We’ve visited Carla Zambelli Mudry’s garden in Malvern, Pennsylvania, several times, but today she’s sharing a focus on her container plants.

It’s not all about what you put in your flower beds; it’s also about hanging baskets, planters, and pots. Often these are gardening alternatives that people with very little gardening space can do! I like mixing perennials with annuals, and I use herbs and more in pots. In some of the bigger anchor pots, I like using perennials because I don’t have to take care of the plants every year; they just return. A hanging basket with flowering geraniums (Pelargonium, Zones 9–11 or as annuals)

Two big pots planted up with a mixture of herbs provide both fragrant, useful leaves and an interesting green accent to the garden. In the front left, another pot combines a blue hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla, Zones 5–9) with scented geranium (Pelargonium hybrid, Zones 9–11 or as an annual) and fragrant heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens, Zones 10–11)—proof that you can get creative in your container combinations!

A cool container without a drainage hole can be turned into a suitable home for plants by slipping another pot—with drainage—inside it.

Hostas thrive and look beautiful in containers, coming back each year. In cold climates, moving the containers with perennials into an unheated shed or garage during the winter will help protect their roots from extreme temperatures.

A small Japanese maple (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) in this container is an accent to the birdcage-like structure that covers it.

Two plants of what look like Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ (Zones 7–10) in, appropriately, black and blue containers. Salvia guaranitica can spread aggressively in gardens where it is hardy, so containers are a good way to keep it contained.

A cute little owl shares this container with a hydrangea, geraniums, and thyme (Thymus sp.).

Growing lavender (Lavandula angustifolia, Zones 5–9) in a pot is a great way to lift that fragrant foliage up to where you can easily smell it—and if your native soil is heavy and wet, to give it the good drainage it needs .

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