A pot of blooming roses is the perfect way to sweeten your patio or porch. Start with an 18-inch pot (with drainage holes) and a four-pound bag of potting soil. Add one pink tree rose, then plant a combination of four pink vinca and eight pink begonia at the base. Sprinkle on slow-release fertilizer and water.

To purchase rose trees, go to Jackson and Perkins; 800/872-7673; jacksonandperkins.com.

White Delight
For a fragrant and refreshing container, start with a white tree rose in the middle. Surround with four white or green tobacco plants, four dusty miller, three variegated petunias, and six white dahlia. Enjoy.

Go for the Gold
Start with a weeping yellow tree rose. Add eight snapdragons, eight alyssum, and two variegated potato vines.

Red Hot Pot
Wake up a container with a dazzling red tree rose surrounded by two Japanese blood grass, 12 scarlet sage, and four New Guinea impatiens. It’s a guaranteed head-turner.

Herb Pots
Keep a culinary herb container just outside the kitchen door. A favorite herb combo is thyme, white garlic chives, Italian flatleaf parsley, and chervil. Check out our herbal plant project.

Scented Sensations
Combine scented geraniums with evening scented phlox and ‘Marine’ heliotrope for a container with interesting foliage and sweet fragrance. Place the pots in spots where visitors can brush up against the aromatic foliage.

Color Combos
When mixing plants, think about color and form. Bright green sweet potato vines tumble over edges and look great when paired with bright pink dwarf cosmos or yellow and orange marigolds.

Tea Pots
Grow a tree-form lemon verbena, great for tea, surrounded by Irish moss. Then add a splash of color with ‘Crystal Palace’ lobelia trailing over the edge of the container.