One of the most beautiful times in Arkansas is late summer and early fall. As the heat gives way to cooler temperatures, it’s time to create a new color palette for the garden. Rather than treat fall color as an afterthought, you can put together vivid combinations that will have your garden bursting with beauty well past the first frost.
Containers are a quick and easy way to add vibrant splashes of seasonal colors to complement the landscape during this transitional time of year. By rejuvenating your summer containers with fresh plants and adding a few additional pots filled with varieties that are great fall performers, you can bring the spirit of the season to your garden.
Begin by evaluating your flower borders; keep the plants that will continue to add fall color and interest. I rely on my ornamental grasses and dark leaf foliage plants, such as sweet potato vine “Blackie” (Ipomoea batatas); Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyeranus); and purple heart (Tradescantia palida), as well as my silvery foliage plants, such as Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantia); Artemisia “Powis Castle”; and dusty miller (Centaurea cineraria), to mix with fall-blooming plants. If you have plants that are bowing out, such as leggy or bug-bitten annuals that look a little worse for wear but still have some hope of reviving, trim them back. Otherwise, remove them.
Next, stand back and think color. Rather than replant your flowerbeds, add several containers filled with fall colors. Make of list of the colors that would add some seasonal sizzle. If you decorate for fall with pumpkins and gourds, choose plants in orange, bronze, yellow, acid green and creamy white hues that would complement those accents. If you have areas with evergreen plants that provide a backdrop of varying shades of green, consider adding bold colors such as bright pinks, lavenders, pure whites or reds to give the area some excitement.
If you’re a bargain hunter like me, late summer and early fall are the best times to visit your favorite garden centers to snap up all of the end-of-the-season buys. Since this is the “now-or-never” time for plants to look their best in the garden, purchase full-sized, mature plants for your containers. Look for potted plants that will put on a good show as soon as they are planted and those that can tolerate a light freeze. Garden centers now market lines of fall plants with striking flowers or foliage that are quite cold tolerant. These varieties will take a light frost and can even withstand short periods of temperatures down into the teens.
As you create your new container arrangements, follow my “three-shape rule.” Look at your plants and group them into the three basic plant forms: tall and spiky, round and full, trailing or cascading. These forms complement one another well and create an appealing design. Ornamental grasses are often good choices to use for the tall and spiky element. Asters, chrysanthemums, and ornamental kale all have round and full forms that help to fill out the center of the display. Ivy, summer torenias, and sweet potato vines have a cascading habit that spills over the edge to soften the arrangement.
At the end of the season, before the ground freezes, you can transplant any new fall perennials in your containers into your garden’s flower borders, so you can continue to enjoy them next year.
