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No offense intended to admirers of Romantic poetry, but someone should have planted something in that Grecian urn Keats wrote about ("Ode on a Grecian Urn") in 1819. Then he would have had even more fodder for his pen. Imagine a fine green vine with tiny flowers trailing over the side, and an explosion of blooms and foliage within.

For centuries, potted plants – often called by the prettier name "container gardens" – have both expanded and contracted the idea of gardening. The former because they allow the gardener more flexibility to indulge her fancy. The latter because they permit gardens in small spaces. A bonus is the ability to take your favorite plants with you when you move.

But these are only some of the reasons people exercise their green thumbs in containers. Here are more:

You have only a small space, or you have dirt, but it’s poor in places.

You want to enliven a fence with half-baskets of your favorite colorful blooms.

Pots of red geraniums dazzle the eye against a stark white patio stone.

You need the tomatoes that one container plant will supply, not a whole row.

You like a variety of colors, shapes and textures.

You want to use a pot as your bedding garden for transplanting later.

You want to try a new plant, and smaller is less of a risk.

Maybe the best reason of all: You prize both gardening and your time. One way to indulge the first and preserve the second is to use a container.

Now is a great time to plant your container, with the heat of summer discouraging more energetic digging. Here are some ideas to guide you on your way:

First, decide what you want to grow. Do you want a showy display? Or do you want to grow herbs? How about annuals that change with the seasons? Or perennials that will just need sprucing up occasionally?

Knowing what you want will help you determine where the plant will live, unless you only have a couple of places for your new garden. If your space is limited, be sure to study available lighting before deciding what to plant. Some plants need six hours of sunlight. Vegetable container gardeners will require eight to 10 hours.

Be creative when determining what kind of container to use. Grecian urns are great, but so are old work boots, or the teakettle you picked up at the flea market. Gardeners can turn all manner of things into planters, including barrels, baskets, mugs, colanders, metal buckets, wheelbarrows, watering cans and birdhouses.

Look at the container’s shape and size, its drainage capability, and make sure it has never held anything toxic. It should be big enough to hold the plant’s roots comfortably, as you don’t want to cram burgeoning roots in a small pot. The container also needs to be easy for you to move.

Next, consider your planting medium. Your garden might have great soil, but it’s likely too heavy to put in a container. Check with your local garden center on the best medium for a container garden. Many of them are in the business of selling readymade container gardens, and should be able to tell you what they like best and why.

Now that you know the what and the where and have selected the container and the medium, let’s choose your plants. Say you want to try a mixture of decorative plants. Remember to choose those with a similar growth rate to prevent a Mutt-and-Jeff situation in a few weeks. Also, all the plants in your container should have the same sun/shade and moisture requirements. Cactus and caladium may both start with C, but they have different water needs and probably would not look all that great beside each other anyway.

Experts on planting containers urge observing these rules:

• Focus. You need an extra-special plant to draw the eye.

• Balance. This provides a feeling of stability. It doesn’t mean that everything has to be symmetrical – asymmetry is fine – but the two sides still need to have the same visual weight.

• Form. Think soft and hard, tall and short, mounding and cascading. Variety will please the eye.

• Texture. Your container should feature coarse, medium and fine textures.

• Rhythm. This is the repetition of colors and textures.

• Proportion. Put a large plant or lots of them in a large container, and vice versa. Also, don’t use even numbers. Use three, five, seven, etc.

• Color. Use color wheel opposites, a blast of different colors, or even a subdued variation of the same color if that suits your taste.

Some good plants to use in containers that will help you follow these principals are, not in any particular order: Mexican feather grass, asparagus fern, blackfoot daisy, sedum, potato vine, hyacinth, dusty miller, and penta. That doesn’t even begin to address the herbs that will thrive in a pot.

Now that you know the rules, have fun breaking them. Just keep them in mind as you experiment with your creation. Here are some additional tips to get you on your way:

• Make a hole in the bottom of your container for good drainage, then block it partially to keep the dirt from disappearing. Some gardeners use a plastic mesh screen. Others use a pebble or a piece of broken pottery.

• Break up the roots or cut off rootbound plants. Don’t be afraid to crowd the plants in. If you lose a plant, others will fill in.

• Mulch your finished garden to reduce water usage.

• Check the soil moisture by using your finger. The soil should be moist to one inch below the surface. If it isn’t, water. Your container may need water daily this time of year.

• Leave 1 to 3 inches of space at the top of your container.

• Fertilize with compost or a slow-release fertilizer.

• Watch out for bugs.

Now, sit, have a cold drink, and admire your work. If you like, compose your own ode – you "urned" the privilege.

Barbara LeDoux Elmore grew up in Johnson City and gardens in Fredericksburg. She publishes a free online garden and home newsletter. To subscribe or suggest story ideas, e-mail her at barbara@digandletdig.com.