When the temperatures begin to slowly drop and the evenings get a bit cooler, you may look at your once-vibrant container gardens and notice they are getting a bit tired. Nothing can make your front porch or patio look sadder than containers filled with dying plants. Refresh your patio gardens with new splashes of color and bring a whole new look to your outdoor spaces!
Fall is a great time to plant container gardens; some people, like my Aunt Lou, don’t even bother with container gardens until fall. If you start them early in the season while Indian summer’s still-warm temperatures are here they can be left outdoors, where the warm soil will stimulate faster root growth, and help the plants to get established sooner. As the autumn progresses, the less frost-resistant varieties in containers can be brought indoors and placed in a sunny window when nighttime temperatures drop below freezing.
Annuals quickly provide more color in the landscape for longer periods of time than any other garden plants. They are versatile, sturdy and inexpensive, and there are still plenty of flowers that prefer the cool seasons to perform their best. Most sun annuals need at least 4 to 6 hours of sun per day, while shade annuals prefer just morning shade and can tolerate full shade as long as there is some filtered light.
Among sun-loving varieties consider alyssum, calendula, dianthus, Iceland poppy, ornamental cabbage and kale, pansies, phlox, snapdragon, stock, sweet pea and violas. For shadier locations, you can count on cyclamen, English primrose, fairy primrose (primula) and primrose to perform their best.
By far two of the most popular cool weather container perennials are chrysanthemums and asters. The advantage to planting them in containers is that you can bring them indoors to enjoy in the colder months until they go dormant. There are also many ornamental grasses and ivys that do well in the cooler months.
Begin by removing any summer plants from their containers that won’t survive the winter. These plants can be added to your compost pile-assuming they are disease and insect free. If they show signs of damage, throw them away with your other trash.
Most plants will perform better in containers that have been well-amended with an organic soil conditioner and a starter fertilizer. This helps ensure not only water retention but also good drainage; remember, frequent deep watering ensures healthy root growth.
We have a great selection of fall and winter plants just waiting to light up every corner of your porch and patio. When the dreary days of winter get you down, you can count on your fall container gardens to cheer you up and make your day!
Here’s just a few of our favorite container plants for fall…
(From left to right: Aster, Echinacea, Ornamental Kale and Heuchera)
