The Ultimate Fall Container Recipe: Mixing Summer Foliage with Autumn Color, by Hoofprints & Hydrangeas on YouTube. 16 min 13 s.
- Video length
- 16 min 13 s
- Time to do it
- 45 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Plan the pot before you shop. Pick one tall plant for height, one for dark colour, one big leafy plant for the middle and low trailers for the edges.
Buy four new plants at the garden centre: Solar Cascade goldenrod, Lady in Black aster, Rain or Shine caladium and Matrix Solar Flare pansies.
Lift the sedum and wire vine out of the summer pot with the trowel. Keep as much root ball as you can and set them aside in a tray.
Scrape off the top 5 cm of old soil. Loosen the rest with the trowel, then mix in fresh potting mix and a scoop of slow-release fertiliser.
Plant the goldenrod near the back of the pot so its arching stems rise above everything else.
Set the aster beside it for dark foliage, then place the caladium in the centre as the big leafy filler.
Put the pansies around the front rim, then tuck the saved sedum and wire vine in at the edges so they trail over the side.
Fill any gaps with fresh mix and press the soil down firmly around each root ball.
Water the whole pot slowly until water runs out of the drainage holes, then top up the soil if it settles.
Tips and common mistakes
Reusing the sedum and wire vine saves you the cost of two plants and gives the pot an instant full look.
Caladium is tender, so lift the tubers before the first hard frost if you want to keep them.
Water at the soil line, not over the pansy flowers, to keep the blooms looking clean.
Goldenrod and aster are perennials, so plant them in the border when you empty the pot.
Questions
Can I use the soil already in the pot?
Yes, as long as it is not waterlogged or full of roots. Strip the top layer, loosen what is left and mix in fresh potting mix and fertiliser.
Will pansies survive frost?
Matrix pansies handle light frost and even a dusting of snow, so they keep flowering into late autumn in most areas.
Do I have to buy named varieties?
No. Any tall goldenrod, a dark-leaf aster, a big leafy filler and low pansies will give the same layered look.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
