Creative Ideas for Fall Container Gardens

Overview

Extend the gardening season with fall containers featuring hardy flowers, foliage, grasses, and vegetables that echo autumn’s rich palette. Move pots indoors at first freeze.

Long-Lasting Blooms

Chrysanthemums and asters are classics, but consider sunflowers (dwarf varieties), gazania, echinacea, and other aster-family members. Use a bold mum as a focal point. Many perennials can be overwintered in a cool, moist spot or sunk in the garden with heavy mulch for spring planting.

Striking Foliage

Coleus fades at first chill. Instead, choose crassula (jade), wax vine (hoya), cyanotis (teddy bear) as low growers; houttuynia, polka dot plant (hypoestes), or elephant ear (alocasia) for upright bronze/red foliage. Sedums offer diverse shapes and colors beyond hens-and-chicks. Caladiums provide brilliant color and can be stored like tender bulbs over winter.

Ornamental Grasses

Fall is their prime season. Miscanthus, silver spike grass (Spodiopogon sibericus), and pennisetum flower well into winter. Sedges, reeds, and pampas grasses also persist. Many garden centers carry grasses suitable for later landscape transplanting.

Edible Accents

Ornamental cabbages and kales add dramatic texture and harvest-themed color. Though pricier than grocery-store varieties, their unique forms elevate container designs.