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| Photo Credit: Mary Moore |
| These lovely plants will stay green through fall, and the holly berries will turn bright red in winter. Place them in separate containers and arrange them to create a lovely green corner on the deck or patio. |
Autumn is a great time to purchase new plants and freshen up the container gardens you had in spring and summer. As the weather cools and warm-season flowers bloom less frequently, switch over to brightly-colored foliage and flowers in deep shades of orange, red or yellow to dress up your deck or patio and celebrate the new season.
The Evergreen Container Garden
Many garden centers stock up on beautiful evergreens in autumn, and you can create lovely arrangements using a few choice plants. As you examine evergreens, notice how the shades of green and foliage textures interact with each other. Placing a tall, thin arborvitae next to a low-growing blue rug juniper emphasizes the shape and color of each plant. Some evergreens are a lovely chartreuse green, while others have deep-green leaves. Most hollies have lovely glossy leaves and provide good seasonal color. (Look for plants with green berries that will turn red in winter.) Camellias are also lovely and can bloom either in late fall or very early spring. Plant several bushes in a very large container, or plant shrubs in separate containers to create a grouping of lovely trees. In the spring, you can move the planters to create a backdrop for your spring-blooming containers.
The Pollinator Garden Container
As cooler weather approaches, beneficial insects start running out of food. They’ll appreciate a container full of flowering plants filled with pollen to harvest. How do you discover their favorite plants? Easy! Just follow the bees in your garden center and note where they’re feeding. If you see a lot of bees harvesting pollen in one area, carefully reach in and pick your favorite plant from the group. Salvias, herbs with small flowers and hyssop are particularly popular with insects, and they’re a beautiful addition to container gardens. You may even want to place a planter in your fall vegetable garden, as well as on your patio or deck.
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| Photo Credit: Mary Moore |
| Fall is a great time to plant salad greens – like this oriental greens mix – or herbs like basil, thyme and parsley. |
The “I Love My Harvest” Planter
Fall is an excellent time to grow herbs and salad greens in a container. Place a planter filled with fresh basil, parsley, Chinese chives or thyme outside your kitchen door for an easy harvest. You can start lettuce by seed easily: Sprinkle lettuce seeds on the surface of a container filled with potting soil, lightly cover with less than ¼ an inch of soil, then water. In just a few weeks, you can be enjoying tasty homegrown salad greens!
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