The season is beginning to shift, and many of us are starting to look at our gardens a little differently. Garden centers are filling up with mums, ornamental cabbage and kale, grasses, and other cool-season plants, and it’s hard not to start imagining what our containers and garden displays might look like for fall. Some summer plantings still have plenty of life left in them, while other spots are ready for something new.
For today’s GPOD, I went back through past submissions and pulled together six fall container and display ideas worth revisiting as we start making that seasonal transition. Some gardeners created entirely new plantings, while others worked fall color and decor into what was already growing. And if you’re looking for even more ideas beyond the usual mums, Autumn Pots Minus the Mums offers plenty of inspiration using foliage, texture, and cool-season plants.
Howard Nemeroff in Chicago, Illinois, is a longtime GPOD contributor known for his incredible seasonal container designs. In his summer-to-fall container garden, ornamental cabbage and kale (Brassica oleracea cvs., Zones 7–11) pair with bright yellow mums (Chrysanthemum cvs., annual) in a large dish planter. The blue-green foliage gives a familiar fall combination a cooler, more unexpected palette.
From Mary Spencer’s fall garden in Westminster, Maryland, this planter combines black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta, Zones 3–7), ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum, Zones 9–11), and ornamental cabbage. A striped squash tucked at the base adds another seasonal element without relying on the usual mum-heavy fall planting.
Angie in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, uses containers throughout her small yard, which makes it easy to change things up as the seasons shift. In her summer-to-fall garden, pots of mums join pumpkins and summer annuals that are still going strong. It’s a good reminder that getting the garden ready for fall doesn’t necessarily mean pulling out everything that made it through summer.
Beth Tucker in Waxhaw, North Carolina, keeps her fall front-entry display simple, proving that seasonal decorating doesn’t have to be extravagant to feel intentional. A bright mum, a few pumpkins, and small decorative touches are enough to bring the entryway into fall.
Cherry Ong in Richmond, British Columbia, takes fall displays beyond planted containers in her succulent-topped pumpkin project. She turns Turk’s turban squash (Cucurbita maxima ‘Turk’s Turban’, annual) upside down and decorates them with succulent cuttings from her garden, creating what she calls “fairy crown” pumpkins and showing off the squash’s unusual shape and color.
For a later-season twist, Howard’s Halloween displays in Chicago show how an existing fall container can continue evolving. White mums and ornamental cabbage create a classic base, but two skeletons tangled through the vine-covered trellis completely change the mood as Halloween approaches.
What I like about this group is how different the starting points are. Howard and Mary build with classic fall plants, Angie keeps summer annuals in the mix, Beth changes the mood with just a few seasonal additions, and Cherry skips the container altogether. There’s plenty of room to make fall look like your own garden.
If you’re starting to put together your fall containers and displays, send them our way! I’d love to see how GPOD readers are making the seasonal shift this year.
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