How you can refresh your patio for the holiday weekend

If you're gearing up for Labor Day barbeques, you might want to add refreshing patio flower containers to your to-do list for this weekend. Around Labor Day is when we see many of the annuals we enjoyed all summer begin to decline.

Annuals respond to changing temps.The cooling night temps we have seen this week and shortening hours of daylight will only continue.

Now is a prime time to refresh containers and the bonus is that plants we use to refresh pots now will work well into the fall. Most of the plants you'll see in garden centers right now are meant to transition into autumn and their colors and shapes complement fall décor.

Any time we create containers, it's a good rule of thumb to use the thriller/filler/spiller formula. Rather than planting one container with the same type of plant, this formula requires three different varieties and sizes of plants that will create the most attractive container.

Thriller is a tall plant placed either in the center or back of the container, if it is viewed from only one side. A good choice for fall is an ornamental grass both because of the height and because it will sway in a fall breeze.

Filler is made up of mounding plants that will fill in gaps around the thriller. One option to consider for fall is ornamental flowering kale. It offers both flowering and an interesting foliage texture for the container. Mums also work as fillers and they are available in different sizes and colors.

Spiller is a plant that will trail over the edge of the container, breaking up the line of the pot's rim. Ivy offers a hardy choice this time of year.

Most of the plants available in garden centers now are selected because they will thrive during the transition into autumn days and work well with fall décor.

Email our team at info@designscapes.org to get your patio ready for your fall festivities.