I like a combination of tall, bulging and trailing in a clay pot that doesn't have to watered constantly. It's fun to try for a variety of textures as well.
So, I sometimes do an ornamental grass (small variety) with a drought tolerant annual or perennial like purple heart, just the two, or add a little moss rose.
And I'll usually add the gell to it to keep it from drying out quite as quickly.
I also do houseplants in the same pot, like Chinese Evergreen, pothos, and fern. I don't do hanging baskets anymore because the wind really whips around my house and I hate driving up at the end of the day to a mass of potting soil and smashed plants on the concrete under the carport.

I often stick a few starts of purple heart at the base of the brugmansia just to give it a little color at its feet. Right now I have chameleon plant in with purple heart and it's a real color riot!

I created a couple of baskets this weekend with the following "recipes"...

Basket 1:
Airplane plant
Coleus (lime and pink)
Begonia (red)
Impatients (red and white)
Proven Selections Herman's Pride (Lamiastrum galeobdolon) (silver)
Proven Winners Summer Wave Large Violet Torenia hybrid (purple)

Basket 2:
Asparagus fern
Sweet potato vine (lime)
Wave petunia (pink)

I still like the old tried and true red geranium with asparagus fern. I like the traditional look.

I've never heard of aspargus fern. I feel so 'green' on the garden board. But I'm willing to learn!

All I planted in separate pots were gerbra daisies. Hadn't thought to add anything else.

Asparagus fern is a commonly used filler plant in containers. If you go to any garden center they will have tons of it. It's a very hardy plant that takes our summer heat well once established. Alot of people feel like this plant has been overused but, I still like it. It's so easy to grow!

I thought of another combination that I used last year....
Tropicana Cana
Asparagus fern
Scaveola

I love mixing plants together in containers. Like OKC1, I like to have a variety of plants: something tall and spiky,
something full, rounded and 'bulging' and something trailing. I also like to mix textures and to plant contrasting colors.

Here's some of my faves:

In large 16" square containers last year, sitting in full sun on either side of our driveway gate, I had:

Purple Fountain Grass
Ornamental sweet potatoe "Marguerite"
A penta with green leaves and bright pink flowers
A lantana with darker green leaves and yellow flowers
Pink-flowered petunias trailing over the side of the pot in spring, replaced in summer by pink-flowered moss rose

Also in large 16" square containers I had this combination sitting in an area where it got morning sun up until about 1 p.m. and then afternoon shade:

Ornamental Millet "Purple Majesty"
Coleus--I don't remember the name--it had green and chartreuse leaves
Coleus--Alabama Sunset(? Sunrise? Sun something--it was from the Sun series)
Ornamental sweet potato "Blackie"
Ornamental sweet potato "Marguerite"

I combined different tropical plants into the same container last year. Each pot had one large tropical plant which had been inside all winter. To each pot I added several smaller tropical plants in contrasting colors and textures. I don't know the names of what all I used 'cause I'm not much of a tropical plant person, but the results were striking.

In my 'Chicken Coop' windowbox I had Dusty Miller for the white foliage, Midnight Dreams deep purple petunias, and black-eyed susan vine, used as a trailing plant to hang down. (Even though it was a vine, it couldn't climb, as it had nothing much to climb. I just pulled it out of the petunias and dusty miller when it tried to climb them, and forced it to trail downwards.)

That's all I can think of for now, but I'm going to plant my containers this weekend, so I'll have more later.

Dawn

This is a great thread. I'll be watching it for many ideas. Tonight I was looking through old garden pics trying to get a 'feel' for what I've done in the past. Keep those ideas coming! LOL