It may feel like the time of the gardening season to be putting everything away except the rake and broom.  Yet, nurseries are cutting prices on pots and containers to move things out the door, making it a perfect moment for starting or adding to your collection of planters.

On yesterday's Homegrown radio show, great gardener, good friend and Curator of Outdoor Collections at New York Botanical Garden, Kristin Schleiter and I were talking about some basics for selecting containers regardless of the time of year.

• When you're shopping, keep in mind not only the color of the pots, but the color of the surface they'll be sitting on.  Brick patios and paths call for warm toned terracotta colors.  Gray tones work well on wood decks and are the best neutral to highlight plantings while blending easily with most any material.

• Mix your container styles, but keep the color the same.  Neo-classical with modern with Renaissance inspired designs all work well together if you keep them in one tone, be it gray, clay, or glazed.

• Scale is important.  Large containers call for a special spot to be seen at their best, filling an empty corner or as a point of interest in a border or back of a garden.

• Think of containers working 'architecturally'.  Use them singularly or in groups to flank a gate, denote a path, or call out an entry.

• Plantings should be the emphasis.  Large pots love an anchor like a conifer, Japanese maple, or boxwood.  Softening the edges with annuals is great, but don't rule out perennials like Huechera, helebores, and all the new ivy cultivars that are tough, evergreen and a perfect accent.  A combination of these will make a great garden statement all year long.

• If you're in Zones 6 and lower, shop for resin based or fiberglass containers that will take the freezing and thawing weather of winter without cracking.

It's easy to keep gardening with all that you can do in containers.  Have fun!