Falling for Fall—Reviving Container Gardens

The sight of my burnt out flower containers at the end of August depresses me to no end. True, sometimes the cause of pathetic looking plants is my own fault for neglecting plants as I rush to get as much fun in as I can in the last bits of summer. But often for many plants, they are just at the end of their life cycle and there’s not much that can be done about that. Sure, some of the “annuals” we grow are really tender perennials not hardy to our climate and those, with a little care, we can stretch into the fall.

Early spring favorites of mine, pansies and violas will make a resurgence in the fall. While many people think these delicate looking flowers are tender, they actually thrive in cooler temperatures. It’s the heat that gets to them. A true Minnesota plant! Plant pots of them, baby them through the hottest days of summer (which means shade and some water), shear off the spent blooms and they will shine again in the fall. This is also true of most cultivars of osteospermum. They like cooler temps and will look great in the spring, take a breather during the heat of summer and come back swinging in the fall. In the case of osteos, I find that no matter what, they don’t do well in containers. I have much better luck planting these right into the garden. Other annuals that do well in the fall are calibrochoa (million bells), strawflowers, euphorbia, oxalis and sage. Using these annuals in some of your containers will give you some plants you can salvage to combine with other fall beauties when the others have gone to seed.

Ornamental peppers, kale and chard are also at their peak right now. I saw at one store where fully mature ornamental kale was being sold in a 8” pot for around $8. Not bad I suppose, but considering that if I was going to use kale I would want more than one, this is cost prohibitive. If I plan ahead in the spring I can purchase a 4 pack of kale for under $3, plant them either in my garden or in pots and have them ready to use in my fall containers. Easy and cheap, what could be better? This is definitely on my list for next spring.

I’ve also found that sacrificing some bloom time in the summer yields a longer bloom time into the fall. Specifically, I’ve found this to be true of petunias. Year after year, around mid to late July I found that my potted petunias were leggy and a little played out looking. Despite this, they would still be blooming so I was reluctant to cut them back. Short season and all, you know. This year I bit the bullet and pruned the plants by half around the beginning of August. Although my containers all have time release fertilizer, I also gave them a shot of liquid fertilizer as well. Petunias are heavy feeders and benefit from extra feedings even if you are using the time release fertilizer. I also had some lantana in some containers and trimmed those back as well. The result was, well, kind of ugly for a couple of weeks. But now they look like this:

Except for being windblown, this actually looks better than it did in the spring/summer. I’m sold. I’ll be pruning back potted petunias midsummer from now on.

You can also revive containers by pulling out the stuff that’s past its prime and replacing it with other annuals or things like red or yellow dogwood branches, curly willow, bamboo, or cattails. The cattails are rampant in ditches near here and I’d like to go steal some. It is okay in Minnesota to cut a few cattails for personal use in fall bouquets. Just don’t go trespassing…another experience I’ve had so you don’t have to. You can preserve cattails with hairspray. The cheaper the better so it has more lacquer in it. You can also add gourds, pumpkins and other seasonal items as decorative mulch to fill in where you have removed plants from containers.

This is my first attempt at reviving containers. I chose to do only the largest ones close to my front door since we’ll be spending less and less time out in the yard. Might as well make the effort with those containers that will provide the most punch. I removed the dried out sweet pea vines and the trailing verbena which if watered properly would have been just fine (oops, live and learn). I left the bacopa and sweet potato vine (which needs some dead leaves removed I see). I planted potted mums and placed several gourds around the base to fill in. Last, I pruned some errant branches from my red-twigged dogwood, stripped them of leaves and stuck those in to add height, color and texture. Not bad for a first attempt and certainly better than burnt out sweet peas and dead verbena.
Be creative. Recycle those cold hardy annuals and tender perennials you planted in the spring. Use branches from trees and shrubs in your yard for filler. See what fun fall containers you can create.