If you’re looking for ways to spruce up your entryway or patio for fall, look no further than this fresh batch of container gardens — with tips from the designers on how to arrange your own. These rich designs combine fall favorites with unexpected ingredients, including preserved lotus pods, orange succulents and jewel-like berries, for all-around eye-catching arrangements. Tell us, could you see one of these designs on your doorstep for the season?
1. Fan Show
In this simple yet sophisticated fall container by Barrett Lawn Care, preserved fan-shape leaves form a bronze backdrop for coppery bedding mums (Chrysanthemum sp.), gold pansies (Viola sp.) and chartreuse Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra). Golden bamboo stakes add height to the arrangement and visually contrast the mounded, half-moon plant forms in the container.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun
2. Color and Texture Feast
With feathery Red Rooster sedge (Carex buchananii ‘Red Rooster’), chunky ornamental peppers, curly ‘Peacock Red’ kale (Brassica ‘Peacock Red’), ruffled ‘Marmalade’ coral bells (Heuchera ‘Marmalade’), glossy croton (Codiaeum variegatum) and graceful, sunset-hued coneflowers (Echinacea sp.), this entry arrangement is bursting with color and texture. As a bonus feature, designer Stephanie Town of Garden Stories stuck a few stems of preserved lotus pods into the center of the arrangement.
“I think putting anything unusual in a container gives it drama,” Town says. A few of her favorite dried ingredients for fall containers include seedpods, pumpkins, gourds, curly willow, birch branches, branches with dried leaves cut from trees, and reindeer moss, for hiding any spots with bare soil. Another tip from Town: “Tuck a bundle of large cinnamon sticks at the back of a container for a nice aroma.”
Water requirement: Moderate (hand-water two to three times per week)
Light requirement: Partial to full sun; the container here sits on a front step under a partial overhang