contain your ENTHUSIASM

Pots are the place to experiment, says expert designer Christina Lalwitz

- Meghan Shinn

When Christina Salwitz began creating gardens and seasonal containers at Carol Ann O'Mack's home on Ames Lake in Redmond, Wash., she received one request: "Just go crazy!" It was music to the noted designer's ears.

"She just wanted lots of color," Christina recalls of the late Ms. O'Mack, who was a client for about five years. This simple mandate allowed her to go big and bold in her combinations for beds, borders and especially pots, which play vital roles in her work, including the practical purpose of housing perennials and woody plants ultimately destined for garden beds.

"My (container) choices are often based on what can be planted out in the future," she explains, noting that she replants pots twice a year for her clients in greater Seattle (USDA Zone 8.) "If I see a bed could use more sedum, for example, I'll use a lot of sedum in the fall containers and then transplant it (at the end of the season)."

Containers also provide an avenue for the designer to stretch her imagination, especially with an open minded client. They are the place to "try things out and have fun," says Christina, who shies from the predictable. Here are a few of the designs she created for Ms. O'Mack's landscape. These were planted in late spring to last through Halloween.