to its color, or something unusual. In the center of the coleus plants (with its colorful leaves)is the taller thriller plant. This planter, based on what is in it, is placed in a shaded area.

Just an FYI, this window box is in a shady area and contains shade plants. (If you want shade garden ideas for your yard, check out this post - 31 shade garden plants/ideas.)

shade window planter with a big thriller plant in the center

Fillers

The filler normally fills the planter with flowers. I often use geraniums, marigolds, or mounding varieties of petunias and alyssum. The picture below is a good example of red geraniums used as fillers.

Red geraniums and draping green plants in a window box

Spillers

It's the spillers I personally love. The plants that drape over and down the planter. I have often used sweet potato plants (love the colorful foliage), and Wave petunias (specifically wave), and I also like and look for alyssum that spills over the planter. Read the tags in the plants you are looking at to see if they grow in a more mounded compact form (fillers) or if they drape and spill over the side of the container. Below, the sweet potato vine is in the center-right of this planter. The pretty lime green color makes the flower colors pop!

colorful planter with pink geraniums, a spiky grass in the middle and sweet potato vine leaves spilling over the side.

A Succulent Garden in a Birdbath

The container itself can sometimes be the fun part! This is one of my container gardens. It's a succulent garden in a vintage-looking birdbath. Take a look at my DIY for My Succulent Birdbath. I share exactly how I put this birdbath together as a planter.

cement birdbath as a succulent container garden

Here is a pretty close-up of this succulent garden in the morning sun.

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close up of succulent garden in a birdbath.

Outdoor Flower Pot Ideas

If I could hand out awards, I would give the Best Planter Patio award to my neighbor. She always has beautiful flower pot ideas and arrangements.

terra cotta planter with red petunias, and lime green sweet potato vine

Diane does such a good job of choosing interesting plant pots and interesting flowering plants. Plus, many combinations of traditional patio plants always do well. Sometimes it is better to use what you know works, rather than always trying to find the new 'thing' or combination.

You need to look closer to see how pretty the petunias and sweet potato vine look. The green leafy plant on the left is a type of sweet potato plant.

A closeup of a beautiful summer flower planter with red petunias and lime green sweet potato vine.

The taller plant in the front container looks like the herb rosemary. Don't be afraid to mix herbs into your container gardens!

One planter with purple petunias and lavender. The second planter with red petunias and sweet potato vines

Perennials on your Patio/Deck

Technically, this is not a planter, but I love how this clematis (a perennial) was planted in the little spot where the patio post is set. I need to add flowering perennials to my outdoor patio/deck areas. It's a much wiser financial investment than annuals.

A purple clematis growing up a post on a back porch.

Have a birdhouse and need a place to put it? I love putting something into my pots to give additional height to my planters. My frustration has been the poles tend to lean. I've found this pole stabilizer and may order a few to solve that problem.

Often planters are used in the backyard to add some pretty color to that outdoor space. Concrete patios are often boring in themselves but such a nice neutral backdrop to patio planters.

Adding height and color

Often, planters hug the ground around homes. Move them out into your yard with tall accent pieces like this birdhouse. It adds some visual interest, height, and color to areas with low-growing plants.

Red geraniums in a planter with a birdhouse on a tall stake.

Here is another area where perennial plantings are used to showcase a planter. The grasses really make the colors of the flowering plants and the plant pot pop.

Closeup of a red geranium container garden.

I LOVE using red geraniums in my container gardens—and many of my neighbors do, too! I also love adding height by putting in a pretty container garden stake in my flower pots.

Pretend the hibiscus below is blooming. My timing was never good when I went over to check! I do love the hibiscus and ivy combination. Most people buy a hibiscus plant in the spring and don't decorate the planter! Keep this one in mind.

Planter with yellow marigolds, draping ivy and a hibiscus plant.

Tabletop flower planters are also wonderful for a splash of color. Look at the one below!

small planter with yellow and red flowers on an outdoor table

And, the front door. Red geraniums always look great!

big fern in a container garden behind red geraniums in a planter

Patio Planter Ideas

My neighbor and I often discussed our summer planter plans. Putting flower planters on our back patios was fun to plan too!

Red, purple flowers in a container with purple fountain gras

The planter below contains red geraniums, purple petunias, yellow million bells, and purple fountain grass.

Beautiful planter with red geraniums, purple petunias and yellow million bells flowers.

These patio planter ideas are beautiful! I know my neighbor makes all of her own planters because I've often shopped for flowering plants and other appropriate patio plants with her.

Monochromatic planter with flowers that are shades of purple and white

Below is her super cute front door planter.

Planter at front door with red geranium, yellow and purple million bells and purple fountain grass

If you haven't noticed, all of these outdoor flower pot arrangements have a little piece of 'decor' in them. Pretty glass poles, metal flowers, and other cute items just finish off the look of the planter. A little container garden tip: These extra decor items are especially pretty when the planter is newly planted and the plants haven't been filled in yet. One of her favorite planters is the classical urn-type planters.

Potted plant arrangement ideas

One of my favorite "Welcome" planters. I love seeing pretty planters by a walkway. They add a little splash of elegance! I love the little ½ barrel planter container.

A welcome sign over a half barrel containing red and purple flowers and green leafy plant

I know it was purchased like this, but the planter works in its location. Plus, it's pretty—and right in the scorching sun. So, I'm impressed it keeps looking this good!

Window Boxes - another outdoor planter option.

Here is the window box I showed being planted in a previous post. Isn't it pretty and full now? Ingrid shared her secrets for successful window boxes in this Window Box Planter Tips post. She is the only person I know who grows her petunias from seed!

hit pink geraniums and green sweet potato plant in a window box

Look at the pretty color it adds to the house!

house with window boxes with colorful plantings

How smart to have the builder add window boxes when the house was being built!

Below are my favorite windowboxes! I'm glad I live near them.

red geraniums with spike grases and green foilage in a window box

Don't forget we saw the shade-tolerant window boxes a few planters ago.

I have a few more to show you! I just love looking through my flower pictures in the winter. It helps cheer me up then. This is a simple petunia arrangement, but the trellis adds some height and visual interest. I'm planning on doing something similar, but I am thinking about having a climbing plant in the middle. This type of trellis is not expensive, especially for how much visual interest it gives!

different colored petunias and million bells in a urn style planter

This is so pretty because of its simplicity. Plus, I like the little ceramic frog :)!

Petunia planter with pink and various purple petunias.

Are you looking for tips and hints on putting together beautiful flower planters? As I was taking pictures, I chatted with these green-thumbed people. Are you surprised I was chatting? Well, you shouldn't be : ).

Seasonal front door planters.

Planting containers can be placed at your front door to increase curb appeal and welcome guests every season. Below are summer, fall, and winter (Christmas planters) planters. They add a little interest and color to your front porch area.

Flower planter with multiple colors of geraniums and accented with a plant with small purple flowers. — Seasonal

My favorite fall outdoor planters

Looking for fall outdoor planter ideas?
Fall planter ideas - reusing your grasses.
Fall Planter Ideas on a Budget.

fall planter with tall grass, pumpkin, and mums.

Let me show you my fall container garden from last year. I painted this container, and if you want to see how to make your own black and white planters, click on the colored link. It was fun to do, and it has held up great! I love it when the grasses start drying in the fall (the thriller grass is purple fountain grass). And who doesn't love adding pumpkins, gourds, and mums to fall containers?

black and white planter with purple mum and a pumpkin

Here is one more fall container that I recently did.

I'm going to show you one more! We have to get a winter/Christmas planter into this post, right?

Christmas Planters

A christmas planter with pine branches and red ornaments. — Love the planters! Simple, clean, and all about Christmas!

I usually put lights on my holiday planters. It really helps make the long dark nights so much more cheerful!

FAQ's

What is a good type of fertilizer to use?

The gardeners I asked all used Miracle Grow, specifically Bloom Miracle Grow, to make the flowers bloom faster and more frequently. These planters are all in Wisconsin, where the summers are short. So, watering weekly with diluted fertilizer is a great idea.

How often should a planter be watered?

That is a long, in-depth question. Here is a post dedicated to answering this question in lots of detail: How to water your plants.

What is the best way to trim petunias?

Lots of details and images in this post. How to deadhead petunias.

If you are a gardener, can I suggest you take a look at my recommendations for essential gardening tools and accessories. You will find some helpful suggestions there!

How to Take Care of your Plants

Below are some posts to help you take care of your planters. Watering and deadheading are so important to keeping your outdoor planters looking beautiful.

More outdoor planter | container garden ideas

Looking for some more ideas? These are some of my most popular container gardening posts! Many are repeats of the links in this post by request I've added them here.

Originally published March 13, 2016. Updated for images and clarity.

Mistie Babin

April 18, 2019 at 10:51 pm

Great tips! I have one for you that works wonderers! In fact I did this after my fil helped me move my Chaste tree. He helped me dig up the football and managed to cut it to maybe a 5-10 gallon size, I/2 of what it was. Then drove it down the highway at 55! When it got to our new house it looked dead. I immediately got it in the ground, but the next day every leaf was brown, by the third day they fell off. Within two weeks of replanting it had new green leafs and it even bloomed that year. I devised my own method of using a diaper in the planter trick. I bought the biggest size dollar general had, two small packs and filled every single diaper up with as much water as it would hold. Then after placing about 4-6 cubic yards of soil I’d tear the diapers open and cover the soil, then lightly rake it in. Then I balled up up newspaper and made another layer. Then more soil, then more diapers then more newspaper and finished with soil. I finished it up with torn cardboard as a weed barrier, tearing the strips to fit and mulched. After mulching I used miracle grow quick start. And then watered once a day. For about 10 days. LIGHTLY. The diapers don’t go away. Once the water has been depleted from the goop it fills up with whatever water fertilizer mix you use. Slowly nourishing your plants. It saves big bucks all year! The chaste tree has grown so much more than it did at our previous house where I didn’t do this. I wouldn’t put the diaper goop in a regular hole in the ground either. I made a raised bed for the chaste tree so it stays contained with the soil. It is perfect for this and planters too. I live in south Louisiana where temps in August reach the hundreds and more years than not we are wearing shorts at Christmas. It has worked beautifully every time I’ve done it and works tremendously better than just using the whole diaper. As for the cardboard trick it was what I had on hand and mostly clay soil with only about 2-3” of good soil. ( my parents God bless them aren’t gardeners ) Since we bought the house after losing ours in the Louisiana August 2016 flood I haven’t had to pull but a few weeds and that’s been this year. The cardboard is breaking down and amending my soil as well as keeping all those pesky weeds away, not to mention keeping the roots and plants warm on those cold days! In 2017 we got snow twice in two weeks, unheard of here and it stuck. All of my plants thrived, none of which were covered. The newspaper has also been helping in both departments! Hope this can help y’all out too! Those planters are gorgeous!