Fall flowers for pots or containers

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Many grouped containers are looking like they need some new energy – it’s time to kick-‘em-up a notch!

Aultman Farms on Horatio Harris Creek Road have a great supply of different varieties of pumpkins and squash to add to your home décor.

When we think fall, pumpkins and mums are the first things that define fall. Mums are one of the most popular flowers in the world and available in so many colors. Growing them in containers is also super easy, and they grow in almost every climate. Both the perennial and annual mums are available.

Everyone loves Sedums! A gorgeous, late-blooming succulent, stonecrop is a tough little cookie that will be great with its tolerance to extremes. It can last through frosts, full sun and strong winds with the ease of an iron shield. However, hot temperatures, humidity, and moderate moisture are deemed as the perfect weather condition for this perennial. A favorite is the Autumn Joy, a more up-right plant than most sedums. It has fleshy, succulent leaves that look like a Jade plant. When mature, the pink flowers appear in early fall in the form of flat clusters of tiny flowers that open to produce reddish flowers that gradually turn bronze and rust-red.

Goldenrod blooms in late summer to fall. This cheery plant can be grown easily in containers and goes along well with ferns, ornamental grasses and other fall flowers.

We have several varieties of Coneflower that features daisylike blooms with raised centers, available in bright colors that remind you of the autumn sky during sunset. Choose a small to medium-sized pot depending on the cultivar. Keep the plant in full sun, growing in loose, well-drained soil.

A close cousin of Daisy, the Helenium features cheerful blooms in sunset-colors at the end of the summer season. Easy maintenance and minimum requirements make it an apt choice for the lazy or forgetful gardeners. Many of the popular cultivars are hybrids! Choose a medium-sized container and besides keeping it in a full day direct sunlight and well-drained, nutrient-rich soil, don’t forget to deadhead to prolong the blooming period.

Dainty white flowers of sweet autumn clematis start to open from late summer until late fall and even into winter, spreading intensely sweet scent into the air. Grow this vine in a medium to a large sized container and provide support through the trellis.

Caryopteris is known for its deep blue flowers and greyish-green leaves with tiny silver veins. Its aromatic foliage and nectar-rich blooms make it the perfect choice for attracting pollinators. Provide your Caryopteris shrub rich, neutral soil and full sun.

Rudbeckia blooms from summer to fall until the end of October. Typically, a summer flower, it can transform your fall flower garden with exciting yellow; other colors are also available. Two particular varieties that deserve mention are ‘Autumn Sun’ and ‘Autumn Colors.’

Just like mums, asters respond to the shortened days of fall by giving a blanket of small daisylike blooms. Since they are colorful and full of nectar, they bring bees, butterflies, and color to your garden till late autumn and even winters in frost-free zones when most of your summer blooms have faded off.

The Oxalis Triangularis is an elegant mounding plant, a great choice for filling a container. The beautiful inconspicuous pink flowers start to appear from summer and continue into the autumn. It’s exceedingly easy to grow, requiring no more than partial shade and surviving in a variety of zones, either outdoors or indoors.

My favorite is the Heuchera or Coral Bells. Heuchera’s make a dramatic statement in the container garden with their interesting leaf textures and mind-blowing spectrum of colors. They are happy in the shade but tolerate sun in cool climates. Not only in the fall but heuchera provides year-round foliage interest.

Containers with a Boston, Kimberly Queen or a table fern can add extra appeal to container plantings.

Pair any of these plants together for a fabulous fall container garden display!

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By Charlene Thornhill

Along the Garden Path

Charlene Thornhill is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves The Daily Advocate readers weekly with her community column Along the Garden Path. She can be reached at [email protected]. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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