15 Budget-Friendly Spring Container Ideas to Try This Season

In spring, we’re ready to dust off our doorsteps and get planting, adding inviting color and fresh greens to usher in the season. Container gardening can be costly, from the pots to the plants to the soil, but it needn’t be, and gardeners are a resourceful lot.

The main goal is to grow what you want with the best foundation, enjoying the process and the bounty, too. Keeping the goal in mind, there are ways to create beautiful and productive containers using budget-friendly concepts.

Whether growing edibles or ornamentals in pots, a multitude of vessels makes container gardening an accessible endeavor. There are lots of reasons to go budget-friendly, whether producing in a single container or adding to the collection, as we often do. The mobile architectural elements enliven a space or fade into the background as the plantings are the draw with exciting colors, fragrances, and forms.

Here, we highlight inspiration for uncomplicated, budget-conscious spring container ideas that you can tailor to your aesthetic. In early spring, rely on frost-tolerant annuals and vegetables to withstand seasonal transitions. After the final frost, install selections that will last until fall.

Favourite Blend French Marigold

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Favourite Blend French Marigold Seeds

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Single Blend Trailing Nasturtium Seeds

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Single Blend Trailing Nasturtium

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Everleaf Emerald Towers Basil

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Everleaf Emerald Towers Basil Seeds

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Call on Perennials

Perennials are the workhorses of the garden, returning each year with multiseason appeal. They offer blooms for pollinators, foliar contrast, and a lasting way to invest in potted arrangements. Spring is the time to divide fall-blooming perennials and others, too. Dividing offers the opportunity to use perennials in containers as they develop. In a pinch, lift perennials from the bed to “borrow” for infilling pots. 

Investing in perennials for spring containers is worthwhile for your long-term budget. Until they outgrow the pot, they’ll last for seasons of recurrent interest in the right cultural conditions. They can also move to the garden after their time in the pot for lasting enjoyment.

Perennials offer ecosystem benefits for butterflies, bees, birds, and other wildlife through nectar and seed production, as host plants, and as shelter. Enjoy the energetic buzz that potted perennials create while featuring specimen selections.

Dwarf varieties offer more compact, full forms and dense blooming in a pot. Container perennials don’t have to be dwarf cultivars, though. Whether full size or compact, allow plenty of room for roots and mature size, or plan to transplant as the plant grows.

Use Lasting Annuals

Annuals abound in spring and are an instant way to punch up your budget container display. Cool-season annuals bridge the look from winter to spring. These include frost-tolerant species like pansies, violas, and snapdragons. Post-frost, warm-season selections can thrive all season until fall. They bring color and dynamism to become focal points or infill larger container plantings. Petunias, calibrachoa, lantana, and so many more make exceptional warm-season accents for pots.

To get the most bang for your buck, opt for annuals that grow all summer in your area. Wait until frost passes to plant them outside. Start with economical annuals in cell packs or from seed (more below) to purchase them in numbers. They’ll quickly develop as temperatures warm to their best growing conditions. Marigolds are a good option for cost-effective annuals that last a long time and even provide companion planting benefits to other blooms and edibles.

Employ Any Vessel With Drainage

The main ingredients of container planting are a well-draining pot and quality potting mix. Convert (almost) any vessel to a flower pot by drilling drainage holes. From tea cups to galvanized tubs, the opportunities are wide open. Ensuring good drainage is the start of a healthy foundation.

Also, consider room for root growth and plan for maturity, at least over the season. Follow sun and shade recommendations and water consistently, especially during dry spells, as containers dry out more quickly than in-ground plantings. Many potted plants prefer evenly moist soils, while others tolerate drying out slightly between sessions. Overwinter perennials and annuals in pots and containers according to hardiness.

Here, pansies in galvanized basins become effortless, rustic accents. With holes in the base, watering is a breeze. 

Feature a Single Specimen

Single plants are a simple way to bring easy elegance with structural greens or loose blooms. Plants with a presence, like Boston ferns, are easy to pop in a planter. They’ll grow lush and full with regular water and warm weather.

Tropical houseplants that enjoy spring and summer outdoors, or those that overwinter in a protected space, are good specimen options. Transition them gradually from inside to out as temperatures rise. For most, wait until 60°F (16°C) or above to bring them outside.

Bank on Trailing Plants

To conceal pots that may not be favorites or in the best condition, use trailing plants. Those with robust growth and cascading stems will devour the pot quickly. Cover up cracked ceramics or inexpensive plastic containers with a decadent bloomer or interesting foliage.

Calibrachoa and petunia are tops for both “filling” and “spilling” pots. Their long, bloom-lined stems tolerate spring’s cool weather and flush with summer’s approach. Other spiller options include bacopa, trailing pansies, and golden creeping jenny. Lobelia in blue offers a full, mounding habit that gently overflows in spring’s mild conditions. Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ and sweet potato vine take off in warm weather. 

With these hearty trailers handy, you won’t even know there’s a pot underneath. Plus, it often only takes a single plant or two to create full coverage, making it a budget-friendly spring container.

Pack the Perennial Bulbs

Spring-flowering bulbs are an economical way to fill pots. Planted shoulder to shoulder, they burst with color in early, mid, and late season, depending on the species and variety. With layered bulb pairings and staggered bloom times, they show lasts for week.

If you missed the planting timeframe in the fall and winter, opt for pre-cooled bulbs for a spring planting for those that require a chill period to bloom. Otherwise, wait until fall to plant them in containers. Overwinter them in a protected area outdoors, and move them to the desired spot in late winter.

For a budget-friendly spring container, opt for bulbs that perennialize in your climate. Daffodils are cold hardy and grow in warm areas, and they can move from the pot to the garden with ease. With trumpet blooms on slender stems, they herald the season’s arrival in cheery yellow, orange, and soft peach. Cluster daffodils closely in the pot for a full planting.

Sow Quick-Growing Seeds

Seeds are an economical way to start plants in numbers. Apart from being budget-conscious, they allow us to choose specialty selections, from heirlooms to natives, edible to ornamental, for tailor-made spring containers. 

For more instant gratification, opt for plants that develop quickly from seed. Some mature in less than 50 days, meaning fast returns on flowering, fruiting, and harvesting. While some benefit from starting indoors before transplanting in spring, for others, you can direct sow in the pot. Keep seeds and seedlings evenly moist but not oversaturated as they grow. You can even sow your own hanging baskets from seed.

Versatile, Ready-Made Hanging Baskets

Purchasing a nursery-grown commercial hanging basket packs a bundle of spring in a single investment. Use it as a hanging planter or “cheat” by using the combination to fill a planter or infill a border edge. Remove the hanging basket components and tuck the whole pot into another container. Or, lift and transplant the whole to the intended pot.

Using a ready-made basket is sometimes less expensive than buying the plants and potting mix and growing them out. The greenhouse baskets are healthy and further along in their seasonal development, ready to make an impact from the get-go. To extend the investment, wait until temperatures are warm enough for all-season arrangements. These bring months, rather than weeks, of blooms.

Pallet Upcycling

A simple pallet makes a versatile option for direct planting or suspending pots. As a vertical installment, the pallet mounts on a wall or fence and is a space-saving measure for upright growing. They also adapt to raised bed configurations.

For growing food, make sure the pallet is new and untreated, or line it for extra safety. Otherwise, paint or stain it as a framework to support pots of herbs and flowers.

Fabric Grow Bags

Fabric bags are budget-friendly containers and a versatile, portable way to grow. They’re available in different sizes and are easy to fill, making gardening possible in spaces with poor drainage, weed issues, or challenging soils.

Fill the bags with a high-quality potting soil and grow your favorite vegetables and flowers. Lined fabric bags retain moisture and provide insulation to promote healthy roots. They don’t dry out as quickly as unlined or thin bags, lessening watering frequency. Grow bags are long-lasting and easy to store when not in use.

Edible Blooms

Adding edible flowers to the mix creates a multifaceted arrangement that serves multiple purposes, from a delectable garnish to a pollinator draw and companion planting. Some are prettier than they are tasty, but they’re lovely added to beverages, desserts, salads, and platters. Dry them to add to herbal teas.

Some, like nasturtium and calendula, grow quickly from seed.

Five-Gallon Buckets

Containers can be simple. They provide a means to an end, especially when it comes to growing food. Lots of crops grow well in container culture, especially dwarf or compact varieties. Five-gallon buckets become easy growing vessels. Anything from peppers and eggplants to beans, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and leafy greens can grow in the buckets. Use mature size as a gauge to provide enough room for roots.

Drill drainage holes and cluster the buckets for easy watering. A basic drip irrigation system between the pails streamlines the process.

Repurpose Broken Pots

Clay pots are prone to cracking and breaking in cold weather and through wear and tear. But they’re excellent for allowing airflow around roots, and aesthetically, the natural finish is always a fit. To reuse broken parts, get creative on (carefully) crafting a new look.

With the bulk of the pot intact, broken or cracked planters lend themselves to succulent plantings and miniature arrangements. From a terraced fairy garden to a showcased specimen display, they add rustic charm when done well. Use them to house little succulents, keeping soil on the dry side between waterings. Or tip them over, shielding the broken components on the grounded side, and let the blooms “spill” out.

Dual Function: Edible and Ornamental

Containers that pull double duty in growing food and highlighting showy plants are budget-wise options. Whether a combination of herbs, flowering perennials and annuals, or vegetables, they add life to an area while saving space, attracting pollinators, and enriching our culinary experience. Don’t hesitate to combine edible and ornamental selections in the pot or landscape – the functional compositions are usable and beautiful.

Many edibles and ornamentals (including those edible flowers mentioned earlier) grow easily from seed. To give them a headstart this spring, nursery starts work well for earlier picking. Selections like lavender, rosemary, nasturtium, sage, catmint, and bee balm bridge ornamental and edible themes.

Potted Shrubs

Shrubs make a budget-friendly spring container for a single investment with lasting interest and years of returns. From a classic boxwood to a climbing rose to a hydrangea, containers let us showcase their striking features while adding visual heft.