Adding Autumn Colour

'Tis time to add some terrific fall colour to your porch, your steps,

and all your pots, planters, baskets, and window boxes, too!

Here are some great flower ideas to get you started..  

The first flower that comes to mind in fall is, of course, the Garden Mum aka the Fall Mum aka the Chrysanthemum.

Mums come in all colours and kinds, so is easy to find one, or three, to suit your fancy! Pop them individually into pots or make a planted fall arrangement with the mum as the star attraction.

They are perennial here on the island so can be grown in your garden beds.
The look terrific grown with grasses and Black -Eyed Susans.
Or enjoy them in planters by your doorway first and then transfer to the garden when you change up your planters for Christmas.

Mums will not actually open their buds until cooler temperatures hit, so buying a mum just as the buds are beginning to crack colour is assurance that you will have many weeks of terrific colour!

The same goes for the ornamental cabbages and kale.. 

Their colour will not intensify until after cooler temps prevail... but when they do... 

Wow! What colour! 

Ornamental cabbages colour really intensifies in cool weather!
And, as you can see ... they handle frost just fine ; )

The second flower that comes to mind is The Pansy/Viola. Perfect little stuffer plants that fit into any little crevice to fill the space and offer colour and bloom all fall and most of the winter long.

Pansies/violas can take the cold, the frost and even some snow, 

blooming for months on end. 

Grasses, of all kinds, add height, texture, and movement to your planters. 

Terrific additions whether they are green, black, red or brown... 

Many grasses will turn from green to rust, gold or red as the temperature dips.

 

Asters ... come in blues, pinks or whites.

Terrific additions to your pots and planters, 

and just like mums, are perennial here on the island, so can be transferred to the garden afterwards.

Red Bor Kale is wonderful in planters as it has lovely reddish purple stems that pop even more as temperatures dip.

Crocosmia is also a lovely, unusual addition for some height and texture,

can be used in addition to grasses, or instead of. 

 Salvia's are also in full bloom now...

Use them on their own for that fab purple-blue hue,

 or instead of grasses in your pots and planters for height.   

Salvia looks spectacular... 

Mums still waiting for cooler temps to crack colour,

and the cabbage will really have crisp, deep colour in a week or two! 

Lavender also works instead of grasses to add that height to your pots..

It seems to deepen the purple foliage of the ornamental cabbage or kale, 

and thus harmonizes your planters! 

Dont' be afraid to step outside the box... 

Make fall hanging baskets and toss out those fading summer ones! 

Heathers and rudebeckias are fabulous fall flowers. 

and then... along comes October.. and anything goes!

Most all of our autumn planter flowers are perennial.

They transfer over really well and come up year, after year, after year!

Here you see last years' mum, grass, heuchera and heather are showing off their fine form in the garden, where they now get to grow large and free! 

I never let a good potted plant go to waste ; )