How to Refresh Summer Pots into Stunning Fall Planters | Autumn Container Gardening Tips

Welcome back to Hillside Farm! I’m Ruth McKeaney, and today I’m joined by my dear friend Leslie to show you how we refresh tired summer pots and turn them into beautiful fall planters.

As the seasons change, many of our summer containers are filled with plants that just don’t make it through the heat, vacations, or long dry spells. In this video, we’ll walk you through how to:

– Save perennials and give them new life for fall
– Design a simple monochromatic planter full of texture and color
– Use grasses and seasonal flowers for a bold autumn focal point
– Add vibrant pops of color that bring warmth and curb appeal to your home

This is part of my Fall Series here at Hillside Farm, where I share gardening tips, seasonal recipes, and homemaking ideas that celebrate the beauty of each season. My hope is that these fall container gardening ideas will inspire you to create a welcoming home for family and friends.

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#FallPlanters #ContainerGardening #FallDecor #Gardening

Welcome to Hillside Farm. My name is Ruth McKini and I’ve got the fabulous Lesie here. Today we are in our fall series and she’s going to show us how to make how to turn your summer planters into fall planters, how to save as many of those plants as you can, make them perennials, how to make a monochromatic kind of focal with grasses and all sorts of things. So, please join us because it is going to be a fantastic episode. Welcome to Hillside Farm. I’m Ruth McKini, mother of five, wife to Bob, lifelong host, and a passionate believer that any space can feel like home. Here at our 307year-old family home, hospitality is more than a meal. It’s about loving others well, making them feel seen, heard, and deeply welcomed. [Music] We invite you to subscribe to our channel, Hungry for Home, to discover beloved family recipes, meaningful conversations, gardening tips, decorating, and to always feel at home. Welcome to Hillside Farm. My name is Ruth McKini and we are in the fall fall season and that’s our series. Um, today I’ve got Lesie who might be and I’m gonna I’m gonna say this, the best designer of pots and floral arrangements or I mean she is a master and I invited her out today to help me think through changing out my summer pots to fall. So, welcome. I want to love to see you. Good to see you. All right. So, what we have here is a pot which is right next to my driveway and uh it leaves a lot to be desired. It has a lot of dead stuff in it. Yeah. So, what do I do? So, this happens to so many of us in the summer. It gets hot, then it gets cold. It’s either wet or dry or we go on vacation and things just die. And this is far from my house, so I don’t even get water down to it. Exactly. So, a lot of times it’s good to have that refresh when we get into September. So, I brought you some goodies that we’re going to plant. Um, one of the things we’re going to go over today is planting a monochromatic moment. Okay. So, I picked everything that’s kind of the same shade. Now, this is really nice because so much of our gardens and so much of our landscapes are green. So, it’s nice to have these really bright pops of color that aren’t green in your pots. Also, you have parts of your house that are very white. Lots of us have white houses or other colors that would suit really well for having a pop of color next to it. Yeah. Yes. I mean, and these are going to look great with the stone. Yes, they’re going to look really lovely. So, you have a lot of good things kind of still in here. It looks like some of your nepida from behind actually rooted in. Rooted. It does. I wasn’t hilarious. You put catman in here and I guess it just rooted in. So, you had some lavender that didn’t make it, but that’s okay. Sometimes that happens. Lavender never make it for me. We’re just going to tuck that in. Well, lavender is tricky. You know, have the right soil. You really have to amend the soil. Now, right here, it looks like you’ve got some lovely plants with some seeds on it. So, what we’re going to do is we’re going to actually we’re going to take this and we’re going to put it in your wheelbarrow, but we’re going to take this and maybe put it somewhere else. Okay? So we can have those seeds spread themselves out for the following season. Okay. So this looks like a little tut papyrus. He’s probably not going to make it, but we can bring him in as a house plant. Now this beautiful piece of nepida that has probably spread itself in here. Can go somewhere else in your yard. I think we have a spot where it didn’t make it through that that drought portion. So let’s put that in there. Perfect. So, I’m all about reusing what’s in your pot. I love that. And we’re going to pop this right out. Now, typically, if you started your season off with fresh potting soil, which it looks like you did, you don’t need to replenish your potting soil. Now, if you have old potting soil, um you might want to give it a little refresh. Now, what I would do is just give it a little fertilizer because this is older potting soil. But you didn’t look like you had too much insect damage or anything like that. So, I wouldn’t really worry too much about that. Yeah, you’ve got the roots mostly out. So, I’ve got the roots mostly out. I’m just going to dig a little bit out because we are going to try to fit a lot into this pot and I don’t think we’re going to be be able to fit everything. Okay. But I wanted to bring you some treasures so we can sprinkle them around. Thank you. The other thing we could always do is if you really like the design of a pot Mhm. but not everything’s going to fit in the pot, you could actually take your tallest plant and plant it behind. Okay. So, you’re still getting the look. I see what you’re saying. You’re saying put it behind the entire pot. Absolutely. So, you could do that. We can save it. We could plant it lots of places. This uh tall thing that I brought for you is called nine bark and it gets beautiful flowers. I love it. Oh, isn’t it gorgeous? Yeah, it’s gorgeous. It holds up really well in flower arrangements. Okay? So, there are greens in flower arrangements, but they don’t have to be green, right? They can be this color. And maybe we’ll autumnal color. Maybe we’ll look at doing some of our Thanksgiving tables with some of this, which is super fun. Um, so come back and see us. I love that. Yeah. All right. So, what are we where are we going to start? So, we’re going to start with usually you’re going to start with what’s in the back, but I don’t know if we’re going to be able to fit this in. So, we’re going to just tuck this nine bark back here. Do you want me to go get a shovel to put that in behind it or do you think it’ll go in? No, let’s do that. Do you want this here or do you want it somewhere else? No, let’s plant it. I think that’ll be lots of fun. Yeah. Or do you think in the backyard? I think we should plant it here for the minute and then we can change our minds. Or let’s wait. We’ll hold it there and then we’ll figure it out. So, let’s do that there. So, this is one of my favorite grasses. I love using grasses in planters. I do, too. So, this is going to be our tall bit of burgundy in the back. And it’s going to sit right back there. I love the movement. It’ll be nice when you have cars driving past. It’ll just swish a little bit. And then you can actually braid your grass and planters, which is so fun. And one of the reasons I love doing this colorcape is because a little further into the season when it starts to cool down, I like to use a white pumpkin and stick it in the planter. And this color assortment goes really well with white pumpkins. Okay. So, now we need to take this out. We’re going to take this out of its pot and we’re going to break up the roots because this guy is super rootbound. Do you want me to go get my hori hy? Yeah, you can if you want to or I don’t mind getting a little dirty. I It isn’t the dirt. You I just felt that. That is hard as a rock. It is hard. I’ll go get my horses. Do you want me to get anything else while I’m getting that? No, I think that should be it. You can keep explaining. So, we’re going to stick this one towards the back. Whenever you’re planting on a corner of a house, I kind of like to match where this is going. So, it’s going to go right here, matching this corner. And then I’m bringing it up to the line of the pot right here. So she’s going to bring us the horih hory so we can break up some roots and we can talk about what else we are going to be sticking in here. Now this is a gorgeous echgonatia or cone flower. It is a native plant which is wonderful for our pollinators. You’ll see a lot of goldfinch action on this all winter long. They’ll come and take all the seeds. So, it’s super fun to see from your window if you’re kind of far to look out and see all the birds. So, this will be this lovely pop of color. And that’s going to go end up going right here. The next plant we’re going to use is called solosia. It’s a kind of amaranth and it has this really gorgeous vivid pop of color. It also makes for a fabulous dried flower. Now, this is an annual. However, it will seed itself everywhere. You’ll be weeding it out. So, I’ve had even brides come to our property and have it in a bouquet and they just walk through the property and the seeds come down and literally you can see where the bride was from the patch of amaranth that grows in her path the following year. So, we’ll stick this somewhere in here. It’s kind of fun to like tuck a little bit of these pops of color in the back um because they kind of lighten everything up. We’ll also be using coral bells or hukura. So, this is another fabulous native all in the same color scheme. And then this will be going a little bit towards the front so it can semi drape over the front of the pond. And here comes Ruth with the hy hory. It is my favorite garden. It’s the best. All right. It literally has ridges on this side and you can cut it on that side. It’s like it’s a knife. It is. And has a bottle opener right there just in case. Just in case you need a drink while you’re doing Exactly. Oh, perfect. And Barebones is a great company. They make fabulous tools. All right, that should be good. And we’re just going to kind of rip it off. Rip it apart, but leave some of it together. There we go. We’re going to break up all of these roots. All right. So, perfect. Okay. I like how it kind of sits right there. So, then we are going to take the echgonatia out. Do it over the wheelbarrow so the dirt stays in our one place and not all over. Now, this one has rice holes on top. What are those? So, this is what you have on the outside of rice. So, when you wash your rice before you cook it, you’ll see some of these float up. This is the shell that’s on um rice that you use to improve drainage and arration in the soil. Okay. So, I’m just kind of going through. This one isn’t as rootbound, so I’m just kind of going through and getting off some of the excess dirt. Giving it a little wiggle so some of the roots can come out and get settled. I’ll tell you what, I was just in Costco yesterday. They already have their Christmas things out. Oh my gosh. It’s just too soon for me. I can understand fall. You know, we’re in fall, but winter is not here. I love to live live in the season I’m in. Me, too. Which is why gardening’s so nice because a lot of time, unless you’re planning for next year, you’re actively planting in the season. Which one do you want next? So, next, let’s do this hukura. And how do you determine what you’re going to put where? That is a great question. So, I look about at growth habit and I look at the way the colors are. So, this one’s going to be staying low. Mhm. I’m going to actually plant it at a slight bit of an angle here. So, it comes out and weeps over a little bit. Okay. Which is lovely. But I have my tallest thing in the back. Yep. We’re going to do a tall thing, a slightly smaller, and have a waterfall effect because we’re next to a building. Okay. Okay. You don’t want to have that if the plant is being looked at on all sides. On all sides. Got it. Exactly. So then we have this beautiful solosia. Now this is I love the color. And this is an edible plant. You can eat the new leaves, the flowers. Uh you can eat the flowers. Some people will make like a tea with the flowers. It also makes a great dye. But, um, the new leaves are really what a lot of people eat in salads. Um, and it’s really just a beautiful plant. So, and it will selfseed like crazy, like we were just talking about. What do you enjoy working on the most? Cuz you’re so talented in all of these. Thank you. I love getting my hands dirty, as you can see. Yeah, it’s just the best. I love doing pots. I love doing fountains. That’s a huge passion of mine. Um, but she’ll, what does your husband call you? Lofty Gole Leslie. Lofty Gole Leslie. Because literally she’ll be in bed at night and she’ll have a huge inspiration. And if you watch, continue to watch this fall with what we’re doing. I think we’re going to be doing something with a lot of pumpkins. A lot of pumpkins. And she’s been coming up with these ideas as she’s falling asleep at night. And he calls her Lofty Lesie. I love it. I love it. I love it. I’ll just make like a shared note and constantly be painting. We have a shared note and she lets me know what she’s going to do. All right, let’s see. So, we’re gonna take this one out next. So, this is leilia cardinal flower. Okay, this gets a beautiful red flower, but it has that same color foliage that we’re trying to highlight here. And this is a fabulous native as well. Okay, so I’m going to have this guy. Same thing that I did with that one, but we’re going to put it slightly further back, but it’s tilted. But it’s going to be slightly tilted. Okay? And then that way when people come up your driveway, you get this nice bold color. Okay? And actually, I’m going to put that one. I change my mind all the time when I do planters, too. I’m like, I don’t like the way that plant sits. And it can be any individual plant. Might just not sit the right way, but its buddy sat perfectly. So, same thing with this guy. And it’s got all that rice hole on it. All the rice holes. This one’s slightly more sandy. But we’re going to just break up the bottom of the roots, get this one all situated. And you’re saying all of these when they die, I can actually replant somewhere for them to come back. You can. So, some people will leave perennials in pots. Now, that lessens the chance of them coming back, right? because in the winter it’s gonna which you never know with the winters where we live what it’s going to be. So what I like like we talked about in our spring episode is planting the plants in a family, right? So that you can move the whole family. Move the whole family. So this is a great start to a garden. You’ve got a lot of natives going on in this one. So you know, find a sunny spot and plant this as a family as a family. And then we’ll maybe redo it for winter. Okay. All right. So, I’m just going to get this one nestled in. Now, is this hole left for this or not a hole? So, I am actually this guy’s here. What we’re going to do is I have one more plant. Oh, yes. Over here. I’ll put this back in this pot. Perfect. that I just picked up a little cute patunia hybrid to go in the front. This looks like a patunia crossed with a um caliber koa, which is a million bells. I mean, this is beautiful. And uh they’re really fabulous. I’ve actually had these come back for me the following year. Um I’ve had these out in my garden blooming in the middle of January. Wow. So, we’re just going to kind of tuck this in as well because this is going to grow out out and down. So, and then we’re going to kind of just shift things. And do you want this in there or No, I do. I think you tell me that we’re going to plant it back here. So, we’re going to shift this one forward a little bit. Just like that. Yeah. Perfect. And then we’ll fill in with a little extra soil. Now, I’ve got some water. Perfect. You tell me. If you wanted this to be in your planter or in the back just to add that little bit of accent, this is where it would sit. But we can always go plant this anywhere else. It’s stunning. There we go. We’ll just tuck it in. But something that I always like to do, you know how they say if you want a tattoo, which you know, to each their own, get it get the temporary tattoo version of it and sit with it for a few weeks. I wish people could sit with it now. Maybe some people would like it forever, but I mean, if I ever did anything, I would probably do a little A to the fifth since all my kids are beautiful or start with an A and it would go under a ring. But I would want to sit with it for a long time and then decide. Exactly. So, one of the things you can do in your garden, and I’d suggest this to people with a lot of big garden design, get the plants, have them in pots, put them in place, put it there, sit, sit, take it all in, take a few deep breaths, come out with your coffee. Do you still like it? Do you want to fiddle with it? But it’s still in a pot, so you’re not in a problem. So, you can move it. Well, let me I have water so that I can water this. Hang on. So, there you go. You can just have that there and sit with it. Now, what that will do, the growth pattern of this will it will get big. So, it’ll come up to here. So, it’s just something to consider. It has white flowers, but the other thing is we can plant it in the garden where we might think this plant could go. I love it. What are your favorite colors to do to work with in the fall? I do love the monochromatic, which is what we’re talking about. I wouldn’t do all sorts. Well, it can. You just have to know what you’re looking for. And fall can get busy. So, if you do pinks, oranges, reds, yellow, it can get busy really quickly. So, I like to use things that are kind of working in harmony. I try to pick three bold colors to work with. Okay. Um, a lot of times I will actually do colors that contrast each other. So, I’ll choose a blue grass and go with orange flowers or I’ll choose purple and maybe not yellow cuz that’s a little bit Eastery. But I love that you’re you’re using the leaf color as your choices, right? So, you’ve got the dark purple and then you have the light green. Yeah. You know, I love it. And then these have the pops of orange that will come later in the season to this. I mean, look at the center. Look at these green centers. It’s really beautiful. Those are stunning. I mean, God’s creation is pretty stunning. And how often will I need to water this pot? So, I typically when you first plant it, if it’s warm, which all of a sudden it’s not, right? You want to be watering it every day. And then you lessen your watering as it gets cooler and as it gets more established. Okay. So, typically for like the first week, I suggest to water it every day. I love it. Yeah. Well, I so appreciate you coming and I have to tell you, come back for more of Lesie because she is getting ready in her brain to do magical things on this property for the fall and for the winter and things that you’re going to be able to replicate at your own house or on your own front porch. Um, yeah, things that are special that you haven’t seen before. So, thank you for joining us. Make sure you subscribe and we will see you next time. See you soon. Yay.