A Danish container garden

Gardening superstar Claus Dalby: here’s how he combines plants and colors in his garden of 2,000 pots from spring to fall

Danish gardener Claus Dalby’s container arrangements are fascinating compositions where flowers and foliage create a perfect balance. Half a million followers admire them on Instagram. Here’s how the arrangements change from season to season!

Author Heidi Haapalahti

Images Claus Dalby

March 17, 2025Lue suomeksi

Claus Dalby is Denmark’s number-one garden guru, and people have become familiar with his style through his many TV shows and books, and nowadays increasingly through his social media channels. For example, on Instagram, he has nearly half a million followers.

Claus’s love for gardening was sparked on his first visit to the Danish artist Anne Just’s famous Haven i Hune garden in 1996.

“I’ve always been interested in beautiful things and home décor, but at that time, the garden meant almost nothing to me. I only intended to discuss publishing Anne’s book through my publishing company, but the garden’s lushness, abundance of flowers, and artistic flair made a huge impression on me. I went home filled with new enthusiasm for gardening,” Claus says.

Claus Dalby in his container garden — Claus Dalby. Photo: Christina Greve

Claus Dalby’s container garden — Varieties with lime-green leaves are some of Claus Dalby’s favorites. He thinks they pair well with flowers of any color.

His friendship with Anne Just quickly drew Claus deeper into the world of gardens. They traveled together to gardens in England, and before long, they were also hosting a gardening show on Danish television.

“My house used to be surrounded by 4,000 square meters of lawn. It was like a blank canvas that I began to paint. Now, 30 years later, there’s not a single patch of lawn. My container displays comprise around 2,000 pots, and I switch out the plants according to the season.”

Flowering bulbs in a spring container arrangement in Claus Dalby’s container garden — In spring, the container arrangements are brimming with flowering bulbs. According to Claus, it’s easy to combine cool-toned yellow and lime-green with white, but warm yellow can be a difficult color.

Purple spring flowers in Claus Dalby’s garden — Japanese maples bring shape and height to the moody spring container collection. The red-leafed container trees are the ‘Beni Maiko’ and the purple-leafed ones the ‘Sumi Nagashi’ variety. The almost black, deep-purple tulips include ‘Continental,’ ‘Queen of Night,’ and ‘Black Hero.’ The leaves of the ‘Isabella’ ornamental clovers and the rex begonias repeat the dark and purple hues. The few silver-leafed containers lighten the overall look.

Claus Dalby’s ‘Containers in the Garden’ book 2022 — The photos in this article are from Claus Dalby’s book “Containers in the Garden,” Cool Springs Press 2022.

Spring is orange

Colors have always been important to Claus Dalby, and he likes to use them all in his container arrangements. He finds pastel-colored flowers easiest, because you can’t really go wrong combining them, and they always look pretty.

“However, I’m even more drawn to many other colors these days. For instance, a sparkling orange—could anything be more fabulous? Many people see orange as a fall color, but I think it suits spring just as well.”

For combining colors, Claus suggests turning to the color wheel. You get a harmonious result by picking one color and pairing it with a neighboring shade. For example, after choosing red, you could move on the wheel toward either blue or yellow. If you want bolder color combinations, try mixing complementary colors, the ones that lie opposite each other on the color wheel. However, Claus never uses complementary colors in equal measures, as that would make the result too sparkling and restless. You can achieve a more appealing result by having one-third of one color and two-thirds of the other.

Claus believes a garden should also contain surprises. That’s why he has used structural elements and trimmed hedges to define views. The idea is that as you walk through the garden of the grand early 1900s manor house, you’re constantly met with something new.

“I love seeing how my garden visitors light up when they turn a corner and discover, for instance, a joyful pop of orange blooms.”

Orange spring flowers in Claus Dalby’s garden — The semi-double orange tulip ‘Princess Irene’ and the graceful ‘Ballerina’ are the stars of this spring arrangement. Their hues are echoed in the kumquat fruits and the pansies. For contrast, there’s the copper-leafed ninebark ‘Lady in Red’ and the dark-leafed wood spurge ‘Purpurea,’ whose lime-green blooms last about a month. After flowering, the spurge is cut back so it can produce fresh, even greener leaves. The ninebarks are also pruned during the summer to keep them compact.

A snow-white summer

A passionate relationship with color doesn’t mean white has no place in Claus’s garden. Part of the total fifteen garden rooms is dedicated to pure white flowers. Claus was particularly inspired by Sissinghurst’s famous White Garden in Kent, England, which Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson created in the 1930s.

“Of course, I pay a lot of attention to foliage colors when combining any color of blooms, but it’s especially crucial with white flowers. I don’t think a white-flowered arrangement looks nearly as elegant without gray and metallic silver foliage,” Claus points out.

White summer flowers in Claus Dalby’s container garden — Claus deliberately sticks to only a few specific white-flowered summer annuals. He thinks repeating the same plants creates a much more elegant effect than a mixed assortment of widely different white flowers. Among the hosta and dusty miller containers, you’ll find only white pansies, verbena, and nemesia. The tall silvery flower spikes belong to the ‘Cirrus White’ mealycup sage.

He has a host of favorite gray-tinged plants, but silver sage is his top pick. Its large leaves covered in soft hairs grow to an impressive size over the summer. Another one of Claus’s reliable grays is the dusty miller with oak-like leaves, long popular as a companion for summer flowers. Its new large-leafed variety ‘Angel Wings’ is especially eye-catching. Beyond gray and silvery plants, Claus likes to pair white flowers with white-variegated foliage, which is common in many hosta varieties, for example.

“Hostas are the best perennials for container growing. Every few years, we move them into bigger pots once the old ones become too cramped.”

The hosta ‘Francee’ in Claus Dalby’s garden — The hosta ‘Francee’ is one of the varieties Claus uses. Its white-edged leaves brighten arrangements of gray foliage and white blooms.

Nemesia ‘Karoo White’ in Claus Dalby’s container garden — The nemesia ‘Karoo White’ blooms in white all summer.

Verbena ‘Lanai Blush White’ in Claus Dalby’s garden — The verbena ‘Lanai Blush White’ also attracts butterflies.

‘Halcyon’ hosta in Claus Dalby’s garden — Hostas often have lovely blue-gray shades in their large leaves. The color of the ‘Halcyon’ hosta stays most beautiful in partial shade.

Purple summer flowers in Claus Dalby’s container garden — Dahlias add height to a plant collection. In Claus’s view, they always need companion plants, such as the lime-leafed ‘Lime Time’ coleus, the ‘Golden Jubilee’ anise hyssop, the ‘Aurea’ great wood-rush, and the *Rubus cockburnianus* ‘Goldenvale’ shrub. In other pots, he grows summer flowers like the pale lilac spider flower ‘Señorita Rosalita,’ the violet-blue mealycup sage ‘Midnight Candle,’ and the striking purple lobelia ‘Hadspen Purple’.

Blue container flowers in Claus Dalby’s container garden — Blue flowers and lime-green leaves are, in Claus’s opinion, a foolproof combo. According to Claus, the lime-green heuchera ‘Lime Rickey,’ in the foreground, can be tricky to overwinter, while the trailing ‘Aurea’ creeping jenny is much simpler. The sweet mock orange and the ‘Darts Gold’ ninebark feature the same lush leaf color. Alongside the ‘Rozanne’ cranesbill in the middle are fairy fan-flower and the ‘Blue Horizon’ floss flower, all showcasing blue blooms.

Late summer glows with warmth

Claus keeps track of winning plant combinations all summer in a small notebook that he keeps in the pocket of his gardening apron.

“I may have been the first person who started creating mass plantings in containers. Over the years, I’ve developed my own style, and I enjoy blending different design trends and color palettes. Many people say they recognize my garden instantly from photos. I hope it inspires others to be bold with plants and colors as well.”

Orange summer flowers in Claus Dalby’s container garden — The large, exotic leaves of the canna lilies fascinate Claus more than their flowers. This lush late-August arrangement displays the stunning striped-leafed canna ‘B. Marley’ and the dark ‘Black Night.’ Both go beautifully with blooms in apricot and orange shades. Other foliage plants here include the purple ninebark ‘Diabolo’ and the heucheras ‘Marmalade’ and ‘Sweet Tea.’

Although Claus’s container garden initially seems filled to the brim with blooms, he emphasizes that foliage plants and small blossoms play equally important roles as the showy stars. Foliage ties everything together, while tiny flowers lighten the arrangements and add more nuances.

He sees the changing seasons as a blessing he wants to underscore in his container arrangements, showing off the best of each blooming period. It’s important to him that something is always in bloom, from the first snowdrops of early spring to the ornamental cabbages touched by the November frost. By late August, marigolds, dahlias, and zinnias blaze in the pots like a grand finale to the summer season.

“I often feel it’s a pity that so many people concentrate only on the early summer in their gardens, forgetting about later-blooming plants. Then by late summer or fall, there’s nothing left to anticipate.”

See also clausdalby.dk, YouTube @clausdalbyenglish, Instagram and Facebook @clausdalby.

Linnétagetes ‘Burning Embers’ in Claus Dalby’s container garden — Marigolds are, in Claus’s view, an unfairly underrated late-summer flower. His favorite is the old classic linnétagetes, known as ‘Burning Embers.’

Pompon dahlia ‘Bantling’ in Claus Dalby’s garden — The pompon dahlia ‘Bantling’ has a soft apricot tone.

Nemesia ‘Sunsatia Blood Orange’ in Claus Dalby’s garden — You can’t miss the intensely colored blooms of the ‘Sunsatia Blood Orange’ nemesia.

Zinnias ‘Profusion Double Fire’ in Claus Dalby’s garden — The shorter zinnias of the Profusion series do better in pots than taller varieties, according to Claus. The bright red variety here is ‘Profusion Double Fire.’

Pink and gray container plants in Claus Dalby’s container garden in September — The theme colors of the entranceway container collection change yearly. In September, the ball-shaped chrysanthemums and the heathers bloom in the arrangement playing with pink and gray tones. Claus has paired them with the ‘Peppermint Spice’ heuchera, cushion bush plants, and the ‘Blue Cushion’ stonecrop that leans bluish-gray, as well as the ‘Leonore’ ornamental clovers, ivy, and wire vine. He’s also added spikemoss, whose lively green mounds perk up the scene.

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Gardening superstar Claus Dalby: here’s how he combines plants and colors in his garden of 2,000 pots from spring to fall

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