|
 A pot of mums or asters can add color to your
front steps and a container filled with kale and greens adds fresh
flavor to your fall meals. But don’t stop there. Create attractive
potted gardens by combining asters, mums, grasses, cool weather
edibles and other fall beauties.
Spruce up an existing container by replacing weather worn annuals
with fresh fall favorites. Pansies, sweet alyssum and dianthus are
just a few annuals that hit their stride as cooler weather returns.
Or plant new container gardens for your fall landscape. Just select
a pot with drainage holes and fill it with a quality planting mix.
Or upcycle items like a wicker basket, small bushel basket, wooden
crate or galvanized tub into a fun fall planter. Just add drainage
holes before planting. Or scoop out a pumpkin and set a pot of
pansies or ornamental peppers inside.
Use ornamental grasses, kale, black-eyed Susans and Swiss chard for
vertical interest. Complement your plantings and containers with
garden art, gourds, mini pumpkins and berry-covered branches. Add a
mum or aster for a vibrant surge of color.
Include some trailing plants like golden moneywort, trailing lobelia
and ivy. Fill any voids with snapdragons, ornamental peppers,
colorful greens and coral bells. Just be sure to protect peppers and
any other frost-sensitive plants on those chilly nights.
Grow a container of Bright Lights Swiss Chard, colorful leaf lettuce
and pansies – the flowers are edible – for an attractive and edible
combination. Make your fall centerpiece an edible part of your
gatherings. Fill a metal colander or basket with red dragon arugula,
red mizuna mustard, red sails lettuce, bull’s blood beets and other
colorful greens in a metal colander or basket for your outdoor
gatherings.
[to top of second column] |
Test your container designs while shopping. Grab a
cart and gather the plants you would like to grow. See if the colors
and textures work well together. The bold leaves of plants like
ornamental cabbage contrast with the fine leaves of ornamental
grasses to create a focal point. Repeat colors from the flowers or
leaves of one plant to another to unify your planting. For example,
use a purple aster or pink mum to echo the colors of decorative
kale, pansies or the colorful leaf stems of Swiss chard.
Set containers on the front steps as a colorful autumn welcome.
Group several containers together for a garden of containers to
display on the deck, patio or balcony. This collection of container
gardens is sure to brighten your day when relaxing outdoors or
enjoying the view from inside the house looking out.
Go one step further and create a stunning autumn display by
combining fall planters with gourds, decorative squash and pumpkins.
Use corn stalks or broom corn for vertical interest or as a
backdrop. Then include bales of hay to elevate a few of the pots and
pumpkins for multiple levels of fall beauty. Dress it up further
with sprigs of American bittersweet, grape vines and other fall
décor.
A few fall planters can go a long way to help celebrate the
transition from summer to winter. The last blaze of color will warm
you as the temperatures start to drop.
[Photo credit: Melinda Myers, LLC]
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including
Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses How to Grow
Anything DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden
Moment TV and radio segments. Myers’ website,
www. MelindaMyers.com,
features gardening videos, podcasts, audio tips and monthly
gardening checklists.
 |
