Fun Fall Container Ideas

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Many summer annuals are looking weary now that fall is here, so it’s time to toss them in the compost pile to make room for fall displays.

Most nurseries have three cool weather plant options this time of year: mums, ornamental cabbage, and pansies. All are great plants, but can seem limiting when designing fall containers, so it helps to bring in other elements that add fall flavor to the mix.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Pumpkins for Fall

A no-brainer for fall decor. All you have to do is set a pumpkin on your porch and it looks festive, but there other fun ways to incorporate them into a fall display. Here, I simply inverted nursery pots inside a bushel basket and a terra cotta pot to support the pumpkins and filled the gap by tucking a few handfuls of straw around the base.

You could also create a vertical display by stacking pumpkins in a pot. If you can’t find pumpkins that are flat enough, you can secure them by sliding them over a large dowel or small piece of rebar. Pre-drilling holes in the top and bottom of the pumpkins first should make this process easier and prevent any potential cracks. You could further decorate the pumpkins by painting, stenciling, or carving them.

Another fun way to use pumpkins is to create planters with them. Make sure to start with a pumpkin that is big enough to hold your plant and that it has a nice flat bottom for stability. Then carve a hole in the top and scoop out enough of the guts to set the nursery pot fully inside the pumpkin. Mums, pansies, and ornamental cabbage all look great planted in pumpkins, but for a really fun look, set a one gallon pot of Ornamental Grass in a pumpkin with a face drawn or painted on it to give it fun “hair.”

Straw

Straw is great for hiding any exposed soil or weird gaps in a fall container. Or use whole bales of straw for a multi-level fall display by setting pumpkins and mums on one or more bales.

Hedge Apples (Osage Oranges)

Bring an unexpected splash of lime green in a weird, brainy sort of way. You can often findhedge apples on the ground along the edges of woodlines and in brushy areas this time of year. I tucked them around the base of the pumpkins, but they also look cool just in a pile or in a big glass vase. Use thick wire (think coat hanger size) inserted into the Hedge Apple if further stability is needed.

Dried Fall plant materials

Corn stalks, Hydrangea blooms, and Ornamental Grass plumes are great for adding height and texture to fall displays. Simply cut off the desired length and tuck them around pumpkins or plants. Here I used all three with the corn stalks in the bushel basket and grass plumes and Oakleaf hydrangea blooms in the terra cotta pot.

Other elements to consider include Halloween decorations, scarecrows, grapevine, leaves, fabric, twigs, and pretty much anything else you can think of (as long as it can hold up outdoors).

Happy fall!

Meet Abbi Hayes

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