The fall foliage is about to explode in a firework’s display of color, but the gardens, shrubs and trees are about to turn bare, brown and gray, leaving us with only a touch of evergreen and a blue sky to color our world, until the white arrives.
Pull out those impatiens and geraniums from your planters and container gardens; it’s time for a splash of fall color in your landscape. Remember that some annuals do well overwintering indoors such as coleus, geranium and lantana. You can leave in your sweet potato vine or dracaena spikes; they can stand the cold and they aren't available for purchase this time of year, so leave them in.
Plant a beautiful budding perennial mum in the center of your container along with an ornamental pepper plant and ornamental cabbage or kale around the side. Add a few low-growing pansies along the front, and then find the perfect spot for a smaller pumpkin or gourd. If you have room behind the mum, add a small ornamental grass for height and even more texture. Add a bale of hay, a few corn stalks, and some perennial mums around the mailbox or front door, and your good through Thanksgiving.
Check out the slideshow for illustrated ideas. Also, below are photographs and more information about these cold-resistant plant materials for your fall container gardens. You can combine any of these plant materials for an easy-to-do, yet fancy fall-flower arrangement. Click for more details and available colors for each.
- Perennial chrysanthemum(Not floral mums)
- Pansies
- Ornamental pepper plants
- Ornamental cabbage
- Gourds
- Pumpkins
- Ornamental grass(Small) (Japanese blood grass or orange sedge)
- Sweet potato vine(leave in if you already have them planted)
- Dracaena spike (leave in if you already have them planted). These were originally houseplants and can be brought in for the winter.
- Indian Corn
Once we get notice of frost:
- Bring dracaena spike indoors as a houseplant for the winter.
- Remove sweet potato vine and find hidden sweet potato under the soil and store for use next year.
- Cut back mum and plant in a sunny location in the ground.
- Cut back ornamental grass and plant in the ground.
- Pick edible peppers and bring them in to dry or bring entire plant indoors and place in a sunny window.
Unless you have full sun all day, the only thing remaining in bloom here in the Philadelphia region are a few rose bushes, the hardy annual Lantana, the fading perennial blooms of Asters, Chrysanthemum, Black-eyed Susan, Perovskia, Daisy, Helianthus, and Sedum Autumn Joy, and the spent flowers on the shrubs Hydrangea, Butterfly bush and Crape Myrtle. Pull the annuals this week and do some fall decorating outdoors. Color your world!
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