How to Decorate Your Fall Planter Boxes

Fall planter boxes can easily create a beautiful autumn setting for your porch. As summer begins to fade into fall, you can give your front porch a facelift and add curb appeal simply by adding vibrant fall flowers to your planter boxes. Autumn is perhaps one of my favorite seasons! I love all the colors and texture that come along with the changing of seasons. Fall is also a great time to spruce up your front porch. Naturally I was so excited when I recently received two gorgeous black Tetra 11-Gallon planter boxes from Loll Designs for our front porch. I had so much fun shopping for and planting fall perennials and annuals in these new container boxes.

MAKE YOUR PORCH STAND OUT THIS FALL WITH BEAUTIFULLY DECORATED FALL CONTAINER GARDENING BOXES 

In this blog post I am going to share with you how I created fall planter boxes for both our family’s front porch and back patio using our new planter boxes from Loll Designs. Hopefully these fall planter boxes will inspire you to freshen up your porch or patio with some fall foliage! Continue reading for some fall planter box ideas and inspo:

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE

The Flowering Farmhouse teamed up with Loll Designs for this blog post. This means that I received product in exchange for candid feedback. The opinions expressed on this blog are my own. As a result, all brands and products that I feature represent and showcase items that I personally use or like.

Planter Boxes From Loll Designs

Finding the Right Planter Boxes For Our Front Porch

I had been searching for quite awhile to find the perfect planter boxes for our front porch. When I began my search for the perfect planter boxes I found mostly plastic containers. It was important to me that if I went with plastic planters that they be made out of recycled plastic. During my search, I discovered Loll Designs, an innovative company that makes high quality outdoor products crafted in the USA. All of Loll Designs products are made primarily from recycled plastic- mostly from single-use milk jugs. I was super impressed with this company’s commitment to the environment and their high level of quality products.

We ended up picking out two of the 11-gallon Tetra Planters from Loll Designs for our front porch. The 11-gallon Tetra Planters are perfect on the sides of our front door. I love how their design compliments our modern farmhouse porch. We also chose the Mondo 7-Planter (80 gallon) for our back patio. The Mondo 7-Planter fits perfectly under the window on our back patio. Both of these planters come in multiple color options; however we chose black to match our black and white modern farmhouse look.

The planters shipped quickly from Loll Designs and arrived ready for us to assemble. I am super impressed by the high quality construction and the ease in which we were able to put these sturdy planters together. I was able to quickly assemble the two 11-gallon Tetra Planters. My husband and I worked together to assemble the Mondo-7 Planter.

Find The Perfect Fall Flowers At Your Local Plant Nursery

“Autumn Is A Second Spring Where Every Leaf Is A Flower.” -Albert Camus

Once our planter boxes were assembled, it was time to find the perfect fall plants to put inside them. My daughter and I went to our local nursery, Good News Gardening, to find the perfect fall flowers for our planters. We love our “mommy-daughter dates” to this nursery. It’s always a fun outing for us as our local nursery also has a bakery inside with the best giant snickerdoodle cookies! After finishing our treat, I always love finding so much inspiration wandering the isles looking at all their beautiful plants!

Making Sure WE HAVE THE RIGHT PLANTS AT THE NURSERY

At the nursery, I picked out a handful of plants to fill our planter boxes both in the front and backyard. Since we sometimes have a relatively short fall growing season, I chose to buy more plants now to make sure the containers were full to start. (This makes it so you don’t have to wait for the plants to grow and fill in the planter). I laid out the plants at the nursery to make sure I had the following for each planter: tall plant for height (grass), statement pieces (varying sizes of ornamental kale), fillers (mums and pansies) and a trailing plant (Lysimachia). Laying out the plants at the nursery also gave me a good visual to see how these plants would look arranged together back home in the containers.

Ideas For What Fall Foliage To Put In Your Planter Boxes

Fall plants and foliage we chose for our planter boxes:

• Chrysanthemum (Garden Mums)- annual in some areas
• Pansies- annual
• Ornamental Kale, Coral Queen and Dynasty White- annuals
• Lysimachia “Aurea”, Golden Creeping Jenny- Perennial 
• Purple Fountain Grass- annual in most growing zones

Other fall plants and flowers that work well in planter boxes:

• Coral Bells
• Verbena
• Sedum
• Asters
• Black-Eyed Susans
• Echinacea (Coneflower)

How To Arrange Your Fall Planter Boxes

For our fall front porch planter boxes, I wanted them to really stand out and pop with the fall foliage! In order to create the perfect fall look for our porch, I combined fall flowers that had varying heights, texture, and color.

Here are the steps I took to arrange our fall planter boxes:

Start with a tall planter box.

We used our Loll Designs 11-Gallon 20’’ Tetra Planter. If you are placing your planter boxes by your front door, I recommend using one on each side of the door to create symmetry.

Next, fill the containers with Potting Soil

To ensure better drainage and to use less soil, I actually turned a plastic container upside down to create space at the bottom of the planter for drainage (this allows you to also use less soil for a large planter). I recommend using potting soil vs dirt or compost. This is so that your soil is already amended with important nutrients that your container plants need to grow strong and healthy. Do not fill the container all the way with potting soil yet. I like to leave some room in the container for the plants (you will top your container with soil once all plants have been planted).

Water Down plants before planting

Before you start planting, I like to water down all of the plants while they are still in their containers. This helps them come out of the container and also loosens up the roots for planting. I will also lightly water the soil in the planter box as it tends to compact down after watering (if needed, add more soil to your container).

Start by planting the tall grass

Once the plants have been well watered, you can start by planting your fountain grass for height. We used Purple Fountain Grass for our backdrop as I love the deep color for fall. I placed the fountain grass at the back of the planter. When you remove the plant from it’s small container, you will want to loosen up the roots by gently scratching them. This will loosen them so that they can move freely and root down in your planter box (you will want to do this with each plant you put in the container box). It is common for nursery plants to get root-bound and have their roots all woven tightly together as they outgrow their small nursery container.

Add Statement Pieces, Fillers & Trailing pieces next

Next, add your ornamental kale and/or cabbage for your statement pieces. I used one large ornamental kale and two smaller kales. I placed the larger one in the center and the two smaller ones to the sides of the planter. 

Add chrysanthemums and pansies next. I then added these in between the kale to fill in gaps and make the planter appear fuller.

Finish by planting a trailing plant near the front of the planter box. I used Lysimachia “Aurea,” Golden Creeping Jenny to add contrast and to add a trailing plant. This helps balance out the planter and create a nice visual for the eye.

Fill In Using planter using remaining soil

Once all plants have been planted, use your remaining potting soil to fill in the gaps between your plants. I prefer to use my hands for this step instead of a shovel. This allows me to carefully put the soil between the plants and gently pat it down. Be sure to also brush off any extra soil that may be covering your plants.

Give the plants one more watering. Be careful not to water them too much. You may need to add a little more soil after watering as the soil does tend to settle.

How To Care For Your Fall Planter Boxes

Caring for your fall planter boxes is also important! Plants need regular watering and also fertilizer to stay healthy. It can be really easy to over or under water your planter boxes. I like to use a moisture meter to make sure that I don’t overwater my plants. Using a meter takes the guesswork out of how wet or dry the soil is. Each week I also fertilize my potted plants with Super Bloomer. I mix the Super Bloomer plant food with water in a watering can and then carefully water the plants. Fertilizing is especially important if you want your mums to produce an abundance of fall flowers.

Importance of Deadheading Your Fall Mums

In order for your planter boxes to keep blooming throughout the fall growing season, you will want to regularly deadhead your mums. This can easily be done by cutting off the spent blooms. Simply use a good pair of garden scissors and cut below the spent bloom. By deadheading, you will encourage the plant to produce new growth and more flowers. You will be rewarded with bigger and fuller mums when you make the time to deadhead your mums.

Creating A Long Window Planter Box With Fall Foliage and Plants On Our Back Patio

I created a similar fall planter box for our backyard using many of the same plants and flowers as I did on our front porch. For our back patio, we placed the Mondo 7-Planter (80 gallon) directly below our dining room window. I love how this planter spreads the distance of our window and really adds a nice contrast against our white house.

Fall Plants & Flowers I Used In This Planter Box:

• Ornamental Kales 
• Edible Green Cabbage
• Coral Bells (Heuchera Cultivars)
• Mums
• Pansies

Just like in the front yard, I started by filling this planter box with soil. I then added the plants, starting with the ornamental kale and coral bells. Next I added the mums between the ornamental kale. Finally, I filled in the planters with the pansies.

Add Pumpkins And Gourds for decor

One of my favorite childhood memories is going to the pumpkin patch every October. Now that I’m grown up and have a flower field, I always save space to grow our own pumpkins. I love growing all sorts of varieties ranging in shape, size, and color. Once it is pumpkin season, you can also further dress up your fall planter boxes by tucking in pumpkins and gourds to your planter boxes. I am waiting for my pumpkins to be ready and as soon as they are, you can bet that I will be dressing up our planter boxes with our homegrown pumpkins!

Now It’s Your Turn To Create Your Own Fall Container Boxes!

I hope that this blog post has inspired you to try creating your own fall planter boxes. You too can have a green thumb and a beautiful autumn porch with fall foliage! If you decide to plant a fall container box, I’d love to hear how it goes. You can always message me below, or if you’re on Instagram, tag me at @thefloweringfarmhouse so I can see what you create. If you found this post helpful, I’d be grateful if you’d take a moment to leave a comment below. Thank you for taking your time to read my blog post on creating your own fall planter boxes!

Here’s a quick time lapse showing the assembly of one of the 11-gallon Tetra Planters.