13 Fall Container Garden Recipes

Who needs flowers? Look to colorful foliage and perennials to orchestrate a fall-worthy symphony. Coppery-bronze carex and peachy-toned coral bells (Heuchera) complement gold and green variegated sage. ‘Black Scallop’ ajuga adds just-right deep shades to make the whole planting sizzle. Recipe for 24-inch pot (use plants in 4.5-inch pots): one Toffee Twist carex and two each Dolce Peach Melba heuchera, ‘Black Scallop’ ajuga and golden variegated sage (Salvia offcinalis ‘Icterina’).

Discover the beauty of trailing snapdragons by filling a hanging basket or urn with difference shades of ‘Candy Showers’ snapdragon. Look for blossoms in white, yellow, purple, orange, rose and red. This basket features (left to right) red, orange and rose. Recipe for a 12-inch hanging basket: one 4-inch pot each of red, rose and orange ‘Candy Showers’ snapdragon.

Developed to cascade from containers, Cool Wave spreading pansies combine the ground-covering personality of wave petunias with classic pansy flowers. The blooms on ‘Violet Wing’ feature white and purple petals with deep blue whiskers. Petals change colors as they age, with white fading to pale lavender, creating a multicolored container garden. In mild winter regions, Cool Wave pansies flower from fall to spring. Recipe for a 12-inch-wide container: two 4.5-inch pots of Cool Wave Violet Wing pansy.

Capture the colors of fall with a blaze of red, orange and bronze by combining Superbells million bells (Calibrachoa) with a tuft of Toffee Twist sedge (Carex flagellifera). All three plants tolerate temps down to 5 degrees F (Zone 7). Expect the million bells to wilt away when a hard frost hits (28 degrees F), unless you cover plants. Recipe for a 20-inch pot (two plants each in 4.5-inch pots): Superbells Dreamsicle, Superbells Red and Toffee Twist sedge.