19 Easy-to-Find Plants for Fall Garden Containers

Are you looking for some fun fall outdoor planter ideas? Here are 19 easy-to-find plants for fall garden containers with design recipes.


If you are looking for autumn outdoor planter ideas, this post is for you. We’ll cover readily available fall garden flowers and plants, as well as some plant combinations to try.


We had such amazing weather this week.


The air was crisp and cool.


So it was time to pot up my fall garden containers.


There are lots of beautiful fall garden flowers and plants arriving at the nurseries now that just say…it’s fall.


So after visiting a few local nurseries, I pulled some fun plant combinations together for my container gardens.


And I can’t wait to show you how festive it looks!


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19 Easy-to-Find Plants for Fall Garden Containers


Since I made a few fun containers for fall, I’m going to share each recipe so you can easily make your own based on things you love and find in your area.


I’m often asked whether you should use annuals vs perennials in fall garden containers.


And the answer is…

You can use both!


Sometimes I’ll use perennials in my fall garden containers and then transplant them to the garden near the end of the season.


Or I’ll just leave them and move them in spring.


So don’t limit yourself to the few fall annuals you see at the garden nursery. Perennials can provide a lot of bang for the buck.

In general, here’s a list of the plants for the fall garden that are readily available and pretty easy to find.


  • Pansies
  • Ornamental Kale
  • Ornamental Cabbage
  • Millet
  • Mums
  • Celosia
  • Huechera
  • Asters
  • Fountain grass
  • Sedums
  • Sedge
  • Hot Peppers
  • Euphorbia
  • Creeping Jenny
  • Small Grasses
  • English Ivy
  • Hens and Chicks
  • Swiss Chard
  • Salvia


In addition to these plants, if you can salvage any of your annuals like marigolds, calibrachoa, petunias, coleus, impatiens, etc….do it!

It’s one of the reasons I say to think about fall when you are purchasing spring annuals.


If they can do double duty as plants for fall garden containers, you’ll save some money at the garden nursery in fall when filling them.

My Fall Container Gardens

This year was wanted my containers to look similar but slightly different, so I used mostly the same plants in each.


In general, I follows the thriller filler and spiller method of design for container gardens.


When I incorporate garden mums in my fall designs, there are a few things to keep in mind so you can get the most out of them.

It’s really important to remember that they don’t last long in the season, so plant them accordingly.


I buy mums later in the season and look for ones that have not opened yet so they last longer in my fall garden plantings.


And finally, since fall is such a short season, I stuff my containers as much as possible to make them look fuller.


Unlike spring into summer, you won’t get the same amount of growing time for plants to fill in so I stuff them in.


Keep in mind, different varieties are available in different growing regions so I’m providing you with a general container recipe.

Plants for Fall Garden Urns

For my front porch urns, I wanted to go with something similar from last year.


I was a little disappointed in the kale and cabbage offerings this year because they were all really small.


Last year, I found these large beautiful ones.

The ones I found this year near me are great for window boxes, but very small for the landscape and larger planters.


But I went with it anyway.


When this container blooms a bit more it will be beautiful.

In this outdoor planter, I used:


  • 1 Millet
  • 1 Pansy
  • 2 Celosia
  • 2 Orange Mums
  • 1 Ornamental Kale
  • 1 White Boo Pumpkin

Plants for Fall Garden Window Boxes

I LOVE these beautiful copper window boxes that I added to shed makeover in spring.


They look so beautiful on our garden shed and add so much detail, don’t they?


To jazz up the window boxes for autumn, these are the plants for fall garden that I used:


  • 1 Sedge
  • 2 Purple Celosia
  • 2 Orange Mums
  • 2 Yellow Pansies
  • 4 Ornamental Kale
  • 1 Field Trip Pumpkin
  • 2 White Boo Pumpkins

Fall Garden Whiskey Barrels

I have three of these old whiskey barrels in the backyard.


Aren’t they so cool?


I actually bought them in spring HERE and they add so much character to the backyard.


If you are looking for something similar, I would get them.


The quality is amazing but heads up – they are super heavy without anything in it.


Here’s how I planted them:


  • 1 Millet
  • 2 Purple Celosia
  • 1 Orange Celosia
  • 1 Pink Mum
  • 1 Orange Mum
  • 2 Yellow Pansies
  • 2 Ornamental Kale
  • 1 Field Trip Pumpkin

Fall Gardening in a Thrift Store Find

In addition to my regular garden containers, this year I added a beautiful copper boiling pot that I flipped into a planter with fall garden flowers and plants.


You can find the coolest garden treasures at the flea market or thrift store.


So keep you eyes open for items that would make unique planting vessels.

And that’s it for my outdoor planters this season.


I hope you are inspired to make some gorgeous fall container designs for your home.


Thanks for dropping by

Happy Gardening!

More Outdoor Planter Garden Design Ideas

Come See What’s Happening in My Friends’ Gardens

I love to drop by and see what’s growing in my friends’ gardens across the nation.


Let’s pop in and see what’s happening in their gardens.


Shiplap and Shells

My good friend Kim from Shiplap and Shells shared some gorgeous fall plant ideas for container gardens.


And what’s interesting about Kim’s garden, is that we both experienced the same shortage in selection this year.


Hopefully, next year will be better!

Life at Bella Terra

My good friend Mary from Life at Bella Terra shares her October garden update in Arizona.


It is so cool to see how different our seasons are!

Chas Crazy Creations

And my good friend Chas from Chas Crazy Creations shares her tips for winterizing a garden in her Colorado climate.

Photo by Chas Crazy Creations


Thank you so much for following along.

Enjoy a beautiful day! xo

Stacy Ling

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19 Easy-to-Find Plants for Fall Garden Containers
Stacy Ling | Bricks 'n Blooms
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