Click for plan and plant list.

warm sunshine

One of the great things about container gardening is that you can create a planting almost any time of year. In fall, for example, many garden centers get in lots of fresh plants that look fantastic in cooler weather.

This container planting uses traditional fall colors of orange and gold, but, except for the kale, pretty unconventional fall plants. These gorgeous yellow and orange ‘Julie’ begonias echo the color of this big terra-cotta bowl, while adding a fresh bright look. In the background, large ornamental kales provide a more traditional touch of fall, along with interesting color and texture contrasts.

And who says you can’t use indoor plants in fall containers? Croton and begonias are typically considered house plants, but here they bring autumnal shades and fascinating textures. Keep them in their individual pots when you place them in the larger container. Then you can just pop them back out and take them indoors before frost hits.

For a big pot like this, try mounding the soil in the center before planting to give the middle plants a bit more height. And a few unobtrusive green bamboo stakes will keep the begonias standing nice and straight. The combination will look good for just a few weeks, so give the plants even moisture but don’t bother to feed them.

Get your hands on even more beautiful fall container ideas with Autumn GardenScapes, at right!

As the season dwindles down, garden tasks often seem to increase. But your work doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here are a few things you can still tackle late this fall to make sure your garden is in shape and ready for spring.

REPAIR AND REPLACE TAGS —?Sure, you think you’ll remember the name of that new perennial next spring. But a tag is a big help. Now is the time to check old tags to make sure you can still read them, or put out new tags.

CUT OR LEAVE STANDING? — Research shows that perennials are more likely to survive winter if you don’t cut them off until spring cleanup time. The exceptions are plants that harbor pests, such as peonies with botrytis or iris with borers. Cut the foliage down, and if possible, burn it. Can’t burn in your municipality? Bury the material in the trench with the weeds.

TUCK ‘EM IN FOR THE WINTER — If you live where the ground freezes, a thick blanket of mulch over your perennials is good as an insurance policy. Your objective is not to keep the soil warmer, but to keep it at an even temperature. Wide temperature fluctuations between cold and warm damage roots and often cause winter kill. Once the plants are completely dormant and the ground is beginning to freeze, 4 to 6 in. of straw or crisp oak leaves (don’t chop them up first or they pack down too tightly) will do the trick. Leave this winter mulch in place until the weather warms up in spring. You’ll know it’s about time to remove it when the forsythia starts to bloom.

Read more about this and other stories in the current issue of Garden Gate magazine!

Click on the photo for this container plan.

jack-o-planter

Nothing says “fall” like a pumpkin, so what could be more perfect to use for a fall container? If you’d like to make one of your own, here are a few things you need to do to make your pumpkin planter last.

To keep your pumpkin looking good for as long as possible, don’t plant directly into it. Instead, plant up a plastic nursery pot and slide it into the pumpkin. Take an 8-in. plastic pot along when you chose your pumpkin to be sure it will fit.

Once you’ve got your pumpkin, cut an opening in the top large enough for the pot to slip through. Scoop out the insides and cut a 1-in. drainage hole in the bottom. Then seal the pumpkin by spraying the inside with Wilt-Pruf^®, especially the area around the hole. This will help keep it from rotting. Now you’re ready to plant.

These kales, pansies and cape daisies all do well in cool fall temperatures. First, place a little potting mix in the bottom of the pot. Most pumpkins won’t hold a very big pot, so to fit in as many plants as possible, flatten each root ball before you tuck it in, then fill in any spaces with more mix. Once everything is planted, water the pot and let it drain completely before you place it in the pumpkin.

Click to see the sprouting tuber.

plant pick

Cyclamen
Cyclamen hederifolium

It’s hard to say which is more appealing about cyclamen: The perky fall flowers or the charming round to heart-shaped leaves. Colorful blooms push up through the soil first. They’re followed by foliage that sports zones of silver or patterns of lighter or darker colors on the surface with red or purple undersides.

After a few seasons, a tuber the size that you can easily hold in your hand can grow into a clump in the garden that reaches 12 in. across. So even though they’re small, plant them in early fall with plenty of elbow room — 6 to 8 in. apart — just below the soil’s surface. Cyclamen tubers can sometimes take up to two to three years to start growing. (Both roots and stems sprout from the top side of the tuber.) Buy young plants for a quicker start.

TYPE Perennial SIZE 4 to 6 in. tall and wide BLOOM Pink or white in late summer to late fall LIGHT Filtered shade SOIL Well-drained PESTS None serious HARDINESS Cold: USDA zones 5 to 8; Heat: AHS zones 8 to 1 SOURCE Digging Dog Nursery

If you want to know when this or other perennials flower, see When Perennials Bloom at right.

Photo courtesy of Don Bolak
Click on the photo to see a larger image.

designing fall gardens

Fall can be an incredible time in a garden. Here are some techniques for creating stunning fall displays.

PLANT DRAMATIC CONTRASTS — Do you have lots of trees with yellow fall foliage in your neighborhood? For contrast, put plants in your garden that have red, orange and purple fall color, like the Virginia sweetspire to the far right in the photo. Want a dramatic texture contrast? Pair a bold-foliage plant, such as the bergenia in the foreground of the photo, with a plant with finer foliage, like the sweetspire.

When you step into a garden, color is often the first thing you notice. Texture contrast is usually second. But to keep your garden interesting all of the time, you also need to include a variety of contrasting plant shapes and sizes.

LAYER BEDS AND BORDERS — Many late-season plants aren’t at their best in spring. So layer the plants. In other words, plant early bloomers, such as Shasta daisies and delphiniums, behind medium-height perennials, like tall sedums, which bloom much later in the season. And let fall asters or tall phlox billow over the vacant spot left when you cut off the spent stems of spring-flowering perennials.

Layering plants is easy in an island bed or wide border. In a 3-ft.-wide bed, it’s difficult, but doable. Rather than having a lot of different plants, select three to five autumn plants of different textures and heights that you like.

PLAN FOR MULTI-SEASON APPEAL — Choose plants, such as the bergenia, that have a strong presence all year. It sends up clusters of pink or white flowers in spring, followed by bold, glossy foliage that turns red in fall and remains through the winter. Rely on plants like this, which have interesting foliage as well as flowers, as long-term visual anchors. You’ll find even simple things, like the bright-green foliage of artemisia, looks terrific when almost everything else is brown.

For more great ideas for designing fall gardens, check out Autumn GardenScapes, Volume 2 at right!

easy bulb planting

Not many flowers rival the welcome splash of color that spring bulbs can give you. But if you’ve ever planted them in fall, you can appreciate the effort that goes into planting. When you have a lot of bulbs to plant, make it easier on yourself by using your drill and a bulb auger.

You can drill a lot of holes without much effort in lawns and even tough garden soil (but stay away from tree roots and hard-packed clay). Just make sure you’re using a 12-in. or shorter length auger (this one is 7 in.). The longer ones are more likely to bend when the going gets tough. However, the long-shafted augers are more comfortable to work with (you don’t have to bend as much) and they’re fine if you’re working in prepared soil.

If you have a small yard, run an extension cord and use an electric ½-in. drill with your auger. A powerful battery-operated drill also works, but you may have to recharge or switch battery packs frequently. Run it both as you push down and pull up to get the cleanest hole. (And wear eye protection.) Need a bigger hole for giant daffodil bulbs? Drill two holes side by side.

When you’re planting bulbs close together — 6 in. or so apart — the holes tend to cave in on one another. Enlist a friend and use a drill-and-drop planting technique: One person drills, the other drops the bulb into each hole and refills it. This means you won’t have to drill a hole, put down the drill, drop a bulb in, refill the hole, drill another hole, etc.

Read about other bulb-planting tools in the current issue of Garden Gate magazine.

What makes the perfect autumn garden? Well, color and lots of it, be it flowers, foliage, seeds or berries. Check out our tour of gardens that focus on the beauty of fall!

Check out even more fabulous fall ideas in Autumn GardenScapes, Vol. 2 at right!

plant pick

Fernleaf bleeding heart
Dicentra hybrids

From midspring to fall, fernleaf bleeding heart’s arching flower stems dangle delicate blooms above bunches of lacy foliage. Most flowers have shades of red or pink, like ‘Luxuriant’, at left, but it’s possible to find white bloomers, like ‘Snowdrift’.

Bleeding heart is easy to care for. Deadheading? Optional. Dividing in spring? Optional. Staking? Unnecessary. In fact, with just a 3-in. layer of compost placed over the roots in spring, and a consistent watering schedule, this hardy plant will be happy! However, it does reseed readily, so if you don’t want a large stand of bleeding heart, pull seedlings in spring. If you plan on letting this perennial set seed, keep in mind that it can hybridize easily. Plant more than one cultivar in your garden, and you may get a surprise mix of flower colors next year.

TYPE Perennial SIZE 1 to 2 ft. tall and 18 in. wide BLOOM Red, pink or white blooms from spring to fall LIGHT Part to full shade SOIL Moist, well-drained PESTS None serious HARDINESS Cold: USDA zones 3 to 8; Heat: AHS zones 8 to 1

Learn about other great perennials in Great Plant Combos Made Easy at right!

An electric drill and special bulb auger bit make quick work of planting spring-blooming bulbs in fall. Watch our video to see just how easy it is.

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dividing bleeding heart

The best way to propagate bleeding heart, either fernleaf or the old-fashioned type, is by division. You can divide plants in either early spring or fall. You may want to divide fernleaf in the spring just before they start to grow and old-fashioned ones in the fall so you don’t sacrifice any precious blooms.

The roots spread horizontally, so cut a wide circle around the crown to get as much root as possible. Don’t worry if you cut or break a few roots.

Near the crown of the plant you’ll spot pink buds of new growth. Use a sharp knife — the Soil Knife works great for this — and slice through the roots, making sure each division has at least one of these buds, two or three would be better. Cut out and discard any roots that are fleshy and hollow.

Reset the roots immediately; don’t let them dry out. Dig a wide hole for each division, about 2 ft. apart. Work in lots of compost before you set the roots in the hole. Cover with about an inch of soil and water thoroughly.

new england aster
aster novae-angliae

If you want to attract butterflies to your garden, planting asters is a good start. There are so many asters to choose from — and butterflies like them all — but New England asters are the most popular. These easy-to-grow perennials have flowers in red, pink, purple or white, all with a yellow center. Because asters bloom in late summer, they provide a food source after all the summer-blooming plants have finished.

Plant asters in full sun and well-drained soil. Space them so air can circulate between the plants to reduce the chances of powdery mildew. Water at the base of the plants too — not overhead. On a warm autumn afternoon you may have trouble finding the flowers under all the feasting butterflies.

TYPE Perennial SIZE 10 in. to 5 ft. tall and 15 to 36 in. wide BLOOM Late summer to fall LIGHT Full sun SOIL Well-drained PESTS Powdery mildew HARDINESS Cold: USDA zones 4 to 8; Heat: AHS zones 8 to 1

bring out the bulbs

Why wait for summer to fill your containers? Beautiful blooms like the ‘Pink Pride’ daffodil, ‘Big Chief’ tulip and grape hyacinths here add a blast of spring color, and they’re so easy to grow. Fall’s the time to get started.

Fill a 1-gal. plastic nursery pot with soilless potting mix and bulbs. Planting bulbs in layers gives you a full look and lets you combine different kinds of bulbs. Usually bulbs need to be planted three times as deep as their height, but don’t worry about that here. Just place the largest bulbs, such as daffodils, in the bottom. Next, add medium-sized bulbs, like tulips, then plant the smallest bulbs, here, grape hyacinths, on top.

Set the pot in a dry-leaf-lined trench, water it well, cover it with a foot of leaves and mark the location. If you have squirrels, put wire mesh over this area to protect the bulbs.

As the tree buds start swelling in early spring, remove the top layer of leaves so you can keep an eye on the bulbs. When the first sprouts appear, move the nursery pot into your decorative container. Put a layer of soil in the container and set the nursery pot in so it’s level with the top rim. Then you can fill the rest of the container with soil. Fill in bare spots with pansies or other cool-weather flowers. You’ll get rave reviews on your beautiful spring display, and everyone will wonder how you got your container flowers to bloom so effortlessly.