Pretty Fall Containers

2 Materials
$50
1 Hour
Easy
Cheap and simple updates to make your container plantings look great through the fall. Plus plenty of inspiration for making a really beautiful fall container planting from scratch.
Busy as I find myself, I wanted to give the garden a bit of a fall update.  My hanging baskets and some container plantings still look nice, so I am leaving them as they are. Other containers need a few seasonal touches. Then there are also two large metal urns that need a complete overhaul!
On the weekend I went looking for plants and a little inspiration at Terra Greenhouses. They always manage to have nice fall arrangements.
Here's an example of the inspiration I found...
I bought a bunch of ornamental peppers, some flowering annuals and a few ornamental cabbages for my updates.
I find that ornamental cabbages cope with the frosty nights of late fall really well and are worth the investment. In mild years, I have had them last well into November.
Another plant that I love to use in fall containers is Coleus (sold as an annual at garden centres). Coleus can have wacky splashes of bright colors, but my favourites have become the cultivars with solid colored leaves. When the foliage is a deep, rich color, the leaves look as though they are made of velvet.
Oak leaf Crotons are actually indoor plants, but  their leathery leaves can take quite a bit of cold making them perfect for fall containers.  At the end of the season you can wash them (to remove any passengers) and bring them indoors for the winter.
The big urn near our back gate needed a bit of an overhaul. The ivy geranium and the sweet potato vine were still looked good.  Why throw them out when they were perfectly good? I removed a few of the annuals that were past their prime and began to replace them. I added in two Coleus, an ornamental pepper and a Celosia. To balance the chartreuse of the sweet potato vine, I also included a Sedum Orpin 'Lemon Ball'.
Here's a numbered breakdown of the plants: 1. Coleus 2. Coleus 3. Celosia 4. Sweet Potato Vine 5. Ornamental Pepper 6. Ivy geranium 7. Sedum Orpin 'Lemon Ball'.
I filled this urn from scratch. I used: 1. Celosia 2. Fountain Grass, Pennisetum 3. Dusty Miller (which I find deals with the cold really well) 4. an ornamental pepper 5. an ornamental cabbage 6. Coleus
Here's the final project. The garden is ready for fall.
Love to see more garden inspiration? Take a tour of this garden by clicking the link below.
Suggested materials:
  • Ornamental Pepper Plant   (Ornamental Cabbages)
  • Coleus Plant   (Annual flowers and plants)
Three Dogs in a Garden
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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