Fabulous Fall Container Gardens

Celebrate the season with potted displays rich in color and texture. Embrace the bold tones of autumn with containers filled with eye-catching foliage in brilliant gold, fiery orange and deep burgundy. By choosing plants based on your climate, you can create dramatic displays that will last well into the holidays. In cold climates, select plants that are resistant to frost, such as conifers and coral bells, for long-lasting vignettes. In mild-winter climates, play up the colors of the season with succulents and perennials in rich fall hues. Here are 12 container combinations to add fall cheer to your porch or patio.

 

Autumn embers

Vivid foliage and hot-colored flowers nearly glow in two charcoal-colored containers in this Vancouver garden. A mass of bronze coleus leaves edged with chartreuse forms the middle layer of the composition in front of orange-flowering canna lilies (Canna sp.) and purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’). Spilling over the edge of the pot, pumpkin-colored Calibrachoa picks up the color of the canna blooms, while sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas) deepens the color palette.
Water requirement: Moderate to high
Light requirement: Full sun

Light and airy

Bright green tendrils of maidenhair vine (Muehlenbeckia complexa) pour over the side of this tall rectangular container to create an eye-catching cascade in Seattle. Evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum ‘Thunderbird’), a Northwest native, provides dark berries in summer and copper-colored leaves in fall, as seen here. The larger green and bronze leaves of highland doghobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana) and variegated Japanese sedge (Carex hachijoensis ‘Evergold’) complete the display.
Water requirement: Moderate to high
Light requirement: Partial shade to full sun

Dark chocolate

A dark monochromatic base palette can be particularly effective in highlighting bright accents. Bronze-leafed coleus, cascading sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas ‘Black Heart’ and ‘Blackie’) and burgundy canna lilies (Canna sp.) create a rich base to show off bright gold Coprosma, center left; a lime-green tuft of cape restio (Rhodocoma capensis), center right; and coral dahlia blooms, behind.
Water requirement: Moderate to high
Light requirement: Full sun

Understated elegance

A stately Hick’s yew tree (Taxus x media ‘Hicksii’) looks good year-round, with dark needle-like foliage studded with decorative red fruits. Underplanted with houseplants including purple inch plant (Tradescantia sp.) and bright orange ornamental peppers, the container looks festive from late summer into fall.

In winter, replace the underplanted houseplants with cold-hardy heathers (Erica spp.) or cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) and string the yew tree with twinkling lights.
Notes: All parts of yew are toxic if ingested, and only female trees bear fruit.
Water requirement: Moderate (yew tree requires little water once established)
Light: Partial shade to full sun

Structural succulents

In a tall bronze-colored container, the wavy stalks of upright aeonium (Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’) are just as ornamental as their deep purple flower-like rosettes. A mix of aloe and echeveria plants fills in around the base of the aeonium, while delicate tendrils of string-of-pearls succulents (Senecio rowleyanus) spill over the edge of the container. This frost-tender composition would be best for warm-winter climates.
Water requirement: Low
Light requirement: Full sun

Grasses and maples

Use subtle container plantings to balance dramatic fall foliage for a pleasing composition. Here, a pair of textured black containers filled with a wispy orange sedge (Carex testacea) and a dwarf false cypress (Chamaecyparis sp.) create a rich yet subdued accent along this gravel pathway. The real show in this garden is the brilliant foliage of Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) beyond.
Water requirement: Low to moderate
Light requirement: Full sun

 

Trio for fall

The addition of one pumpkin-colored pot updates the look of two summer containers for fall. The foliage of strappy purple cabbage tree (Cordyline sp.) in the tallest container picks up the dark purple centers of white-flowering Surfinia Blue Veined petunia (Petunia hybrid) and provides a sense of movement. Bronze-tipped succulents coordinate with the container glaze.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun

Black and gold

This bold container composition has an unusual mix of black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’), brilliant gold ‘Delta Dawn’ coral bells (Heuchera ‘Delta Dawn’), yellow-leaved ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ box honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’) and white-flowering heather (Calluna vulgaris).

The most unexpected part is the sweet, citrusy perfume of ‘Eternal Fragrance’ Daphne (Daphne transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’), which blooms well into fall.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Partial shade to full sun

Fall flame

The aptly named ‘Sticks on Fire’ milkbush (Euphorbia tirucalli ‘Sticks on Fire’) lights up this potted succulent arrangement in Santa Barbara, California, with its branched, coral-like structure and brilliant orange color. Lean it against a post or provide sturdy stakes to support this tall, brittle plant.

The addition of deep purple aeonium (Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’) and purple New Zealand flax (Phormium sp.) creates a rich fall color palette that is perfect for warm-winter climates.

Green-leafed aeonium (Aeonium ‘Starburst’), blue chalk sticks (Senecio mandraliscae) and slender myoporum (Myoporum parvifolium) round out the front of the container.
Water requirement: Low
Light requirement: Full sun

Peaceful trio

This Asian garden-inspired trio keeps things simple with a single potted tree per container. Glazed black containers work well with both the Japanese maples (Acer palmatum cvs.) and the weeping blue atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’). A framed trio of garden photos hung on the rear wall would provide year-round interest even if other areas of the garden were more subdued.
Light: Full sun
Water: Moderate

Edible element

The brilliant leaves of edible ‘Bright Lights’ rainbow chard are just as stunning in a fall container composition as in the kitchen garden. To keep the arrangement looking good, and to encourage the chard plant to keep producing, harvest leaves at the base with a sharp knife or kitchen shears.

Also planted in this Seattle container are coral-colored hypericum berries (Hypericum sp.), ruffled red ‘Fire Alarm’ coral bells (Heuchera ‘Fire Alarm’), ‘Blue Star’ juniper (Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’), ‘Tom Thumb’ New Zealand flax (Phormium ‘Tom Thumb’) and ‘Rheingold’ arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Rheingold’).
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun

Bronze glory

A color palette of gold, copper, rust and green echoes the color of fallen autumn leaves in this container in the Northwest. Here, the leaves of heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) are turning bronze against a chartreuse lemon cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa cv.) at the back of the container.

In the foreground, copper-colored coral bells (Heuchera sp.), ‘Goldfinger’ New Zealand iris (Libertia ixioides ‘Goldfinger’), limey sweet flag (Acorus gramineus ‘Pusillus Minimus’), black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’) and orange-flowering pansies form a tapestry of rich fall colors.
Water requirement: Moderate
Light requirement: Full sun

Special thanks to Lauren Dunec Hoang, Houzz Contributor