In honor of my dear friend, Margo Shaw, founder of Flower magazine and one of the headliners for the 2026 Newport Flower Show, I’m taking a page from her new book, Flowering Outdoors, for today’s blog…inspiring floral touches for outside spaces and entertaining.

Like the sentiment mentioned in her new book, I thrill to the chic that containers bring to an outdoor space…and how indisputably valuable they are as important details to be considered. Paraphrasing Margot, flowering the outdoors requires an understanding of scale and proportion, strategic plant material selection, a deft use of color, and beauty. “We’re presuming to improve upon the landscape in some ways, and that involves true artistry”.

Containers are a prized fixture of any garden. From flopsy and charming to breathtaking and dramatic, no matter what you choose to call them…containers, planters, urns,pots, jardinieres they provide the perfect mix of high and low style….and this month they are “strutting their stuff.”

Making an entrance deserves some attention…here at Parterre a pair of antique rams’ head urns (I’m an Aries) provide a welcome note to the front courtyard.

I was thinking, if it’s good enough for Louis XIV, his Versailles boxes could also become the signature of Parterre (in wood, and scaled to our architecture, of course). This year we elected to center them with gardenia standards; the aroma wafting through the windows is sublime!

Fresh green ivy, that twines throughout a topiary frame, drawing well deserved attention to a backdrop that can truly only be seen up close and personal…150 year old bronze gates that wear their verdi gris coloration so handsomely.

Or gathering peonies in a massed arrangement to enjoy this favorite plant in all its glorious details.

Taking a moment to enjoy the single bloom of soon-to-be twining clematis tendrils, full with their blossoms. It always brings deep satisfaction to enjoy a planned garden detail that doesn’t disappoint…all the more reason to record these details.

And I can never ignore the Orangerie (a surprise Christmas gift from hubby when we were building Parterre). The centerpiece of the entire garden, draped with 2 different roses on the east and west sides that are always in some state of coming or going. Each year we have a different set of plant material highlighting them.

Creating backdrops for a narrow row of three stately cement urns showcased against brilliant chartreuse Lady’s Mantle is my way of honoring a nurseryman from whom I learned so much about decorating a garden (Allen Haskell)…starting with these urns.

Lets not overlook those containers that provide a big favor to the gardener…fillers for empty spots that pop up in a June garden. A dramatic white stone container planted with a pop of red begonias draws your to it specifically.

Here’s to happy planting. Hope to see you at the Newport Flower Show this weekend, Friday, June 19-Sunday, June 21.