 My name is Ashley Eckert. I am the Extension Agent in Golden Valley and part of Billings County in Western North Dakota. And today we're going to talk a little bit about flower pot design and how we can pick out what we want to put into those pots as we get ready for spring as we're all getting a little antsy after the long winter to get some pretty flowers in our lives, especially during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic as we're looking to find some bright spots and some happiness. Part of our distance learning today, I have my son with me, this is Gus. He's going to help me do the planting. He's a 4-H member here in Golden Valley County and he does horticulture as one of his 4-H projects. So we're going to learn a little bit. He's going to help me with the transplanting as we do the video today. So what I'm using for a planter is something a little bit nontraditional. What I did was I was at a local box home improvement store and I found this three-tiered stand that's actually meant for a kitchen or a bathroom and I bought some coconut fiber inserts and stuck those in there and we're going to make a three-tiered planter today. And as part of this we're going, and what I did was we just filled these planters with a regular potting medium. Nothing fancy about the potting medium and then that potting medium we just have, I mixed it in a bucket with some water so it's just nicely damp. It just barely holds together when you give it a squeeze, but it doesn't completely fall back apart. So how do you decide what it is that you want to put into your planters? The main method that you used to do that is called the thriller filler and spiller method. And so you want, the thriller is something tall with some interest, some visual interest, something that's going to dry your eye to the pot. In the case of today's planting I'm going to use this regal geranium. This is a regal elegance, Martha Washington geranium, so we're going to use that. Oh, I want, can we put it over on this side? I think we can. All right, so let's go ahead and find a hole. We're going to break up the roots just a little bit as we go ahead and do this. And go ahead and I'll help you build the hole. You go ahead and stick it in there and then cover up that top. Most of our dirt is, it's all right. We're filling it up with the dirt that was around the geranium roots to begin with. Okay, so, and then can we water that in? We'll just take and water in each of these transplants a little bit as we do. Now, because of how these grow, I don't plan on actually putting a filler in this particular basket. My lower two baskets are going to have more of my filler for this particular design. Now, when we were trying to decide on these designs, what we did was we actually set up a three tiered foot stool and we set different plans on there to figure out which color scheme that we wanted to go with. And so the color scheme that we're using today is starting out with purple on top, going to a light yellow on the bottom. It is going to have some purple and yellow and pink and pinks and yellows in the middle. So it just kind of shows you our scheme. And you can see that these other ones that we had looked at and shows. And that's something that you can do at home too is, or as you're going to the greenhouses, you can set together the plants that you're thinking about for a planter and see if they look the way that you're envisioning in your mind as you're picking out which plants to purchase at your local greenhouse or nursery. So we want to finish this one out. We want a spiller. We're going to put our spiller on top and we're going to use a vincavine today. And we're going to put the vincavine right here beside this geranium that will come down over the side of our planter and hopefully throughout the summer we'll fill in all the way down here onto the side. So this is the spiller aspect of our planter today. We want to break those wits up just a little bit so that way they're not circling and we'll spread out within the soil. Go ahead and pop that buddy in there. Let's train that vine to come over the side. Go ahead and put it in. Cover it up with a little bit of extra dirt. Want to give it some water bud? Yep. Okay, now I'm going to wait to hang this guy back up till we get our whole planter redone. So there's our top. Even there's our top. It's got our thriller and our spiller. And now we'll do a couple with our fillers. But I'm going to wait to hang this back up on our planter and to do the whole thing until we get them all done. I'm a little nervous that this might take a tumble off of my shelf back here. So basket number two. Now these are roughly, it's hard to tell on these owls but these are roughly 10 to 12 inch baskets. I ended up having to use a 12 inch coconut fiber in order to make that fit. So in a 10 to 12 inch I would suggest about three plants in there to let those really fill out well. So in our middle one we're going to use three to four plants. And in our middle one we're going to use some of these crazy tunias. We're just going to put a couple in. Can you put those two in the back? Can you put them in the back? Oh, I thought that was the back. Let's go back here by you. And these are more of a bunching petunia. These are going to fill it in bunch. And then in this basket also it's a kind of, this is our transition basket from between purples to yellows. And we're also going to put in there a couple of Calabrocoa plants. So we're going to put four in this basket. And these are a Calabrocoa that are yellow and pink. So do you want to put these kind of in the sides off on the front so they'll grow together. Do you want to give this basket a little bit of water for the next one off the hanger? And then our last basket, what we're going to put in here is about three plants. And these are a petcoa plant. They're part petunia and part Calabrocoa. So as you can see we also have a little bit of a theme. And I would put these in a triangle shape. Two in front and one in the back. And these are going to be more filler. So as these grow in bunch, the planter should fill out in the middle two, should vine off of the top and spill. And then have our thriller with our geranium on the top. So we're going to put three of these petcoas in here. And this should complete our transition of color as well, from purples to pink, or from purples to yellows. And again, I'm just breaking up these roots a little bit so they don't continue to circle and will spread out in our soil and our pot. Okay, you want to water that one in. We always want to make sure we water them in so they're good and watered to begin with. Now I'm going to put these plants, I'm going to hang these baskets back up on our planter so you guys can see the finished look when we're done. And then when we're done today, before we quit here for our work in the greenhouse today, I am going to take it, I'm going to cut all of these plants back. And I'm going to cut these back about like this, cut off all the blossoms, cut a couple inches below the blossoms. And that will help these plants grow and fill out so they fill into our pots. So it seems like it's a little drastic to take that much off, but as long as you keep your growing points and some new blossoms coming, these plants will just continue to fill in and you'll have a finished basket that looks full once you guys get into later parts of the summer. Now I'm planting these today, and these will be staying in a greenhouse until probably about the 15th or 20th of May depending on the weather forecast. That is the finished product with our thriller, our spiller and our fillers coming down the planter. And we're going to just let this go until throughout the summer and see how this does for us. And it also shows how you can take something that's not meant to be a planter and turn it into a unique piece. I plan to set this one by my front porch, by my front door on my front porch. So this is just an idea, something that you guys can do is you guys are looking at filling your planters or filling your pots, or patio balcony, and have just a spot where you could have just a few flowers or plants. One thing you could also do if you're looking to do some plants but want a vegetable as well, you could also make your thriller like this, a tomato plant like these. This is a bigger tomato, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one, but a smaller bush cherry tomato plant would make a beautiful thriller and then you could put a greenery in the bottom so you have something edible and with your flowers in a small porch or patio area. Do you guys have any questions on flower pot design or on how you would go about doing something like this? Please contact your local extension office.