Blue & White Summer European Dish Garden

The first step is to choose your container.  You can use any type of container you want.  Because I was going to use this centerpiece on our outdoor table, I decided to use my terra cotta pot which sits in a rustic iron stand.  I also wanted to use battery taper candles in the candle holder. The pot could be used without the stand if you wanted.  This particular terra cotta pot is 10″ in diameter.  It is called a bulb pot.

Please take into consideration where your finished European Dish Garden will be sitting.  If the container is not water tight, you will want to add a liner or something that will catch the water so it doesn’t leak on to your furniture.  I used a small saucer to cover the hole in the terra cotta pot.

To make it easier to design the dish garden, I can remove the terra cotta insert from the rustic iron stand while I “plant” it.  Because I was in a hurry to get this one put together before the guests arrived, I did leave it in the stand while I was working with it.

CHOOSE YOUR PLANTS

Normally, I like to use the “thriller, spiller and filler” method of planting.  In simple terms, the thriller is the focal point, the spiller adds motion and the filler fills in the “holes”.  For this project, I used two Blue Evolvulus plants and one white licorice plant.  For the filler, I used dried angel vine.  Since I knew this was a short term project, I loosely interpreted my own rules!

Blue Evolvulus is a tender perennial in the same family as the Morning Glory.  It has lovely blue blossoms.  The leaves are small and oval in shape.  I love how wispy it looks!

White Licorice  is a drought tolerant annual.  Its leaves are silver gray and slightly fuzzy.  It looks great with a variety of different plants.  It will do well in part sun to full sun.  It is very adaptable.  It does not like to be wet so avoid overwatering it.

Because the plants are going to be kept in their individual pots and watered individually, you don’t need to pay attention to differences in water requirements like you would if you were planting plants together in soil.   When watering the planter, make sure you water into each individual pot.  I use a watering can with a slender spout (sometimes called a goose neck spout)  to reach in to the planter.

The Blue & White color palette was my personal preference .  I was looking for something more muted for this occasion to compliment but not over power the flag topped spindles.  Any color combination can work.  Choose something that works for your celebration!

For Added Texture

To add more texture and interest to the centerpiece, I decided to use dried angel vine as my filler.  I used to use this in the flower shop a lot.  It is easy to shape in to a circle to make your own wreath bases or a bird’s nest as well as the way I used it, which was to fill in the gaps between the pots.

THE “PLANTING” PROCESS

Since the white licorice plant was the tallest, I placed it in the pot first.  I put it almost in the center of the pot.

 

 

Next, I placed one  Blue Evolvulus on each side of the White Licorice plant.  There really isn’t a wrong way to place your plants.  You can rearrange them until you get a look that is pleasing to you.

For the filler, I used the dried angel vine.  By gently pulling it apart, I was able to wrap it around the base of the plants.  The angel vine helps hit the individual pots so it looks like the plants are planted directly in the pot.  The color of the angel vine also blends well with the bronze color of the stand.

The last step is to add battery candles to the stand and place the finished European Dish Garden in the center of your table.  I placed the trio of flag topped spindles off to one side.

After The Celebration

After the celebration was over, I dismantled the European Dish Garden and added the plants to an existing outdoor patio pot.  I added the White Licorice to the left hand side and one Blue Evolvulus along the bottom edge on each side.  I added the American Flag in the center as an accent for the summer.

The dried angel vine can be reused for another project.  Just be sure it is completely dry before storing it.  It may have gotten wet when the European Dish Garden was watered.

Additional Ideas to spark your creativity

As an alternative to the candles, you could place a small bundle of kalanchoe blossoms on each candle holder like I did here.   To see how I made this Red & White Spring European Dish Garden, please refer to this post!

If you don’t have access to a kalanchoe plant, small bundles of baby’s breath or even a faux succulent would work.

Pictured above is a gazing globe stand used in place of the stand that has the candle holders attached. This stand will give you a similar look to my stand.  I then added the battery candles in wrought iron candle holders.  This is a good dupe to use if you don’t have the all in one stand with candle holders like mine.  I have had my stand for a number of years and haven’t been able to find it offered for sale recently.

Another example of a European Dish Garden with Blue Evolvus .  The details can be found here: Mother’s Day Forget Me Not Dish Garden