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To create a beautiful container garden, landscape designer Jan Johnsen recommends using plants with contrasting leaf textures and varying growth habits.

She suggests three different kinds of plants to a pot, including a tall element in the middle like a tree and a trailing plant over the edge to droop over the sides. Or try the no-fail method of sticking to one kind of plant, like impatiens or straw flower.

Colour is also key: A pot can be filled with soft, romantic colours like pink and lavender, or bold hues like red and purple. Johnsen says an eye-catching combination is a pot of primary colours red, blue and yellow. Or a monochromatic look, such as all white flowers with lots of green foliage, will brighten up a shady corner.

Johnsen, nursery manager Michele Terlizzi and Ray Rogers, author of "Pots in the Garden," has these 10 tips for planting and caring for container gardens:

* Decide where the pots are going. The choice of plantings depends on whether they're going in shady or sunny spots.

* Choose pots that suit the style of your house and garden or a whim, and plantings to go in them. Plants can share a container if they have the same need for sunlight or shade.

* While pots are generally low maintenance, they require more watering than an in-ground garden because the plants absorb water faster. If you are going on vacation, invest in a plant sitter to water once or twice a week.

* Add a slow-release fertilizer to help plants continue blooming all summer.

* Watch the weight: Once a pot is planted, it can get heavy and collapse a deck or be difficult to move.

* Make sure the pot has a hole for drainage, which prevents root rot. Most, but not all, pots come with holes. A hole can be drilled into certain types of pots like plastic and wood.

* Add pot feet to raise the pot to help with drainage.

* Try different combinations in your pots. If you don't like it, you can easily change it.

* Fear not: "Don't be afraid to make a mistake," says Rogers. "The thing I see so much is people come into a nursery and very timidly say, 'Does this look good together?' If you like it, by all means do it."

* If you're working with a landscape designer or nursery to create your pots, ask for the rates and to see a sample of their work. Some nurseries don't charge to plant the pots if you buy the materials from them; others do.