It Takes a Big Leap of Faith...

to believe this container will ever look awesome!  

 I have faith and I think it will. It is the container that I plan to put on the front porch right next to my entrance door. At this stage it is too ugly to put out for eveyone to see, so I will hide it until it begins to fill in.

To start this combo, I had to mutilate the beautiful Cordyline plant that I overwintered in my garage.
Most of the leaves were brown and brittle, so I cut them all off,

except for the top few, which still looked good.  It's a good thing I saved this Cordyline, because I can't find any red Cordyline to buy this year. That seems to be the norm for my small town. One  year it's available, the next three years it's not.

I added dark purple fillers—the same ones I put in my whiskey barrel on the deck--salvia & coleus.

I also used two pink perennials from my garden-- Sedum Autumn Joy and Guara to spill over the edge.--two high impact plants at zero cost.

 I know that some of my readers notice EVERYTHING, so I must let you know that in this pic, astute readers may recognize Purple Fountain Grass in the middle. It was there for a day, but then I pulled it back out, so I could use it in one of the deck whiskey barrels.  So at the current time, this container has no fountain grass.

Guara is to the left of the grass and it's the plant inside this milk can:

It gets long airy arms of tiny pink flowers that should shoot up and over the edge of the planter.

 It won’t be long and the “thriller” plants in this pot should cover the bare stalk.  As is always the case with my containers, you can't see any  “thrillers”, because they are under the soil.  Here they are:

 

What? You don't think these look thrilling?  LOL. As I said it takes a lot of faith...these should be pink 'Park Princess' dahlias. They are a lovely star shape. Here is what I hope I planted:

I also planted another dahlia, which I am hoping is this purple Rembrandt variety.

Unfortunately I did not mark the container I took the dahlia out of, so it could be anything. If it's purple, it will be perfect. If not, it will at least be a surprise to see what blooms.   Either way this container will look totally different when I show it to you in late July (at least that is what I am hoping!)

If you are looking for the recipe for this container, here is what I think I have planted :

1 Cordyline (saved from last year)
1 Guara (perennial that I save from year to year)
3 Purple Salvia
3 Dark Purple Coleus
2 Pink 'Park Princcess' dahlia (saved for the past umpteen years)
1 Purple Rembrandt dahlia (saved for the past five years)
1 Sedum Autumn Joy (yanked out of my perennial gardens--I have hundreds of these)
4 nasturtium seeds that I stuck around the edge to use a spiller

All I had to buy this year were the 3 salvia and the 3 coleus.  I forgot what they cost, but it was pure pennies in comparison to what one would have to spend if buying all of the plants... truly... maybe $2 total???  Gotta love that!