7 Autumn Container Planting Ideas

I’ve been given a lovely new medium-sized planter to fill. However at this time of year I’m about to go into bulb-buying overdrive. I want to do justice to the container, but I don’t want to break the bank and use up my bulb budget! Can I do that? I think with a little careful thought, I can. In fact I think I can come up with seven cheap Autumn container planting ideas!

Autumn Container Planting – The Pot

First, let’s set the scene as the container is crucial to any autumn container planting scheme.

The pot has come to me from my dear friend Ginny. She has very sadly moved away to live with her lovely man, Ken. You may recall Ginny and Ken were featured in my blog about making hypertufa planters – they’re the ones drinking the wine! Anyway, I digress (as I did when making the hypertufa planters due to all the wine, which I drank too!)

Ginny left behind a few planters in her move and this one has come to me. I’m absolutely chuffed. Ginny has a very artistic eye, and so unsurprisingly the pot is gorgeous.

It’s the most lovely soft, green colour. I think it will look stunning on my old weather-beaten wooden table on the patio or on my table in my sitting room. The pot is about 7 inches wide at its widest point and less than 16 inches long. So it’s not going to suit a large perennial – but will suit a grouping of smaller autumn bedding plants.

So what are my seven autumn container planting ideas for this beauty?

Autumn Container Planting – The Plants

I think I can come up with seven really effective, inexpensive planting ideas using different combinations of the following plants:

Cyclamen Silverado

I’ve chosen this cyclamen as I think the paler marbled colouring of the leaves picks out the colour in the container. The hot pink blooms will also be a lovely contrast with the pot. However, a word of warning about cyclamen, unlike the perennial cyclamen coum which grow in my north-facing shaded border, this cyclamen won’t last all year outside. It will look good for a while, but once winter’s really cold weather and rain kick in, it will start looking very sad and lose its va va voom. So I would use this for an indoor display or have it outdoors for a bit and then bring it indoors.

Festuca Glauca

As you have probably realised from my previous blogs, I’m mad about grasses! I think they look brilliant in pots, either on their own or in combination with other plants.

This particular grass, Festuca Glauca Amigold is such a useful plant for mid-sized containers. It’s compact, forms a lovely upright mound and it’s also a semi-evergreen perennial. This means it provides good long-term interest and you won’t need to replace it. Indeed after a few years you will be able to divide it, creating yet more plants for your containers or your friends!

However, what I really like about this specific festuca is that it has flashes of limey green/yellow in it. This makes it versatile. I think this works really well with stronger contrasting colours such as hot pinks but it can also work with yellows.

Violas

Talking of yellows, take a look at this beauty. It’s called viola Rocky Golden Yellow. Garden centres are awash with violas and pansies at the moment and for good reason. You can get violas in just about every colour, making them ideal for every colour scheme, and they last and last. Even in the worst of weathers mine flower on merrily. Indeed, I’ve often found that they self-seed on my patio. The variety I’ve chosen is a biennial. This means its full growing cycle takes two years. So if I’m lucky I could find this yellow stunner’s flowers popping up in the cracks on my patio in a couple of years time. Now that’s what I call value for money!

Pernettya

I think autumn container planting can look a little predictable. That’s why it’s good to mix up the shapes and forms of plant you go for. One plant which does this brilliantly is Pernettya. Pernettya is a small evergreen shrub. Its leaves are not much to talk about but who cares! Take a look at its berries. It produces absolutely masses of these glistening beauties from winter through to spring. They’re a rasberry reddish sort of fuchsia colour. As if that’s not enough, it also delivers flowers in May.

However, to keep this beauty happy you need to give it full sun and acid soil. For a pot that means ericaceous compost.

Autumn Flowering Heather

Like violas, another stallwart of garden centres at the moment is autumn flowering heathers. The thing I find with heathers is that if you only go for the colour of the flowers, when these go, your container loses some of its glamour. Yet the upright nature of the foliage in a heather means it can do so much more than simply provide flowers. That’s why I’ve selected one called Yellow John. It so named not because of its flowers (these are lilac-coloured) but because of its foliage which is bright yellow. Like the Pernettya, heathers like full sun (or just a bit of shade) and acid soil.

Ivy

Last up in my list of potential ingredients for my seven autumn container planting ideas is Hedera (ivy).

I can hear you groan…’not ivy!’ But while it can be a spreading nuissance to some people in a garden, it’s a classy and versatile addition to almost every container and it’s tough as old boots. The golden rule of container planting is to have a thriller (a statement plant), a filler (to plug the gaps) and a spiller (something to take the eye down below the edge of the pot). A trailing ivy is about the cheapest spiller you will find.

If you have it in your garden, you really don’t need to buy it from a garden centre for your autumn pots. Simply dig a bit up with some root. It will thrive and your autumn pots will be cheaper still!

Given my other plant choices, the one I’ve gone for is variegated with a yellowy cream outer edge to the leaves. It trails a bit but it’s also pretty upright in its habit. I feel that’s important for this container as it’s not the tallest in the world. A really trailing ivy would soon start spilling and covering my table. Not a look I’m going for.

Autumn Container Planting – The 7 Looks

So these are my six ingredients for my autumn container planting. Here are seven different container looks you can achieve with them.

Look #1 Violas and Ivy – cost £6

What a sunny smasher! The yellow of the violas and the edging of the ivy combine brilliantly, I think. With just two plants in a pot, the secret is not to skimp – put in plenty of violas. You want the look to be generous.

Autumn Container Planting – Look #2 Violas, Cyclamen and Ivy – cost £10

The yellow of the violas and the hot pink of the cyclamen combine brilliantly. You probably could save some money and just put one cyclamen in this container but I feel the extra plant balances out the colours.

Look #3 Pure Cyclamen – cost £10.50

You can go all out with one plant. It doesn’t mean you lack imagination, it just means you are planting with purpose and restraint. And as I’ve said before, if you like it, who cares. In the case of this cyclamen there’s enough interest from the flowers and foliage to pull this look off. I am mindful though that this is a short-lived display. In fact to encourage longevity I’d probably keep it indoors.

Look #4 Cyclamen, Pernettya, Heather and Ivy – cost £16

This is my most expensive option as the Pernettya is a bit pricier than your typical bedding plant. But remember how long it will look good for! Berries then flowers, I think it earns its keep.

Look #5 Pernettya, Heather and Ivy – cost £12.50

This look trims back the cost by removing the cyclamen. I personally this it’s as good, and the ivy and Pernettya will spread to plug the gaps. If you already have ivy in your garden, this look becomes cheaper still!

Look #6 Grass, Cyclamen and Ivy – cost £13

I think the ivy and grass complement each other beautifully and balance the look of this very elegant autumn container. However, once the cyclamen fade it will be rather a sea of yellowy green. At that point I’d pop in a few hot coloured violas. Crimson/red would look smashing.

Look #7 Pernettya, Heather, Grass and Ivy – cost £15.50

I feel the grass and heather book-end this display really nicely. The Pernettya is the thriller and the ivy provides nice trailing detail. The whole look will hold its colour thanks to the Pernettya which has berries into spring and then swaps them for blooms, My only caveat with this one is how happy the grass will stay. For the Heather and Pernettya, ericaceous compost will be needed in the container. The ivy is tough and could probably cope with it, but I’m not so sure about the grass and so would carefully monitor it.

Autumn Container Planting – which is your favourite?

So that’s it – 7 autumn container planting ideas using just 6 plants as my ingredients. What do you think, which one should I go for? Do let me know.