Easy Fall Containers

With my new garden still being firmly in the 'planning and dreaming' stage I decided to plant up a couple of containers to feed my creative spirit and bring some much needed color into the space. Seattle winters are so grey and I knew that would be compounded by the expansive concrete patio, weathered cedar fence and lack of evergreens. Thankfully, I brought two large orange pots with me from our old garden – now was the time to put them to good use!

The Basics

The smaller pot has a mouth of 16" and is just over knee high

• I used Edna's Best Potting Soil as it is available locally and has proven to be a good product in the past. However, I find it rather 'heavy'  so always add extra perlite to the mix. In this instance, for every 1.5 cu. ft. of potting soil I added 8-10 cups of perlite, mixing it in evenly.
• The pots have drainage holes 5/8" in diameter but I also raised the pots up off the patio using pot toes to make sure water could easily drain away.
• As a general rule I don't use any fillers such as rocks even my largest pots as this reduces the soil volume into which roots can grow, in turn reducing the longevity of those plants. It can also cause serious drainage issues. The only exception is when I'm only using annuals or short term plantings as the roots won't fill the pot in a single season. Since I plan to change these plantings next year,  in my tallest pot I added an Ups-A-Daisy which sits approx 12" from the bottom of the pot and reduces the soil volume (and cost) a little. These are available in various sizes so measure carefully!
• When filling very large pots with new potting soil, be sure to water the soil after every 12" or so to allow it to settle. If you miss this step you'll find that by next spring the soil level will have shrunk down considerably from the top of the pot. You want the finished soil level to be approximately 1" below the rim.
• Fertilizer: avoid overpriced potting soils which container fertilizer! Many of those fertilizers need soil temperatures of 50'c to work – and you actually don't want to promote soft tissue growth at this time of year anyway. Better to apply either bone meal or bulb food under the roots of your plants (not sprinkled at the top of the pot) to stimulate strong root growth.

Choosing Plants

The taller pot has a mouth of 19" and is hip height. I don't usually have the chairs this close to the pot but I moved them for the photo for you to see the color connections

Fall and winter container design relies on colorful evergreen shrubs and perennials with a few seasonal accents. They are therefore a great opportunity to experiment with combinations and plants that can be translated and transplanted into the landscape in the future.

Both pots should receive sun from morning until early afternoon even with the lower angle of the winter sun. However, the intensity of the sun is not as great as it would be in summer. It's my first season planting winter pots here so it's a bit of an experiment but I think I can probably use largely sun loving plants together with more robust shade perennials as they are unlikely to scorch.

Design

This will be fun to look out on from all the main windows in our home over the fall and winter. I may need to trim a few heuchera leaves if they overwhelm the pansies

I kept both designs very simple – a striking centerpiece, surrounded by foliage and seasonal flowers in a bold color palette inspired by my orange pots and adjacent turquoise chairs and pool (although we are going to try and wrangle the pool cover on at some point!).

Nandina is not invasive in our area and I plan to use it against the fence in the new landscape design so using this as a centerpiece in both pots was a good way to test them out. I chose the variety Burgundy Wine (in a 3gallon size) for the rich red color. I haven't used this one before, typically sticking with Gulf Stream or Obsession so I'm curious to see if it performs equally well. (Note: check with a local horticulturist if you are unsure about the invasive tendencies of any plants in your area).

The largest pot had room for alternating Forever Purple heuchera (gorgeous, frilly and shiny) and Ascot Rainbow euphorbia around the nandina. I've found the latter to be a rather short lived perennial but may include it in next summers designs if it still looks good. Both of these were in 1 gallon pots and I used 3 of each.

In the smaller pot I just used 3 x 4" pots of euphorbia around the nandina but added in some Angelina sedum as a short trailer. This golden sedum takes on an orange cast in colder weather and is a favorite of mine. I bought a one gallon pot then ripped it into three sections.

That gave me lots of color as well as a fun variety of leaf shapes and textures.

Trailing Illumination vinca would normally be reserved for shade pots but I'll see how it fares here for the winter. I liked the way it draped down the tall pot and the bright yellow echoed the euphorbia. I'll remove it in spring and possibly transplant it into a shadier area. Vinca tends to overtake pots (and gardens), however, so I'll be root pruning it even in a pot and will avoid using it in the landscape beds.

This euphorbia will bloom in spring – I like the way the rosy stems echo the red tones in the nandina

Pansies are winter hardy here so I chose a fun selection. Delta Tapestry is a pretty red blend but too boring on its own, plus darker colors are harder to see from a distance. Yellow was more visible but rather 'predictable' and there were only a couple of nice orange pansies available – so I threw in a few blue which I really liked for the unexpectedness of it. In fact, I liked it so much that I added in my turquoise glass bird to the large pot and a cobalt blue glass ball to the smaller one.

In Squirrel-Free Gardens….

….I would have added some dwarf JetFire narcissus or Orange Princess tulips under the pansies for early spring interest. However, I knew that would be folly as they would be dug up by the squirrels in no time. Instead I'll pick up a few pots of budded bulbs in spring and tuck those into place. Again, that will be an experiment to see if they outwit the squirrels.

Want More Ideas?

Check out my portfolio of fall/winter designs to kick start your own combinations.

Or enjoy my inexpensive online course on Fabulous Fall Containers which includes video, downloads and more. 

Help! 

Ideas??

Now I need to plant the container on my front porch. I really need something BRIGHT for height to help draw the eye and visitors to the front door (as explained and shown in a recent blog post). That area receives very little direct sun – maybe just a few hours in mid-afternoon so definitely going to take some trial and error although it is 'bright shade'. I'm thinking of a variegated Camouflage Japanese aralia (Fatsia japonica)? Any other ideas for zone 7? Nothing too wide or spiky – really needs to be prunable, evergreen and/or upright.

I must apologize for the cell phone photos used in this post but my DSLR is buried (you know what moving house is like!). Neither had I thought ahead to using them in a blog post so the majority are portrait orientation which isn't ideal.

Disclaimer: Some of these links will earn me a few pennies towards my next plant purchase