Out with the old: 

Fall can be a second spring if you refresh and renew and your summer container gardens. Here are some classic autumn bloomers that you can use to replace summer weary annuals and bedding plants. Once your petunias are looking leggy, your marigolds seedy, and your coleus are nipped by cooler nights; these plants will keep pots looking perky:

Winter Pansies: 

Look for pansy plants with smaller blooms, if you want pansies that are most weather resistant. In mild winter climates you can plant pansies in the fall and enjoy the flowers all winter and into the summer months as well. In cold winter climates place your pots containing pansies close to the house where they will protected from freezing temperatures for as long as possible. You can also combine pansy plants with pumpkins to display in autumn containers. The variety “Jolly Joker” is a pansy with bright orange and purple petals that looks great in a container that uses mini orange pumpkins as an accent.

Tip:

Keep removing the faded flowers from your pansy plants to insure continuous blooms.

Anemone, Japanese Windflowers: 

A fall blooming perennial with spreading roots, this winter hardy plant will fill a container with months of fall and autumn blooms, and keeping the roots contained in a pot will prevent this ambitious plant from spreading into other beds. The daisy like blooms are held high on tall stems so you can use this plant in the center or in the back of a container and add lower growing fall color such as heucheras or pansies at the base. Anemones do well in the shade so they are a good choice for containers that may be under a porch or roof overhang that get little sunshine. The classic white Japanese Windflower called ‘Honorine Jobert’ may grow to four feet tall so unless you have a very large container, use the more compact varieties such as the pink blooming ‘Pretty lady Diana’ that blooms on stems under two feet tall.

Tip:

After growing for a few years in a container move your Japanese Windflower plant into the garden or the hefty root system may break apart your pot. This tough perennial is perfect for growing under trees in dry shade where the poor soil will help to keep the rampant growth in check.

Heuchera, Coral Bells: 

It’s all about the leaf with this compact, mounding perennial and filling fall container gardens with the bright foliage of heucheras plants will provide color all autumn and through the winter months. Related to native coral flower plants, some heucheras varieties can handle winter temperatures as low as negative 40 degrees. The variegated creamy white and green leaves of Heuchera ‘Snow Angel’ adds a touch of pink to the foliage in cooler weather and the deep ruby leaves of Heuchera ‘Obsidian’ look almost black to provide a beautiful contrast to silver or golden foliage plants such as the lamiums that might also share a container for fall and winter color.

Tip:

There is an explosion of new heucheras varieties in a rainbow of colors now available. To make the most of your container design place a solid color heuchera, such as the lime green ‘Lime Marmalade,’ next to the busy foliage of the purple and green ‘Marvelous Marble’. Pairing up solid colors with richly veined or variegated leaves is a design tip that keeps the foliage colors from fighting for attention.

Lamium: 

Low growing and semi evergreen, perennial lamiums are often used as woodland groundcovers but this sparkling silver foliage plant will light up your autumn containers especially if your pots are kept in an area that receives little sunshine. The leaves of lamium ‘Ghost’ are almost white, and they contrast well with the deep purple blooms that will pop up on the plant in the spring. Lamiums are perfect for using around the edge or in the front of a fall container design as the foliage will spill over the sides in a restrained manner that gives a bountiful look to any pot of plant material.

Tip:

You can shear back potted lamiums in the spring and enjoy them in mixed container gardens during the summer months. After a full year, transplant your potted lamiums to the landscape where they can be used as a groundcover that will block out weeds in shaded areas. Lamium may overtake a bed if given lots of moisture and great soil. They behave best in dry shade.

Fall Magic for Container Gardens: 

Take advantage of the autumn bounty in your landscape to perk up your summer weary containers. Here are some ideas for magical makeovers that don’t involve buying new plants for your fall containers:

Add cut stems of hydrangeas to your pots: 

The blooms on big leaf hydrangea shrubs, such as the ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas, usually have a leathery or dry feel to them by September and this means they can be harvested from the shrub and the cut end poked into the moist soil of a container garden. Keep these cut flowers out of the full sun and they will last for a month or more and fill your containers with bodacious blooms.

Dry hydrangeas can also be used to fill up hanging baskets. Pee Gee hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) also dry on the bush in early autumn, but this variety needs a bit of water to last as a cut flower poked into container garden. You can use water tubes (available from a florist or craft store) or sink a plastic cup filled with water into the potting soil of a container garden. Insert the cut stems of your pee gee hydrangeas into water immediately after you cut them from your shrubs. Providing just a few inches of water for cut hydrangeas will help them to dry gradually and keep their blooms in an upright manner.

Tip:

Don’t prune back an entire hydrangea shrub in the fall as this could stimulate new growth before winter. Instead clip off some of the blooms with a stem 8 to 10 inches long for poking into moist potting soil or a few inches of water. Don’t have a container garden to fill with hydrangeas? Fill a basket, metal bucket, or metal watering can with dried hydrangeas instead.

Showcase a bountiful harvest in your pots: 

Nothing says autumn like pumpkins, gourds, and squash, so display the autumn harvest while you fill in the bare spots of container gardens. You can add a single mini pumpkin in place of a spent petunia plant or display a mini mountain of gourds and pumpkins in a larger container. Attach wire to the handles of the vegetables and then secure the other end to a short garden stake. Poke the stakes into the potting soil to secure your design and to help balance the tower of plenty.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ provides dried flowers: 

The late summer flowering perennial sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ is available at garden centers and nurseries in the fall and this drought resistant plant thrives in beds and borders. You can also use the thick, cut stems of this sedum to add flower power to autumn pots. Prune off the rust colored blooms with 8 to 10 inches of stem from this or any other flowering sedum and insert the cut end of the stem into potting soil or arrange in a basket for a quick and easy seasonal display. A mix of dried flowers such as hydrangeas and sedums displayed in a porch pot is a wonderful way to welcome your guests and the change in seasons.

Showcase some fall foliage:

Love the fiery colors that adorn your maples? Clip some branches and display in your container gardens. You can also staple some maple leaves to a length of twine and use this as a garland around your doorway. Don’t have any fall foliage to display from your garden? Visit the craft store for some realistic stems of maple leaves to poke into container gardens for a season display. There are no rules to worry about when it comes to gardening or making your outdoor space more beautiful – if you like how it looks, just grow for it.