Annuals for Fall – freshening up those containers

Wed. Sep. 1, 2021

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Annuals for Fall – freshening up those containers

Local nurseries, grocery stores and even some gas stations are showing off Fall annuals. It feels early but that might be due to our warmer than normal temperatures.

Anyway, the mums are dazzling and there are a whole lot of other gorgeous options to refresh those spent summer annuals. Change out those pooped out petunias for some flowering kale along with those mums.

Looking a little worse for wear

Crotons scream fall colors! They also make great houseplants. They just need bright indirect light. Take a look at this gorgeous plant and my process in changing out 2 of my front entry containers!  Maria taught me to plant my containers at an angle. Check out this FB video of her creating some huge containers! 

I kept the purple fountain grass and the mezoo trailing plant
I had that begonia and transplanted it. I added two annual rudbeckia and the flowering kale

Ornamental peppers also add splashes of color with hues of yellow, orange, red and purple. 

This container was pooped too…

I saved the spillers that you could barely see… added the large croton, a yellow mum, a red mum and a flowering kale. I also reused the lantana on the right

I have a brain celosia that’s stunning. I know it sounds weird but it’s crazy beautiful.

Just gorgeous – celosia
Brainiac celosia with sweet potato vine

Chartreuse sweet potato vines look really pretty with the red celosia. Another fall plant that can also transition into your home as a houseplant is Abutilon.

Abutilon flowers non-stop – it is an annual in our climate

There are some fantastic annual grasses, ‘Toffee Twist’, is a great color to set off yellow and orange mums. Purple millet would look awesome with yellow mums and another type of flowering kale and ornamental cabbage! Pansies are back with the cooler weather too.

I swapped out a zinnia for a purple kale. The lantana and calibrachoa still look good

For a “thriller” consider planting a Rudbeckia aka blackeyed susan. There are several cultivars, you could use an annual or choose a perennial and then plant it in your garden!

The pumpkins will be here before you know it!