Thriller, Filler, Spiller

The garden stores are bursting with plants—and customers.  Count me among the people who are answering the “call of the wild”…flowers, that is.  The soil around my house is not extremely plant-friendly, and along with the dozens of deer who graze our property, my green thumb sometimes shrivels.  One way I combat these problems is to plan and plant arrangements in containers.  Containers are a win-win-win situation: I spend less time and back-breaking work trying to amend the soil; I can choose a wide variety of plants in multi-colored hues and textures, and most important of all, I can use a spray labeled Deer Resistant on small containers, which is just not practical for a large flower bed. (Spoiler alert: Deer do not always read labels.)

My first attempts years ago at container planting were attractive but lacked imagination: pots of monochrome petunias or baskets of Boston ferns.  Thumbing through garden magazines and browsing nurseries, I dreamed of creating some show-stopping arrangements. I never quite found the secret until I learned the container-planting principle of three: thriller-filler-spiller.  I could create that photo-worthy container with a thriller– a largish plant, bold in color, texture, or form; a filler- plants that complement the color scheme and cover the soil; and a spiller– plants that cascade over the pot’s edges.  Once I knew this secret, I discovered that almost any arrangement that impressed me was planted in this simple, effective way.  Designing a lovely container didn’t require a degree in horticulture, though I still needed to account for similar light and water needs.  I started out using familiar plants: thrilling yellow coneflowers, filling coleus, spilling sweet potato vine.  Once I received my first compliment (I gave it to myself), I was off and running… to every garden store I could find.  I’ve grown more knowledgeable about my choices of plants and varieties, and I’ve had some misses along the way, but the thriller-spiller-filler principle never fails. It’s the simple recipe for an always surprising, never boring, visual floral treat.

Over the weekend, I spent several hours outdoors planting flowers from last week’s garden store foray. I gathered up clay and plastic pots from various corners of the yard, mixed up some potting soil and compost, selected the plants, and started to work.  The pots now grace the patio with their thrilling, filling and spilling beauty.  There is something strangely satisfying in any arrangement of three things, such as patterns in nature and principles of landscape design. The leap from this common gardening principle of three to some home-spun spiritual principles seems a natural fit to me. Here is an imaginative take on the thriller, filler and spiller aspects in my spiritual garden.  

Thriller- These are the mountaintop experiences that energize my soul and draw me unmistakably into God’s Presence. These are the Oh Wow moments in any spiritual quest: a spiritual retreat, a meeting of minds and souls with a companion; a moment of clear direction from an unexpected source.

Filler- These everyday spiritual practices give necessary detail and steadiness to my life, through prayers, contemplative walks and more. It would be a mistake to think that everything spiritual has to be an unforgettable deeply moving encounter.  God is in the fillers too.

Spiller-Spillers are feelings, ideas, and insights that spill out and over the boundaries of my life. Music is often the way that the Spirit spills out into my own with cascades of melodies. I pray that my life spills out to others as well.

  The thriller-filler-spiller guideline honed my gardening skills, but it was never a secret. This idea has been around for decades. It was my awareness of it that was new, spurred by a curiosity to read and observe and experiment. Suddenly, I saw the underlying design that was behind all those beautiful containers in the magazines. The same is true of the thrillers, fillers and spillers in my “garden”. God captures my attention with an increased awareness of the different ways I can experience God’s presence.

I end this flowery tale with no recommendations, flowers or spiritual, for thrillers, fillers, or spillers. They are there in our lives already; it is only our awareness that sometimes need piquing. That is the satisfying part of living the life of a gardener, or of striving to be a seeker of the holy in our everyday lives. There are 1000s of different types of plants to choose, and more than 1000s of ways that our lives reflect God’s Presence. Thrillers-fillers-spillers raise our awareness of an always surprising, never boring, vibrant spiritual life. 

Insert Tile

This tile is a “scrape” painting, made with multi-colored tempera paint covered with black crayon, and… a credit card (expired, of course!).  As you scrape off the black crayon with swirling, twisting movements, a picture slowly appears.  It’s always a surprise what emerges, and each painting is unique.  It reminds me of a close-up of a lush garden arrangement, complete with thrillers, fillers, and spillers. You may see other ways this tile depicts the surprising ways that our spiritual lives can flourish.

O God, thank you for your thrilling presence that fills our hearts and spills over and beyond the edges of our lives.