(BPT) - As summer comes to a close, autumn is all about extending your time outdoors and enjoying the gorgeous, vibrant hues in the garden. Celebrate the season by incorporating colorful plants and flowers that enhance the warmth and beauty of your home and outdoor gathering spaces.
The gardening experts at Ball Horticultural Company offer their top recommendations for capturing what makes this season so special with three easy tips for novice and experienced gardeners alike.
1. Welcome guests with style
To give guests a warm welcome when they visit, refresh your front porch entryway with lovely decorative containers and hanging baskets in rich fall colors.
Spreading Pansy Top Wave™ — A great new choice for cool-season containers on your porch or patio, these pansies offer mounds of friendly flowers to brighten window boxes, planters and baskets. With a wide variety of shades — from warm oranges, rose and pink shades to cool blues and violets — you can easily find the combination that feels right for your space.
Rudbeckia Suntacular — Also called Black-Eyed Susans, these stunning vase-shaped perennials bring a cheerful burst of sunshine to any mixed container or landscape, making your outdoor spaces more inviting for guests. Their hardy nature and easy-care appeal make these plants ideal for cooler weather, adding warmth to your fall decor.
2. Create a pollinator-friendly fall environment
Transform your backyard and patio into an oasis for birds, bees and butterflies by choosing plants and flowers that attract pollinators. Explore these options to add both color and character to any outdoor space:
Lantana Shamrock™ Yellow — These lively and fragrant yellow clusters of flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds, while also being deer resistant and drought tolerant. This is a great plant for containers and baskets thanks to its compact, well-kept growth habit.
Salvia Mystical — Available in striking blue or crisp white, these narrow-stalked blossoms will provide a beautiful contrast to warmer hues such as yellow, orange or red in your garden or containers. Their aromatic foliage and tubular flowers attracts pollinators including bees and butterflies, while resisting deer and rabbits.
Echinacea Sombrero® Mandarin Mambo — An upgrade to the traditional coneflower, this perennial offers bright orange flowers that change to a lovely peach color as they mature and provide lasting appeal for pollinators. Leave the spent seed heads to feed foraging birds in the fall.
3. Celebrate the fall classic with mum companions
Mums have long been cherished as a hallmark of the fall season, blooming into their full, glorious colors when many other flowers begin to fade. Pairing them with plants that offer bold colors and interesting textures can enhance your fall garden and create a rich visual tapestry. Here are two great choices that can easily become your favorite mums' new BFFs:
Dahlia Venti™ PinkBurst — This special pink Dahlia variety features a unique anemone-like double-flower pattern that will beautifully complement your autumn display of mums, while also performing well in decorative containers.
Zinnia Elegant™ Hot Mixture — Easy-to-grow and pollinator-friendly, these Zinnias produce large double flowers in stunning color mixes that quickly become garden favorites. Their festive shades of orange, red and pink bring vibrant contrast alongside mums in both containers and landscapes.
No matter your gardening experience, make your autumn shine this year by embracing the season's warm colors and striking blooms. Discover more gardening resources and ideas at BallHort.com.
