The mornings and evenings are getting cooler. We even see some leaves turning orange and red so we know that Autumn is in the air. It’s the perfect time to bring some of those vibrant Fall colors into your yard, on your patio or deck or anywhere you like to show off a beautiful Fall planter.
In this blog, we’ll teach you how to create a vibrant, long-lasting planter that you can enjoy until the frost comes…which we hope is still several weeks away in Northeast PA!
Before you get started, it’s important to know which plants you want to feature in your Fall planter.
Keep in mind that for the most visually-appealing planter, it should contain the following three elements:
1. a tall fountain piece to serve as your backdrop; choose something such as Fireworks Fountain Grass or some other ornamental grass;
2. include colorful plants for your centerpiece as filler; choose a Mum, a Black-eyed Susan, a fuzzy pink Celosia and perhaps an ornamental pepper plant with a deep dark purple color; and finally,
3. include a trailing plant like an ornamental ivy that cascades out of your planter. A variegated ivy adds the beauty of leaves that are edged or patterned in a second color, especially white as well as green.
Once you have selected a variety of vibrant, colorful plants to feature in your fall planter, it’s time to get to work!
Here are some tips to create your beautiful statement piece that says, “Welcome Fall!”
- Use a light container. Once you get soil, plants and water in there, it can become quite heavy. And keep in mind, you may want to move it from the front porch to the back patio, and so on.
- Use a high-quality potting soil with perlite (this is different from top soil). This helps prevent the plants from becoming flooded.
- Wet the plants in their individual containers first and wet the soil in your planter container.
- Some plants growing in their pots may have become root-bound, which means they’re getting too big for the container they were in. You may need to do trimming at the bottom. Think of it as giving the plant a healthy hair cut. Use your pruning shears to snip snip.
- Place plants close together but not so close that you don’t allow room for growth as many will continue to grow.
- With proper care, your Fall planter will bring beauty and joy to your garden until the frost hits.
Click here for the demonstration by our garden center specialist Shelly Niefert that was featured recently on WNEP’s Home and Backyard.