Mum-Free Fall Outdoor Decorating Ideas

I don’t know about y’all but one of my biggest regrets every year is the money I spend on mums for my fall porch decorating.  Every year I ask myself WHY I dropped all this cash on plants that will inevitably become rustling brown skeletons come wintertime. I know I could plant those fall mums in the ground, but inevitably I forget about them before they kick the bucket.  This year, I’m going a whole different route.  Today I am teaming up with my good friends at the Southern Living Plant Collection to show y’all some great fall porch decorating ideas that don’t have a single mum in sight.  These plants were made to last all year long, for many years to come!

Out on the front porch this year I have kept it simple and symmetrical, because that’s how I roll on this formal front porch of mine.  You can never go wrong with big piles of pumpkins for fall decorating, but I choose one pretty Cinderella pumpkin to put on a {stump} pedestal to make it feel all important and stuff. I love the pop of blueish-green  “Beyond Blue” festuca  peeking out behind that orange pumpkin!

As a pretty perennial that tolerates all sorts of extreme weather, this festuca should be just fine through winter and summer here in Alabama.  Give me a low maintenance plant any day of the week, and festuca is right up at the top of that list.  It should grow to fill that pot and spill right over the sides.

Another one of my favorite low maintenance plants is this Weeping Loropetalum.

I used my rusty metal orbs inside my urns and planted them with the 2 gallon “Purple Pixie” variety.

I wanted the plant to look like it had grown up and over the orb, so let me show you how I made that happen:

1. Fill urn almost to the top with potting soil.

2. Sit metal orb on top of urn.

3. Place rootball of loropetalum through one side opening of the orb, then bend it down so it goes down through the bottom opening and into the dirt.

4. Gently pull all the leaves and stems through each opening in the orb.

5. Fill in with more dirt around the sides to secure plant.

That’s it!  Doesn’t it look like it’s been well-established and grown right around that orb?

I’m so happy with these pretty urns.  I have had a weeping loropetalum growing in a whisky barrel for about five years now, and it’s done great, so I know these urns will last me a long time.

Here’s the best part– these are dwarf varieties, so they grow low and slow.  I love that it doesn’t get very big because that means there is no trimming required, unlike the unruly Loropetalum shrub cousins who would literally eat my house if I didn’t keep them trimmed back.  Check out how tall these guys have gotten in the front of my house since we first moved in.  They are about five feet tall right now, but they would keep right on growing and be up to the roof if I let them!

Ok, let’s head around back and check out the back porch!  As per usual, I’ve gone way more rustic around here than the formal front porch.  Who else is LOVING plaid right now? It’s totally my new favorite thing to decorate with, so when I spotted this warm wool throw in a brown and red plaid at the Kane County Flea Market a few weekends back I snatched it up.  I also got that awesome wooden chair at The Blue Building in Alabaster.  How perfect is it for fall?

Still in love with the big burlap wreath I got from my friend Donnalee at Blankenship Farms!  I have a lot going on over in this corner, but I just cannot help myself! Who doesn’t love big piles of pumpkins and junk? Ahh it makes me so happy!

I planted this HUGE “Angyo Star” Fatshedera inside my olive bucket, and added in a Mahonia “Soft Caress” along with an “Everillo” Carex on the bottom.  I could say the word “Fatshedera” over and over again.  It cracks me up. Maybe I should submit a request to have it renamed “Unskinnyshedera”.

Over in the back corner I have another pretty pop of blue/green/purple color with a festuca and some annuals hanging in a burlap planter. 

I found that planter at a local garden shop and fell in LOVE with it. It has pockets with sturdy backing so you just pop a plant in it and call it a day.  How cool is this?

I also LOVE cabbages and kale for fall decorating, so that big purple guy called my name from across the garden center rows… then I bundled up a bunch of tamale corn husks to mimic the cabbage leaves.

Of course I couldn’t leave out my pool patio containers from the fall decorating excitement, so let’s head over there and check out how they got a makeover that transitioned them from summer to fall.

Since the winter weather would have killed them, I dug up my summertime hibiscus and moved them indoors.  To replace them, I have added a whole BUNCH of new plants to big blue pots.  The sweet potato vines have been growing there all summer, so I left them to add to the drama of that “thriller/spiller/filler” combo. Plus they look really cool wrapping around my pumpkins!

On either side, I have planted 1 gallon Purple Pixie weeping loropetalums, 2 gallon Ligustrum ‘Sunshine’, 1 gallon Design-A-Line’ Cordyline, and 1 gallon ‘Love and Wishes’ Salvia. I like to put my plants in the container to see how they will look before I actually plant them. This gives me an idea of what it will look like before I commit to digging the holes.

These colors are just amazing together.  I LOVE that chartreuse color of the Sunshine Ligustrum.

I tucked in a few more mini-kale inside the wooden bowl planters.  They look like cabbage patch kids could pop out any minute, amiright?

You cannot see the Love and Wishes Salvia very well against my retaining wall, but it’s a great filler plant. Here is a better look at the tag so you can see what it would look like by itself. Such a pretty purple.

I’m so happy with this fun fall facelift of all of my outdoor spaces.  It makes me so happy that these planters have perennials in them now so I don’t have to touch them again for a long time!!

Out in my driveway, I replanted one of my whisky barrels with an “October Magic Snow” camellia (which happens to be the state flower of Alabama in case you didn’t know!) along with another festuca and a “Lemon Lime” Nandina.  With a few pumpkins, gourds and a simple little grapevine wreath, this planter is a dressed up for fall.

I cannot say enough thanks to Aimee and Carmen at the Southern Living Plant Collection for all of your help in picking the right plants for not only great fall color but also PERENNIAL color!  I will not have to replant these planters again for a very long time, unless I just get bored and want a change.  I am so happy to have all of these pretty plants growing happily in my yard.  Thank you so much, ladies!

Y’all be sure to go give them a “like” on facebook to keep up with their latest blog posts and ideas!

You can also follow along with my Pinterest boards for more great ideas on fall decorating, or check out the Best Plants for Fall Color Pinterest Board.

Happy Fall, y’all!

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post, but I was provided free plants from the fine folks at the Southern Living Plant Collection to decorate my garden for fall.  All opinions are my own.