Containers made from cement composite materials provide a practical “blank slate” for designing and planting. The Venice line of planters from IOTA have the contemporary look of brush cement with the lightweight and strong construction of a composite material and design.

Unlike many other molded cement, composite, or plastic pots, the styling of the Venice planters is sleek and modern. While exquisite in and of themselves, these composite material planters are showcases for any type of plant. They won’t compete with the plants, but will enhance the plants’ natural beauty.

Coordinating Materials

When specifying containers and planters for a commercial or residential landscape, it’s essential that the planters coordinate with other features in the landscape. If this is not considered, the planters will stick out like a sore thumb. Venice cement composite planters are light gray in color with some color variation.

The gray undertones and cement “patina” look of this composite material come together to form a fairly neutral effect that will work with almost any other materials specified. Dark red, untextured brick and bright, synthetic materials are more difficult to coordinate with natural materials compared to Venice planters. Equally at home poolside, outside contemporary steel and glass buildings, and on wood decks, these garden pots coordinate best with other materials that have natural variation.

Specifying Style

The shapes of the pots are equally as important when specifying for use as are the colors. The straight-sided cube and trough shapes are more contemporary than the tapers. The rounded bottom containers can go either way—the setting and the plants will determine whether they skew contemporary or classic-country in style.

The way the pots are grouped also determines the style. Repeating the same container in a line is more formal and modern than grouping the same containers in different sizes. To lead the eye to a focal point, create a “hallway” of garden pots—the same containers repeated. To stop the eye and give it a resting point, create a grouping with various sizes of planters—two short and one tall taper—for example.

Planting for Long-Term Health and Beauty

To make sure the garden planters you include in your design look good for more than a season, plant slow-growing trees, shrubs, and evergreen perennials. These plants will not grow out of their containers in a season or two, and they’ll look good year-round. Succulents make good choices for pots because they’re drought-tolerant and long-lived.

Plant Choices

Palms are excellent for container gardens. They aren’t actually trees. Palms are in the same plant family as grasses, and they don’t have deep, material-breaking roots. Cycads are distantly related to palms, and they are also good plant choices. Cycads look great in shorter garden planters with rounded bottoms.

Aloes, agaves, and other succulents look lovely in the Venice planters, provided that they are cold-hardy to the area where they’re planted. Be careful about specifying agaves with long spines for containers that will be placed at eye-level in public areas. Aeonium are succulents that behave more like perennials and will go dormant during hot, dry summers. Stay away from them.

Evergreen perennials such as leopard plant and lavender are softer choices that nicely compliment both straight-sided and rounded garden pots. Agapanthus are bulbs that grow like evergreen perennials. When not blooming, they have grass-like fleshy leaves that soften the edges of Venice tapers, troughs, and cubes.

Palms and dracaena are excellent choices for indoor planting with IOTA’s composite Venice planters.

By matching existing site materials with the cement composite of the Venice planters range and coordinating plant selections to match materials, light, and traffic conditions, you can create an exquisite, contained garden that adds to the overall architectural design.

If you have any further inquiries, don’t hesitate to comment below.