Let’s “Plant” An Autumn European Dish Garden

The first step is to choose your container.  You can use any type of container you want.  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.

For this dish garden, I chose a square wooden dough bowl.  This dough bowl is 16″ x 16″ and 4 3/4 inches deep.  The inside is unpainted while the outside has been painted an off white color.  This dough bowl is a reproduction piece,  not a true antique. To protect it,  I lined the inside with plastic wrap.  I also placed the plants in either speed covers or terra cotta pots before adding them to the dough bowl.

CHOOSE YOUR PLANTS

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”.  This time, I was able to find a plant that filled all three roles!

MEET CHOCOLATE DROP COLEUS

In addition to the Chocolate Drop coleus, I decided to use petunias, garden mums and one of my very favorite plants: Diamond Snow Euphorbia.    All of the plants are considered annuals and will work great in this European Dish Garden!

The petunia variety I chose is called Queen of Hearts.  The edge is lined is what appears to be a deep red heart.  The flowers also have some yellow accents.   This particular petunia is a plant that Miracle-Gro offers for sale.  Dave, my husband, actually found it at the local hardware store.  He took pictures of it so I could see how unique it was.

In the plant world, what says “Fall” better than a mum?  Mums and fall just seem to go hand in hand!  The bright yellow color of these mums is so vibrant.

To add even more interest to the centerpiece, I wanted to use the Diamond Snow euphorbia by Proven Winners.  Diamond Snow has tiny, dainty white flowers on very thin stems.  I just love it!  It is one of my signature plants!

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 dish garden,  make sure you water into each individual pot.  I use a watering can with a slender spout (sometimes called a gooseneck spout)  to reach in to the planter.  As I earlier mentioned, I placed each plant into either a speed cover or a terra cotta pot without a drainage hole to help keep the water from running through the plants and possibly damaging the dough bowl.

I was able to order the Proven Winner plants directly from Proven Winners.  The mums and the cute little petunias came from the garden center at a local store.

THE “PLANTING” PROCESS

Since I was using the coleus as my focal point, I placed it in the dough bowl first.  It is almost in the center of the bowl.

Then I added the garden mums, one on each side of the coleus.

I placed on of the petunias next to one of the mums.  The Diamond Snow was placed to the rear of the dough bowl. I turned the bowl around and repeated the process to finish filling the dough bowl with the plants.

ONE LAST STEP

Actually, there are two last steps!  To help keep the individual pots from showing , I wound dried angel vine throughout the dish garden.  This also helps keep the plants in place and adds more texture to the dish garden.  I also used the two raffia balls, like the ones pictured  below to fill in an empty spot and to add interest and texture.