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Brighten Up
Or you could create a container garden with a variety of winter hardy plants that can be enjoyed throughout the cold months. Consider using acorus grasses, chard, sage and ornamental cabbage. First choose a container that will withstand freezing temperatures. Ceramic or terra cotta pots are beautiful, but often crumble when exposed to freezing temperatures. Make sure there is a drainage hole in the bottom. If not, it is easy to drill a small hole through resin or plastic material with a drill bit. Fill the container with a good soil mix that contains moisture retaining polymer granules, since there’s less rainfall in winter. Choose an accent plant, like large heads of ornamental cabbage. Position smaller plants around the cabbage, finishing off with colorful winter-hardy pansies and ivy around the edges. The pansies will provide constant color and the ivy, with withstands cold temperatures beautifully, will trail over the sides. More information about fall container gardening and lots of photo examples can be found at http://containergardening.about.com/od/photogallery/ig/Fall-Container-Gardens/
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The containers of ever-blooming annuals on your deck or patio are pretty much “bloomed out” now, so this is a good time to switch to fall flowers. Lavalette Nursery has a large selection of jumbo garden mums in a variety of colors. One plant is big enough to fill the largest container.
A dwarf evergreen in an attractive container is a year-round asset. In the spring and summer, plant vinca around the edges, then in the fall, switch to pansies, which will bloom all winter. For a quick fix, just plant a variety of colorful pansies in a small container to greet visitors beside your front door.