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How do these plants grow throughout the season, so that each of the plants in an arrangement will complement and accent one another, rather than compete and overtake the display? We also pay attention to things like light requirements and watering needs. It’s a lot to hold in your brain all at the same time! However, Dutch Growers designers are architect, engineer, and colour scientist when it comes to putting together a container: come behind the scenes in this blog to see how the structure of the arrangement matters for a display that performs all summer long!
Our designers use a shorthand method to discuss the structure of an arrangement, breaking down the parts of the container into its thriller, filler, and spiller. This is a quick way to remember all the parts of the container, so that we can pay attention to the design principle of form: form is all about creating a shape that is pleasing to the eye.
This also means knowing something about how individual plants will grow; we match colours – which is so fun! – but we also know that plants are chosen and positioned for their growth habit, which basically means how they grow. With the following instructions about form, make sure that you are also picking from within a selection of plants that work for your light requirements; your thriller, filler, and spiller should all work for sun in a south- or west-facing arrangement; for a north- or east-facing arrangement, choose plants designated for shade.
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Nope, this is not referring to the Michael Jackson song! (Although I sing this in my head all the time): “thrillers” refer to plants that provide the height in the centre or the back of a container. We use cannas, dracaena “spikes,” patio tropicals (such as bougainvillea or mandevilla vines), and climbing vines like thunbergia on trellises to achieve height in a container or basket. This provides the central focal point in the arrangement. I usually start with this element, because it forms the basic structure of the arrangement, and usually determines what else I can put in the container. For example, a really tall thriller can allow for a taller filler plant. Its mature size – if we’re talking about a coleus or a larger canna like “Red King Humbert” – also indicates how much room will be left over for other items. You can also use a plant like Angelonia or Osteospermum as a thriller, and then adjust your filler size downwards accordingly. Lastly, a thriller can determine the colours that would be complementary in the other plants. I pick one thriller and then look at the colour of the foliage and the flower to see what I would like best next to it.
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These plants typically have a mounding-habit, which means that they appear bushy. They will fill out the spaces around the thriller. The possibilities are endless, here: choose from hundreds of different kinds of plants, like trailing petunias or lantana; euphorbia and lobularia (also known as trailing alyssum) are popular choices here for fine, white flowers. Choose lobelia or calibrachoa as versatile fillers that will perform in either shade or sun.
Filler plants are chosen first for their function – how they mound or fill in the spaces of the arrangement – and then for colour! Choose colours that contrast for visual interest, or choose a similar colour for a monochromatic look. I usually pick two or three fillers, and then pick two of each (for a total of 4 to 6 plants); this gives me coverage all around the container.
These plants look just how they sound: these are the trailing plants. (They used to be referred to as “trailing vines,” but this can be confusing terminology: vines go upwards, and trailers don’t! I just call them “trailers,” and that seems to work).
Spillers can include potato vines, plectranthus (also known as Swedish ivy), creeping jenny, silver nettle, licorice vine, and silver falls dichondra; these are all plants that are known for their trailing habit with foliage in a variety of colours that include greens of every shade; bronze; purple-black, and even velvety-grey and silver.
You can also have flowering spillers: popular flowering spillers include bacopa, trailing portulaca, verbena, and fan-flower (scaevola). Lobelia and Calibrachoa pull double-duty here, as they can work great as both fillers or spillers, depending on the look you are trying to achieve.
I usually pick three spillers and place them in a triangle-shape around the container, so they can be seen from all sides. Feel free to choose two kinds for maximum impact!
Once you have the thriller, filler, and spiller concept mastered, feel free to play with it: this concept assumes that most people like symmetry. This is probably true (my husband tells me that “asymmetry is not funny,” as if it’s a form of personalized torture). The trick to making asymmetry work – that is, putting your height in a place other than the centre – is to visualize the arrangement in a zig-zag or lightning formation: arrange the plants with the thriller to the left, then the filler to the right, and then the spiller goes back to the left (vice versa is acceptable too, of course!). This draws your eye back and forth across the arrangement gently (in the shape of a lightning bolt!), so that you achieve the same visual appeal without the container feeling disorganized or discordant.
Even with an asymmetrical design, you still need the three elements working with each other to achieve a beautiful arrangement.
Be sure to ask our sales associates in the Annuals Department for ideas on how to structure your containers and hanging baskets for maximum performance and visual appeal!
Form, Function, and Flowers! At Dutch Growers, we are well-known for our incredible hanging baskets; we have a reputation for great style, glorious colour combinations, and huge variety. Behind the scenes, our designers know a lot about how certain colours will look together, but they also know about how certain plants perform...
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Form, Function, and Flowers! At Dutch Growers, we are well-known for our incredible hanging baskets; we have a reputation for great style, glorious colour combinations, and huge variety. Behind the scenes, our designers know a lot about how certain colours will look together, but they also know about how certain plants perform...
How do these plants grow throughout the season, so that each of the plants in an arrangement will complement and accent one another, rather than compete and overtake the display? We also pay attention to things like light requirements and watering needs. It’s a lot to hold in your brain all at the same time! However, Dutch Growers designers are architect, engineer, and colour scientist when it comes to putting together a container: come behind the scenes in this blog to see how the structure of the arrangement matters for a display that performs all summer long!
Our designers use a shorthand method to discuss the structure of an arrangement, breaking down the parts of the container into its thriller, filler, and spiller. This is a quick way to remember all the parts of the container, so that we can pay attention to the design principle of form: form is all about creating a shape that is pleasing to the eye.
This also means knowing something about how individual plants will grow; we match colours – which is so fun! – but we also know that plants are chosen and positioned for their growth habit, which basically means how they grow. With the following instructions about form, make sure that you are also picking from within a selection of plants that work for your light requirements; your thriller, filler, and spiller should all work for sun in a south- or west-facing arrangement; for a north- or east-facing arrangement, choose plants designated for shade.
Nope, this is not referring to the Michael Jackson song! (Although I sing this in my head all the time): “thrillers” refer to plants that provide the height in the centre or the back of a container. We use cannas, dracaena “spikes,” patio tropicals (such as bougainvillea or mandevilla vines), and climbing vines like thunbergia on trellises to achieve height in a container or basket. This provides the central focal point in the arrangement. I usually start with this element, because it forms the basic structure of the arrangement, and usually determines what else I can put in the container. For example, a really tall thriller can allow for a taller filler plant. Its mature size – if we’re talking about a coleus or a larger canna like “Red King Humbert” – also indicates how much room will be left over for other items. You can also use a plant like Angelonia or Osteospermum as a thriller, and then adjust your filler size downwards accordingly. Lastly, a thriller can determine the colours that would be complementary in the other plants. I pick one thriller and then look at the colour of the foliage and the flower to see what I would like best next to it.
These plants typically have a mounding-habit, which means that they appear bushy. They will fill out the spaces around the thriller. The possibilities are endless, here: choose from hundreds of different kinds of plants, like trailing petunias or lantana; euphorbia and lobularia (also known as trailing alyssum) are popular choices here for fine, white flowers. Choose lobelia or calibrachoa as versatile fillers that will perform in either shade or sun.
Filler plants are chosen first for their function – how they mound or fill in the spaces of the arrangement – and then for colour! Choose colours that contrast for visual interest, or choose a similar colour for a monochromatic look. I usually pick two or three fillers, and then pick two of each (for a total of 4 to 6 plants); this gives me coverage all around the container.
These plants look just how they sound: these are the trailing plants. (They used to be referred to as “trailing vines,” but this can be confusing terminology: vines go upwards, and trailers don’t! I just call them “trailers,” and that seems to work).
Spillers can include potato vines, plectranthus (also known as Swedish ivy), creeping jenny, silver nettle, licorice vine, and silver falls dichondra; these are all plants that are known for their trailing habit with foliage in a variety of colours that include greens of every shade; bronze; purple-black, and even velvety-grey and silver.
You can also have flowering spillers: popular flowering spillers include bacopa, trailing portulaca, verbena, and fan-flower (scaevola). Lobelia and Calibrachoa pull double-duty here, as they can work great as both fillers or spillers, depending on the look you are trying to achieve.
I usually pick three spillers and place them in a triangle-shape around the container, so they can be seen from all sides. Feel free to choose two kinds for maximum impact!
Once you have the thriller, filler, and spiller concept mastered, feel free to play with it: this concept assumes that most people like symmetry. This is probably true (my husband tells me that “asymmetry is not funny,” as if it’s a form of personalized torture). The trick to making asymmetry work – that is, putting your height in a place other than the centre – is to visualize the arrangement in a zig-zag or lightning formation: arrange the plants with the thriller to the left, then the filler to the right, and then the spiller goes back to the left (vice versa is acceptable too, of course!). This draws your eye back and forth across the arrangement gently (in the shape of a lightning bolt!), so that you achieve the same visual appeal without the container feeling disorganized or discordant.
Even with an asymmetrical design, you still need the three elements working with each other to achieve a beautiful arrangement.
Be sure to ask our sales associates in the Annuals Department for ideas on how to structure your containers and hanging baskets for maximum performance and visual appeal!
How to use Thrillers, Fillers, and Spillers in Your Annual Containers!
Form, Function, and Flowers! At Dutch Growers, we are well-known for our incredible hanging baskets; we have a reputation for great style, glorious colour combinations, and huge variety. Behind the scenes, our designers know a lot about how certain colours will look together, but they also know about how certain plants perform...
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