There are as many ways to plant the El Patio Post Planter as there are clouds in the sky. There’s no limit to what you can do. But since we’ve been planting and photographing them for several years now, we’ve discovered a few tips that help you get the most oomph.

Spill – This refers to the plants that spill over the edges. We like to put them on the corners of the front of the planter so they spill over the front and the side. We’ve used Creeping Jenny, but you can use any trailing plant like sweet potato vine, Dichondra silver falls, verbena, begonia, lobelia or ivy.

Thrill – This refers to a unique and eye-catching plant. We like to put this one front and center, especially on house posts that face the street. We’ve found the best plants are of medium height and hang a little over the edge. Here we’ve used two-tone petunias.

Fill – In the El Patio Post planter, this refers to the taller plants that go on the sides and in the back to create volume. We often ladder them up by using medium height plants on the side and taller ones in the back so they’re all visible from the front. Here, we’ve filled the sides with some Stonecrop Sedum we had left over from last year. And in back, we used Double Impatiens from a hanging basket that we separated into individual plants.