Shades of Green
In this fall container garden theme, soft textures and bright chartreuse tones light up bronze-colored 17-inch-wide containers.
Shades of green plan
A. Restio multiflorus A wispy, grasslike plant that grows 3 to 4 feet tall or more, it develops brown seed heads that hang on through winter.
B. Libertia peregrinans Stiff, narrow leaves have warm tones of olive and orange; plants reach 2 feet tall.
C. Euphorbia amygdaloides robbiae This spreading foot-tall plant has rounded grass green leaves.
D. Coleonema pulchellum ‘Sunset Gold’ Feathery green-gold foliage glows in soft autumn light. Plants reach 1½ feet tall.
Chocolate with a Twist of Lime
In this delicious fall container garden, willowy burgundy Agonis, trailing lime-colored Grevillea, and curly plum heuchera in egg-shaped pots create a rustic vignette against a weathered wooden garage.
Lime and chocolate plan
A. Agonis flexuosa ‘Jervis Bay Afterdark’ A tree with feathery burgundy foliage.
B. Heuchera ‘Crimson Curls’ Deeply ruffled plum-toned leaves grow in a mound that reaches about 1½ feet tall.
C. Grevillea ‘Fanfare’ Saw-toothed leaves are coppery when young, maturing to a shade of lime. This low spreader grows 1 foot tall.
Touch of Bronze
In this single-pot fall container garden, bronze and chartreuse foliage mingle in a 16-inch rose-blushed celadon pot.
Touch of bronze plan
A. Pieris ‘Forest Flame’ Fiery red new leaves fade to pink, then turn dark green when mature. This shrub prefers part-shade and can reach 10 feet tall.
B. Dryopteris erythrosora The hardy wood fern’s feathery new growth blends copper, pink, and gold tones that turn rust-colored in fall. It grows 2 feet tall.
C. ‘Little John’ azalea Bronzy leaves make this azalea, which can reach 6 feet tall, a choice focal point.
Smoke and Berries
Bright cotoneaster berries fringe a shapely Atlas cedar in pitted burnt-orange pots in this fall container garden. (Large is 18 inches wide; small is 16 inches wide.)
Smoke and berries plan
A. Weeping blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’) Pendulous branches sport soft-looking silvery blue needles. Slow-growing; trained to form a spiral trunk.
B. Cotoneaster dammeri ‘Coral Beauty’ Stiff branches with green leaves and red-orange berries add a playful touch to pots. It grows to
6 inches tall.
Black gold plan
A. Coprosma ‘Roy’s Red’ This shrub’s glossy purple-black fall leaves turn red in winter. The plant grows 3 to 4 feet tall.
B. Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ Clumps of silky ebony blades make perfect edgings.
