Designer Sarah Davis
For eye-pleasing vignettes: Choose plants with contrasting foliage and shapes and complementary colors. “But don’t use too many plants with conflicting patterns or it can be confusing to the eye and look messy.”
Fave filler: “Ferns are elegant and complement heavy, big leaves with delicate fronds.”
Her go-to potting mix: Miracle-Gro with fertilizer.
Tropicana Fever (shade)
Alocasia Polly (tall center) tropical houseplant with scalloped arrowhead or heart-shaped leaves.
Gartenmeister fuchsia (center) with coral-red tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds.
Western fern (fine-textured filler).
New Guinea impatiens (mounding filler) with vivid red blooms.
Lemon Lime variegated maranta houseplant (spiller), also known as “prayer plant.”
Lysimachia or Creeping Jenny (cascading trailer).
Painting in a Pot (shade)
Caladium (tall center) tropical heart-shaped leaves splashed with neon pink.
Rieger begonia (mounding filler) with vibrant pink repeating the caladium color.
Autumn fern (upright arching lacy-leafed filler).
Angel vine (spiller).
Designer Kelsey Ness
For eye-pleasing vignettes: Pick plants you like, then start with the tallest in the middle or back and work your way down by height. Mix different foliage, such as a bronze leaf with a green leaf, to make it pop.
Fave filler: New popular sun-loving sunpatiens, which come in a wide range of colors — from lilac pinks to bright orange.
Her go-to potting mix: Lynde brand of peat moss, compost and perlite.
Tropical Getaway (sun)
Florida Red cordyline houseplant (tall center) boasts showy purple-red foliage to contrast with green-foliage fillers.
Vista bicolor salvia (mounding filler) with red and white blooms.
Deep Rose sunpatiens (mounding filler) with sharp-edged foliage; attracts hummingbirds.
Easy Wave Silver petunias (mounding filler) repeat purple in cordyline.
Mezoo Trailing Red dorotheanthus or Livingstone Daisy (mounding trailer) with succulent variegated foliage accented with red dime-sized flowers.
Triple Treat (shade)
Camilla dieffenbachia (tall center) tropical houseplant with variegated foliage that repeats the green in the impatiens (note: can be poisonous — keep out of reach of children and pets).
Super Elfin Pink and Lipstick impatiens (mounding filler).
Party Time Burgundy Lancer coleus (trailer) with dark purple-red serrated leaves.