Modern vs. Traditional Containers with Beacon Impatiens
Step inside Beacon® Impatiens open air exhibit where our canvas is a container and oil paints are replaced by begonias and ivy. Today’s featured artists? Our fellow colleagues who are experts in container design have created inspirational flower displays in two ways. Their traditional planting, which seeks to inspire gardeners with structure and symmetry. And their modern planting, a rule bending container that invites you to paint outside the lines, total rebellion in a pot.
This isn’t your average garden stroll. It’s an inside scoop on the design decisions we made to turn ordinary planters into contemporary art pieces you’d find hanging on the wall of a museum. This design can be easily recreated at home with our Beacon Impatiens and some smart artistic decisions. Your trowel is a paint brush, your container a blank slate where ideas flower, but in this medium, colors grow and interest booms throughout the season.
Traditional Techniques
Our first planting is a traditional take on gardening, and a nod to the artistic methods used in realism. Think of it as a portrait in a flowerpot. Let’s first take a look at the container in which our planting is painted. A familiar, low bowl flowerpot with a muted grey exterior, which is the perfect blank slate for a symmetric design with intentional groupings.
The first step in your traditional planting is to split up your container up into quadrants, like a pie chart. We thought Beacon Impatiens Light Pink paired nicely with the tone the planter sets. Have an even grouping of impatiens in each section of the pot to emphasize the weight the color has in the planting. Notice how our placement of impatiens creates a soft ring around the outer edge of the pot. Now let’s think about what colors complement the light pink, as well as where we can put a stunning focal point that ties the art piece together.
By pairing the pink impatiens with the vibrant pale ring found in Begonia Jurassic™ Pink splash, you can see how the leaf veining almost mimics the floral interest around the ring of the container. We chose a stark, dark foliage penstemon rubrum to tie our design together. This was placed in the center of the pot to pair nicely with the vibrant begonia. The design is familiar, eye catching, and has an easy structure that we invite you to recreate in your backyard shade garden.
Modern Methods
Our next featured design is the modern planter, which you’d find in an abstract expressionist wing at the MOMA. Think less Mona Lisa and more Jackson Pollock with this inspirational display. The modern container gives you the opportunity to bend the rules of design and focus on how you can create interest with an asymmetrical imbalance in your flowerpot.
Our container choice sets the tone of the planting with a geometric design and architectural ridges. Your container itself can become a statement piece, and you should pair it with weighted elements to give it a rebellious look. Our flowerpot inspired us to use Beacon Impatiens Bright Red for a vibrant pop to contrast the pale, brutalist aesthetic. The impatiens were planted in uneven groupings, with a low growing habit and lively red hue that we complemented with bright green foliage.
Our trailing element – a modern planting must – was a viny hedera Helix Thorndale with white ringed leaves that pair nicely with our planting of Begonia Jurassic Emerald ring. Notice how we mimicked the emerging emerald ring on the begonia with the white outer edge of the hedera. Our statement piece in this planter is Begonia Jurassic Heartbeat, which balances the bright red impatiens with its deep maroon foliage. The entire pot radiates with a rebellious tone and lack of symmetry that we hope you can find inspiration from for your own garden.
Now it’s up to you to pick a side, will your planter be neat and tidy with equal groupings of impatiens? Or will you turn the design on its head and have your flowers spill over the side of a geometric container. Remember, there’s no wrong answers when it comes to artistry, just different perspectives. Even Van Gogh broke the rules.