In fall, our trees and shrubs boast such spectacular colours, but often our gardens aren’t nearly as vibrant as they were in spring and summer. The perfect solution: design custom container gardens for fall. There are so many beautiful flowers and plants that thrive in cool autumn temperatures. Not to mention, curating your own designs is such a satisfying creative project that anyone can do, regardless of your art skills!
The Best Flowers and Plants for Fall Container Designs
If you’re a seasoned gardener, you’re probably well-acquainted with the basic formula for container design: thrillers + fillers + spillers! If you’re unfamiliar, here’s a quick refresher:
Thrillers are tall, showy plants that add height and flair.
Fillers are mounded, lush plants that fill the space around your taller plants.
Spillers are trailing plants that cascade down the sides of the container all around the edges.
Plenty of thrillers, fillers, and spillers are suitable for fall container designs and hanging baskets. Here are some of our favourites you can mix and match to your heart’s content!
Fall Thrillers
These distinctive plants have major visual impact, bringing a sculptural quality to your container designs. Plant them in the middle or the back of your container for best results.
Crotons: Often kept as indoor houseplants, crotons are vivacious tropicals with stiff, waxy leaves and streaks of vivid green, gold, orange, and red. Be sure to keep their soil moist and water them regularly outdoors to prevent leaf drop.
Ornamental Peppers: These spicy little numbers are covered in pretty peppers in all sorts of beautiful colours! The peppers change colours as they ripen, creating a beautiful multi-tonal effect.
Ornamental Grasses: Perhaps one of the most popular fall thrillers for container designs, ornamental grasses have such distinctive textures! Their slender foliage sways in the breeze, and their blooms take the form of fuzzy or feathery tufts. Some popular options include purple fountain grass, mondo grass, and pennisetum.
Snapdragons: Late-blooming and packed with personality, snapdragons are always a fine choice for thriller plants. Their blooms—available in a stunning spectrum of candy colours—emerge along tall stems and last for quite a long time. Bees, birds, butterflies, and other pollinators love them!
Fall Fillers
Filler plants don’t always get as much hype and thrillers and spillers, but these gorgeous cool-season varieties have major ornamental value. Don’t be surprised if they’re the standout stars of your container designs!
Coleus: We love the vibrance and saturation of this versatile foliage plant—its leaves are just as impressive as a planter full of fall flowers! Some are burgundy and lime, others sport neon reds and yellows, and some are pink and green like little watermelon slices!
Ornamental Cabbages and Kale: You might not think a leafy vegetable would make a good decorative plant, but ornamental cabbages and kale are surprisingly beautiful! Their foliage forms a swirling rosette shape, like one giant flower. They’re typically cool blue-green, but some have splashes of pinkish-purple.
Marigolds: These sunny golden beauties are natural pest repellers, so on top of bringing a cheerful pop of yellow to your container design, they’ll keep away the pesky bugs.
Heuchera: Another foliage plant with serious ornamental value, heuchera—or coral bells—has ruffled foliage in every colour imaginable! Red, gold, purple, lime green, orange, and even black—there’s a heuchera that will fit with every palette.
Fall Spillers
These mighty fine trailing vines are the perfect finishing touch for your container design!
Sweet Potato Vine: Available in lime green or deep purple, these dramatic, leafy vines grow long and lush—fast!
Ivy: This classic creeper makes a beautiful spiller—we really like the silver variegated cultivars for bringing cool contrast to the autumn landscape.
Creeping Jenny: Round, Skittle-sized yellow-green leaves form long, trailing vines that light up the scenery like a neon sign.
Calibrachoa: Often considered a summer annual, this fast-growing cousin of the petunia keeps blooming until frost.
Fall Container Design Recipes
Here are a few thriller + filler + spiller combos that work perfectly together:
- Purple fountain grass, ornamental kale or cabbage, chrysanthemums, and ivy
- Crotons, ornamental peppers, marigolds, and creeping Jenny
- Pennisetum, heuchera, coleus, and calibrachoa
- Black mondo grass, purple millet, and purple sweet potato vine
Gather even more inspiration and ideas for your fall 2022 container designs by visiting our garden centres in Bala and Port Carling!
