The Green Thumb Guru: Tips for adding fall touches outside your home

The busses are out, the pools are drained, and football is back on TV. Whether we like or not fall is here, and that means it’s time to start thinking about how we can spruce up our gardens and landscapes with a little fall color.  

Annual planters can start to look a little tired this time of year. To refresh your plantings, simply pull out some of the annuals that have run their course and add some fall mums or ornamental kale to brighten them up. Adding some gourds, straw bales, and corn stalks can also help to bring a little interest to the front entrance of your house.

In addition to the annual planters and decorations, there are many permanent plants that can be added to your landscape to get some fall color. Ornamental grasses such as flame grass, little bluestem, and Karl Forester can add interest that lasts through the entire winter. Other plants such as asters, autumn joy sedum, and black-eyed Susan can give your landscape that pop of color for the fall.

Fall is also the perfect time to plant trees and shrubs. Many trees and shrubs such as maple, burning bush, and viburnum will give great fall color from bright red to golden yellow. 

So even though it’s sad to see another summer come and go, it’s good to know that you can extend the bright colors in your garden with just a few fall plants here and there.