Petunias and snapdragons light up this pot.

Many people ask me how I got into landscaping and how I picked it as a career. While I usually answer that I just fell into it, I have to admit that when I look back, many of my earliest memories involve huge impressions of gardens. There were the stone rectangle planters in front of the town house on 28^th street in D.C., where I lived for my first five years, that my mom would let my sister and I each pick out annuals for one of them each year. Honestly I guess that was my first experience with garden design. I picked out some bright petunias and happily took ownership of them as they thrived in the warmth and humidity of my Washington childhood summers. I am happy to report that many years later, those planters are still there, having survived the sky rocketing ascent of D.C. real estate and bringing joy to urban gardens still forty years later.

I still find some of that magic in each set of containers that I have the pleasure to

Sweet Potato vine dominates this pot.

design and plant. The sticky smell of petunias, the cinnamon flavor of the snapdragons all bring be back to that magic of getting to know flowers for the first time. Sometimes petunias are enough, other times, the situation calls for a more contemporary look, like grasses and vines trailing out, but either way, they make summer special. The list that I embrace as we start our spring plantings include petunias and snaps, but also angelonia, verbena, licorice plant, variegated grasses, alyssum, sweet potato vine, penstemons, gaura, coleus, agastache, and many more. Remember, if there are rules, break them. This is your garden.