8 Easy Ways to Get Creative With Your Fall Garden

A large mixed fall container and a cozy place to relax.

Finding Creative Ways to keep Your Fall Garden Display Going

Many of us focus on our Summer gardening so much that by the time we get to mid-September, there’s not a lot of interest going on in the landscape. However, there are some super simple solutions and strategies to keep your yard looking pretty right into Autumn! Here are some planting ideas from around our place.

1.
Keep some of your Summer flowers

It may seem obvious, but if you have grown annuals that are cold-tolerant, by all means, keep them! Good examples are snapdragons, pansies, dusy millers, alyssum, dianthus, and African daisy. Even petunias will grow in cool weather. You can move these plants into pots with your fall flowers such as mums or asters for a beautiful display. Here, I have pulled some summer flowers out of a pot with my pink snapdragon and added in an ornamental kale.

2.
Plant Herbs that continue to Add Interest and Usefulness

My patch of oregano is great for seasoning some pasta sauce, but it also looks pretty in the fall with its delicate purple flowers. Many varieties of sage and allium have flowers this time of year as well. If you plant hardy herbs, you can enjoy their beauty and culinary attributes for a long season.

3.Create One Or Two Big Impact Planters with seasonal Blooms

I have a huge wooden barrel planter that is so versatile to use in any season. I chose this planter to be my focal point in the yard and put it next to an Adirondack chair to encourage people to go out and relax, enjoy some autumn sunshine, and a beautiful fall planting. My plants here are mums, ornamental kale, snapdragon, astor, and false sunflower.

The wooden barrel is large enough to display a variety of plants.

4.
Pick Up some Ornamental Cabbage and Kale

While not the first thing you think of for decorative planting, these charming ornamental rosette shaped greens will add depth to your designs and last through the fall. I plant some every year, and I’m in love with the effect.

Ornamental Kale and Cabbage-Gorgeous for fall plantings.

5.
Plant a Display of ornamental Peppers

This year I planted an unexpected combo: a formal urn filled with ornamental peppers and cabbages. I’m really happy with the unique and unexpected look. Ornamental peppers are amazing fall performers. If you’re looking for something creative and out of the mum and aster box, try these peppers! They are gorgeous all throughout the fall season.

6.
Use A Pretty Pot outdoors

Change up your traditional front porch mum and aster display by grabbing a few pretty pots from indoors or from a shop. The colorful pottery will give your display all whole new look and help set the color theme. Here I have taken a gorgeous Show Maker Aster and put it into one of my blue and white china pots.

7.
include some fall Berries in the landscape

This gorgeous tree was here when we move in 25 years ago. I’m so happy that someone planted it! The tree hosts flocks of birds this time of year and is stunningly beautiful. Crabapple, bayberry, firethorn, and chokeberry are great fall choices.

8.
Bring On The Accessories

Doubtless, there will be a multitude of pumpkins and scarecrows this season, but why not try something a little less traditional? Bring out the old wheelbarrow and fill it with flowers. Check out etsy or a vintage store for something old and one-of-a-kind. Find some colorful pillows that make your plantings pop. I added an aged herald angel weathervane to my mums, a decidedly non-traditional look, but I like the character it gives my arrangement.