Get Instant Impact with BIG flowers

Do you want instant impact on your backyard patio?

Maybe you’re looking for a little poolside pizazz?

Here’s the secret of creating a sensational container for a weekend party or a graduation fete: If you want big and showy RIGHT NOW, you need to start with BIG plants with BIG blooms.

That’s why the one-two punch of mandevilla and hibiscus is so dramatic. These tropical blooms love hot weather and they flower all summer. When you combine them, they add big color wherever you place them.

They are available in 1-quart and larger containers.

DESIGN TIP
The larger the plant, the bigger the impact in a container or landscape. Discover more tips about planting container gardens. 

Make a Splash with Mandevilla

With bold and showy trumpet-shape flowers, mandevilla makes a dramatic statement in containers placed where you need a shot of color.

This tropical vine pumps out a nonstop supply of large, flowers in red, pink, and white all summer. 

You can also use mandevilla in landscape beds and borders; set it free to climb up and over arbors, trellises, and mailbox posts. In Zone 10, mandevilla is a perennial so you'll be able to enjoy it in the landscape all year. 

HOW TO USE MANDEVILLA IN NON-TROPICAL AREAS  
In the North and areas that chill down over winter, use mandevilla as an annual vine. It will grow and flourish happily in summer's hot temperatures. Then, at the end of summer, you can bring it indoors for winter. See how to overwinter your mandevilla. 

Add Mounding Mandevillas to Containers

Growing mandevillas in containers is easy.

For the vining types, use a trellis or other support to give a structure upon which the mandevilla can scramble upward. These make lovely vertical features on patios or flanking a doorway.

Mounding varieties can be used in containers, window boxes, and even hanging baskets. Here, mounding mandevilla adds a focal point to a vertical planter.

CARE TIP
Fertilize mandevilla regularly in the spring and summer months to keep this flowering vine in full bloom, especially in containers. Use a general-purpose fertilizer. If you don't want to have to remember to fertilize, use a timed-release product, which slowly releases nutrients into the potting mix over the growing season.

Discover more tips about using mandevilla in containers and in the landscape.

Pair Mandevilla with Neon Pothos

When you combine mandevilla with houseplants, such as showy Neon pothos, you have a winning combo that will look great all summer.

Mounding mandevilla will fill in and spill over the sides. A dash of lime green from Neon pothos adds a touch of drama.

This planter will bloom all summer and get more lush and lovely every day.

WATERING TIP
Keep mandevilla well watered in summer. For big pots, consider a drip irrigation system on a timer for effortless care. See more tips about watering. 

Mandevilla Shines with Other Tropicals

Colorful mandevilla pair well with each other and other blooming tropicals.

Here, a front yard entryway is enhanced by a trio of blooming tropicals. These plants love a sunny spot and will continue to bloom all summer.

GET THE LOOK 
1 pink mandevilla
1 red mandevilla
1 standard gardenia

Mix it up with Hibiscus

If you are looking for a dramatic focal point in a planter, try tropical hibiscus.

Here, the large flowers from a standard and quart size hibiscus offer eye-catching round flowers that stay in bloom all summer.

DESIGN TIP 
Use color coordinated hibiscus to create a unified look. Here, a yellow standard hibiscus with a red throat is paired with two quart-size red and yellow hibiscus planted at the base.

Creeping Jenny makes a great spiller plant, and will cascade over the side of the planter. The small chartreuse leaves of creeping Jenny contrast nicely with the larger, deep-green leaves of the hibiscus.

Climb Up, Fill In

When you combine a climbing mandevilla on a trellis with several quart-sized hibiscus in a container, you get height and spread with splashes of color.

In this container, a bamboo trellis offers a leg up for a red mandevilla. Red hibiscus fill in around the trellis base. A fern offers a frilly side planting.

And to top off the great look of this pot are colorful twisting decorative rods help draw the eye upward.

DESIGN TIP 
Containers count! Need help finding a good container? See this advice for selecting the perfect pot.

Use Hibiscus in Hanging Baskets

Are you into bold moves? Especially ones that are easy to pull off? (Aren't we all!)

Add instant impact to a hanging basket by adding a quart-size hibiscus. Ta-da!

Here's why this works: The combination of big flowers and deep green foliage means all you need is one plant per container. Easy and beautiful.

CARE TIP
Container plantings need extra watering in summer. And hanging containers tend of dry out quicker than those on the ground. So take extra care to keep these high flyers well hydrated.

Get a Plan!

If you have patio or deck space that needs a floral facelift, consider an all-container garden plan like this.

Enclose a space and add privacy.
Here, tall hibiscus in pots create a wall of color that encloses the outdoor living space, making it feel more intimate.

Create a focal point. A trellis is an ideal focal point for a seating area because it add vertical lift. Add two containers with climbing mandevilla on each side of the trellis and these plants will scamper upward, smothering the  trellis in bloom.

Add tabletop color. Mounding mandevillas make ideal tabletop plants--it’s like having a ever-blooming bouquet on your table all summer.