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if your building has weight limits or rules about heavy objects on balconies, as containers filled with soil can be very heavy. Conversely, small containers may be easily blown away. Find yourself a happy medium—try an intermediate-sized, lightweight container or use window boxes and fasten them down securely. You can also make use of hanging baskets. As you set up these containers, remember to utilize gravel or small rocks for the bottom two inches of the container to aid in drainage. Work with a high-quality potting mix and add lots of sterile compost to enrich your soil. Invest in some water-soluble fertilizer, and get ready to garden!
    You will notice that I have included various annuals, herbs, and perennials in these mixed pots for added color, height, and scent. As you assemble your individual containers, place the taller plants either in the back or center of the pot. Then place the medium-sized plants in front or around the tallest ones, with the shortest or trailing varieties around the outside edges. A trick that professionals use when designing pots and containers for sale is to plant them very full. Don’t scrimp on the plants! There is nothing sadder than a scrawny container that has to wait for two months of growth to fill in.
    Mix and match these suggested combinations however your Garden Witch’s heart desires. Just remember to coordinate the shade or sun tolerances of the plants. Plant many containers or a few large ones—whatever you have space for or would prefer. Now, here are some bewitching combinations that I have conjured up just for you. The sun requirements are listed first and then the plants.
    Practical Magick Container Gardens
    He could walk, or rather turn about in his little garden, and feel more solid happiness from the flourishing of a cabbage or the growing of a turnip than was ever received from the most ostentatious show the vanity of man could possibly invent.
    sarah fielding

    Moonlit Magick
    (Part shade) Mugwort, nicotiana, betony, alyssum, and white petunias for scent and nighttime sparkle. Tuck in white zinnias to attract the butterflies.
    Sorcery in the Shade
    (Shade) Pansies, violas, ferns, hostas, ivy, and trailing mints. Look for chocolate or orange mint to add some fragrance. Plant variegated ivy to add some visual interest to the pot. Also, you can switch out the spring cool-weather-loving pansies with a colorful, shady annual like impatients for the hot summer months.
    Faerie Garden
    (Shade to part shade) Columbine, pansy, viola, foxglove, fern, periwinkle, ivy, annual blue lobelia, alyssum.
    Fragrant Fascinations
    (Full to part sun) A standard tree rose, lavender, alyssum, sage, pineapple sage, catmint, scented geraniums, coordinating shades of begonias and petunias for color. Add spicy dianthus (pinks) for color and more scent.
    Hedge Witch Hanging Basket
    (Sun to part sun) Look for prostrate varieties of herbs such as rosemary and thyme, the type of variety that “creeps” or trails. Nasturtiums make a nice trailing plant, as does scented bacopa. Strawberries make great hanging basket plants and require full sun. Try an ever-bearing variety of strawberry for plants that will produce fruit for a longer season.
    Kitchen Witchery
    (Full to part sun) Plant some of the classic Witch’s garden herbs: rosemary, basil, dill, parsley, bronze fennel, thyme, and tricolor sage.
    Faerie/Butterfly Garden
    (Sun) Yarrow, coneflowers, brown-eyed Susans, daisies, miniature roses, lavender, parsley. Parsley is a host plant for caterpillars.
    Silver Sorcery
    (Sun) Artemisia and lamb’s ears; add lavender, santolina, and heliotrope for scent. Let the silver and fuzzy licorice plant ( Helichrysum ) dangle over the sides of the container.
    Colorful & Elemental
Theme Containers
    Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.
    pablo picasso

    This is fun to try: create container gardens to honor the colors of the four elements. These next four container