Fabulous Fall Containers

Now is the time to freshen tired summer containers with fresh fall plantings. Many summer annuals will be past their peak and there is plenty of gorgeous plant material available that will provide color and interest well into autumn. Choose from among purple asters, ornamental kale, wispy grasses and the ever-popular garden mums. When planning your arrangements, always keep in mind three elements: color (either foliage or bloom), texture and form.

Color: asters, mums, pansies, heucheras, rudbeckias

Texture: ferns, hypericum (with its berries), kale

Form: ornamental grasses, New Zealand Flax, cordylines

Be sure to include something for height (grasses will provide this), fullness for the center (this is where your color choices will come in) and something to spill over (think ivies, periwinkle or creeping jenny). Following this simple formula will give you a professional looking planter worthy of placing at your front door or on your deck!