Fall is my favorite time of year, and come Labor Day, I’m ready for it. Maybe that’s rushing it a bit, but I don’t care. Because I know that when September comes to Chicago, autumn can happen at any moment – and I just want to be able to enjoy the crisp fall colors as long as I can.

Purple fountain grass makes a lovely backdrop for a fall planting, while ornamental cabbage is a striking focal point. A last-minute addition of “recycled” dusty miller really finished off this fall container!

Photo Credit: Sarah Landicho

Planting ornamental cabbage on its side means you can enjoy its beautiful “bloom” head-on.

Photo Credit: Sarah Landicho

A mum and ivy on one side and a potato vine and mum on the other add to this container’s fullness.

Photo Credit: Sarah Landicho

Fill in the void between plants with fresh potting soil for a boost of nutrition.

Photo Credit: Sarah Landicho

Our made-over containers give our entrance a jumpstart on fall.

Photo Credit: Sarah Landicho

Two dracaenas mimic the look of purple fountain grass in the window box without being too overpowering.

Photo Credit: Sarah Landicho

True to form, temps here suddenly dropped 20 degrees just two days after a 90-degree Labor Day weekend. The time had come to pick up my gardening gloves and get digging – I wanted to make over the containers in our front yard that had fallen victim to summer’s heat. I envisioned filling them with ornamental cabbages, purple fountain grass, purple potato vines, ivy and mums, mums, mums! But first, I had to get rid of the old to make room for the new. So out went my spent calibrachoa, petunias, green potato vine and bacopa – and most of the old potting soil, too. (The lot of it went straight to the compost pile.)

Next came figuring out my planting configuration. My summer planting was more of a rising mound with evenly spaced plants all around the container’s bowl. It looked nice, but I wanted some height for fall. So I started by centering the fountain grass in the back of the container as the backdrop for the rest of the plants. Then I centered the cabbage at the base of the container in the front. I planted this on its side so you could really see the cabbage’s beauty head-on as you walk toward our front steps.

The trailing plants came next, and that’s where the potato vine and ivy came in. I wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted them, so I experimented a little – popping them in just behind the cabbage or right in front of the grass. (I settled on the latter.) Then in went the mums, which I moved around a bit, too. (I’m a big fan of leaving plants in their pots to see where I like them best – I get much better results finalizing my containers with the plants in my hands rather than just designing with my mind’s eye.) A step back every now and then gave me much-needed perspective.

When I finally got the first container together, it still seemed like something was missing – so I took a little stroll around the yard and checked out a container planting we had alongside our house. It had become a bit rangy. The dusty miller had grown lanky and needed to come out. Rather than compost the plants, though, I pulled them out and tucked some in my revamped container in front of the purple fountain grass, where it fit right in and added that extra layer of plants that I felt was missing from my original plan.

Satisfied with the results, I duplicated the planting in the matching container on the other side of our stairs. Next came our extra-long window box out front, which needed to change its seasonal wardrobe as well.

Again, I pulled out all the tired-looking summer plants and tossed them into the compost bin. Then I experimented with my fall plant picks again to find a balanced arrangement. Our window box is 108 inches long, so I had to play with it a bit to figure the right order for my trailing, mounding, upright and cabbage plants. When I thought I got the look right, I started digging. (And I took a lot of steps back during the process to make sure I kept the plants spaced evenly on both sides.)

In went the three cabbages, two maroon dracaenas (not really fall plants, but they mimicked the fountain grass in the planters without being too overwhelming), some more leftover dusty miller, four ivy plugs and lots of little 5-inch mums. (I chose pink and orangey-yellow mums for the containers to counter the darker color of the fountain grass, and thought they’d show up nicely against our dark red brick home.)

The finishing touch was to tear out a failing (my husband would say “dead”) Japanese maple and replace it with 3 containers of purple fountain grass. Once I was finished, I thoroughly watered in all of my plantings. (A key in helping establish new plants.)

One final step back, and boy was I pleased! Our new containers look full and lush, crisp and cool – and ready to take on autumn in seasonal style. Sure, maybe I rushed fall a little bit, but with gorgeous plantings like these, I’m certainly ready to start enjoying my favorite time of year…and can now look forward to my next planting project!