By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

When Kinsman Company started offering border columns for summer annuals, we tried them in Sunset's test gardens. Results were spectacular.

Designed by Pamela Crawford, these elevated containers have coco fiber liners that are pre-cut with side planting holes, so the trailing and spilling annuals don’t get in the way of those growing out the top of the container.

Just fill each border-column container with a combination of trailing and upright annuals and vines, and within a few weeks bloom will be spectacular. Fertilize, water, and deadhead occasionally for a riot of bloom and texture all summer long.

You can get border pillars in different heights and use them alone or in combinations. To buy, go to Kinsman Company; for more information about plant combinations and techniques, to go Pamela Crawford’s side-planting web site.