I do a lot of container gardening -- a lot. I use lots of big pots and group them, raise them up, create interesting areas and so on. You must have a drainage hole in the pot (I get my husband to drill them for me.). I use a piece of landscape cloth over the hole to prevent bugs crawling up inside the pot. If the pot is very large and heavy, put it where you want it first. You don't have to fill the whole container up with potting soil. I use up some of the space with small empty water bottles or soda cans, which friends save for me. I don't like the styrofoam peanuts, because if you ever need to replant, those blighters fly everywhere. Also, a lot of the packing peanuts are now made with a corn base and will just melt when water is added. For ornamental gardening in containers, remember the "thriller, filler and spiller" concept.
