20 Easy Fall Planter Ideas: Level Up Your Seasonal Decor Game

1. One Drop of Pumpkin Spice

Nothing can spruce up a front porch in the fall quite like golden pumpkins. From short and bumpy pumpkins to smooth and tall ones, we look forward to arranging pumpkins of all colors and shapes to inject a little excitement to the annual pumpkin patch, right on your front steps.

Faux Pumpkins

One budget-friendly design trick for your fall container garden is to use older or even broken faux pumpkins, as those can be tucked in among your foliage. To give pumpkins more of a full and vibrant display, spray them with colorful acrylic spray, which will extend their presentation till the end of the season, over winter, and last for many years to come.

One drop of pumpkin spice // Photo on Planters Etc

2. Dress Up Your Front Porch Fall Container Garden

Layer your entrance or walkway with a cascading arrangement of the season's most popular gourds, flowers, and fall-themed plants that will welcome you home every day.

Create a Contrast of Fall Colors

Try a handful of fall hues (yellow, orange, and red) to boast that iconic seasonal display. Fill your front porch with an assortment of faux pumpkins, straw bales, and dried fall foliage around the base that will stay gorgeous all season long. This combination is one heck of a cozy-looking porch—the kind of porch that you want to sit on at sunset with a mug of apple cider!

Front porch decorated with lanterns, pumpkins, and colorful mums for the fall season // Photo by Erica Marsland Huynh on Unsplash

3. A Fall Planter with a Blaze of Orange

A great tip for fall planters is to use the height of ornamental grasses to your advantage to balance the proportions of a large fall planter box.

Fill your planter with tall, dramatic thriller grasses like fountain grass, ruby grass, maiden grass, or Indian grass. Add flowering kale or cabbage for an extra pop at the bottom. Rich gold, orange, and purple hues pair perfectly with a farmhouse-style planter to brighten up your shady front porch. This fall planter will last until your first frost.

A drop of orange in autumn flower arrangement // Photo on Planters Etc

Ornamental kale and their cousin, the ornamental cabbage, are the stars of this season. Since they only require little maintenance but make quite an appearance for your house, this explosive combo combines fall favorites and a blaze of orange that promises to make heads turn.

4. Polish Off Fall Planters with Succulent Glory

You won't find any plants better adapted for growing in pots than succulents. Mostly native to arid regions, succulents store water in their fleshy leaves, stems, and roots, enabling them to resist drought. Succulent leaves vary in color, shape, and pattern, and so beautiful combinations are possible.

Succulent glory // Photo on Planters Etc

It's best to use a wide, extra-large size planter to accommodate the spreading habit of each plant. Modernize your fall accents with a fun mix of succulents, covering the entire surface of the soil with their dense foliage. Their astounding variety and elegant architectural forms are calling us in droves to the "green" side.

5. Perennials Make Good Fall Plant Partners

Evergreen perennial plants are a great idea to mix into your fall containers because they can not only withstand a little frost but can protect other plants from the frost too.

Using Creeping Jenny—a trailing, or creeping, evergreen/perennial plant that produces waxy small round leaves on thin stems—works well for container gardening with weaker plants and flowers. At the first sight of frost, simply take the trailing leaves and cover the soil around the plant you want to protect. This will act as a mulch and keep the plant warm.

Perennials autumn decor // Photo on Planters Etc

In addition, perennials look glorious for your front porch, with some plants, such as Bloody Geraniums, turning red and brown during the fall.

6. Hanging Container Gardens

Blooming with colorful annual flowers, perennials, or lush succulents, hanging baskets are those extra touches you've long desired to grace your home's exterior. Enjoy your fall container baskets from inside, too, as the tops of gorgeous flowers and plants peek up just below the window frame.

Hanging container gardens // Photo on Planters Etc

Add yellow garden pansies and radiant marigolds to give the planter a bright burst of color. Add baby kale for a dose of purple.

The most important key to this rustic aesthetic is being sure not to overplant the basket. You are sure to love the look of this arrangement when you give the flowers space to breathe. Hanging baskets can be quite heavy; to keep them from getting weighed down, fill the space at the bottom with empty plastic bottles and then top with potting soil.

7. Herb Gardening During Fall

The rustic hanging arrangement doubles as a mini herb garden. Instead of using typical green foliage, we recommend herbs to provide your container garden with edible elements. Think of the aroma created by a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, golden lemon thyme, and Italian oregano growing in your hanging planters.

Pots of harvested herbs surrounded by autumn leaves // Photo by Karimala / Getty Images

Most of these herb plants grow tall in the fall and die back during winter, so make sure to harvest them before the cold really sets in.

8. Container Garden with Spotlight Purple

Take the glorious color of fall right up to your door by mixing bright tones of orange and yellow with cool shades of purple and blue in a single pot.

This ceramic pot, in a subtle shade of turquoise, holds a variety of beautiful plants.

A Charming Secret Garden

When container gardening, it's always a good idea to work from back to front. Create texture by adding tall plants at the rear such as purple ruby grass and Hameln fountain grass. Place chrysanthemums and marigolds in the front to trail over the edge. Pack a powerful, single-note purple kale—one of our favorite vegetables—at the bottom. Tuck in some greens to fill in the gaps and give a balanced look for this contrasting color palette.

A charming secret garden // Photo on Planters Etc

9. Fall Favorites

Inject your front porch with a dose of farmhouse style by filling oversized, rustic wicker containers with sweet fall blooms plants. In case you find a single pot rather dull, we propose two fall planters to emphasize that fresh bounty of autumn.

Choose containers you love. Metal laundry pots are highly recommended for their endurance against strong wind. The left fall container garden features Helichrysum Icicles at the back, Creeping Jenny, pansies, flowering kale, black-eyed Susans, and Sedum Autumn Joy. While yellow pansies and kale are surefire picks for a great fall show, silvery foliage from an Icicles licorice plant is a perfect end-of-the-season accent.

Fall favorites // Photo on Planters Etc

The wire basket on the right holds Swiss chard, ornamental peppers, pansies, black-eyed Susan, and golden sage. The annual pansies add late-season color, while peppers add that summer red vibe and make it pop. This fragrant purple and red combination dances through winter without missing a blooming beat.

10. Cottage Charmer

Who needs fall flowers? Look to colorful foliage and leafy perennials to orchestrate a fall-worthy symphony. Pops of purple, mini pumpkins, and hardy cabbage and purple kale with an old wooden dough bowl create a stunning display. Sugar Plum Heuchera, Red Giant mustard, and ornamental kale and cabbage are placed directly in the bowl to create a cool purple foundation.

Cottage charmer // Photo on Planters Etc

Then plant various greens like Creeping Jenny, Lemon Ball sedum, and Ogon sedum (also left in their containers) to brighten up the deep purple color palette. Fill in empty areas with moss to conceal the containers, and tuck in some white mini pumpkins for seasonal signature.

11. A Dose of Green

Looking for a way to add beauty and interest to the front of your home while amping up your curb appeal in the process? Window boxes are the perfect front yard landscaping ideas to show off your exterior aesthetics.

This stunning fall container features all greens and white; the center is filled with white caladium, spacing greens evenly around it. Plug white viola into the empty spaces between grey-leafed Lamium and variegated English ivy, and finish the box with a ring of white sweet alyssum. The final attention grabber is the graceful Creeping Jenny spilling over the sides.

Window boxes full with green // Photo on Planters Etc

What is so unexpected is how easily this box stays in a palette of greens, relying on tone and variation to embrace the melody of color and shape. It may be a window box, but it is anything but boxed in. With regular watering, these plants will thrive in a partially shady spot all season and into winter.

12. Cheeky Hideaway

Sit back and imagine this stunning paper flower in a dreamy garden or on a light-filled screened porch. The lanterns themselves are styled with classic patterns and faux-flame candles, giving it a romantic element, but it is the arrangement that spells magical.

Cheeky hideaway with candles // Photo on Planters Etc

The key to designing this dreamy look is adding signature decor items. Beautiful lanterns and candles and spires of both white and pink Bougainvillea glabra all come together in a cascade and crescendo of bright color and loud celebration. Set in a beautiful and ornamental shape, the simple monochrome tone of the lantern gives you nothing but an imagination of stepping into wonderland.

13. Fire Up a Mix of Branches and Foliage

Foliage makes an indispensably festive garnish for your fall planter arrangements, and so do branches. Whether you DIY them into a hanging garland, fill the vase, or sprinkle on the staircase, we can never get enough autumn leaves!

Staircase with foliage // Photo by AdventurePicture / Getty Images

No need to look any further than the backyard for pretty fall-colored foliage. Branches of colorful maple leaves and sprigs of dried fall flowers are all it takes to glam up the front porch.

14. Go for Bold Colors

Color makes a huge difference and brings your fall planters to life. The same color palette (fall hues like yellow, orange, red) calls for the iconic seasonality, while adding unexpected colors and contrasts to your fall landscape can give a bold statement if you aim for the concept of glamorous!

Fresh flower arrangement in bold autumn colors // Photo by Robin Wood Flowers

15. Fall Planter Ideas with Pumpkins and Mums

Fall can never go wrong with fall planter ideas involving pumpkins and mums. And we're not talking about the kind of mums that you call when you need a babysitter for your kids. Chrysanthemums (mums) are an annual plant that flowers in the fall when the days get shorter.

Group together Chrysanthemums or Hydrangeas to create a dense contrast of colors for your front porch fall container garden. Yellow, red, and orange flowers create a colorful flower display iconic of fall.

Three pumpkins with mums // Photo by 2ndLookGraphics / Getty Images Signature

Pairing pumpkins with mums is a signature combo that completes your holiday look and makes your front porch stand out from the neighborhood. You could even cut out the pumpkin and use it as your pot!

16. Add Texture with Ornamental Grasses

Whether you use them as screens, accents, or focal points, ornamental grasses bring handsome height and bold textures to your fall planters. From purple fountain grass and ruby grass to feather grass, most of them are very drought- and heat-tolerant, keeping your front porch or rooftop looking flawless no matter the weather.

Fall containers with ornamental grasses // Photo by Garden Gate

17. Be Extra with Accessories

Give your fall container gardens a little something extra by adding gourds, ornaments, or other artistic accessories. Lanterns, for example, enhance that aesthetic fall decor and create additional height to your container garden idea.

Creative idea for fall season planter // Photo on Planters Etc

18. Window Box is 'The New Orange'

Shrinking a beautiful garden into a little box hooked to the bottom of the windows, a nice window box loaded with luscious leaves and flowers not only adds color to your home but also makes a fragrant style statement. Also, it works as a reflection of your whims and choices when it comes to brightening up the space with gorgeous plants and allowing direct light to enter your room.

Fall window box with pumpkins // Photo on Planters Etc

19. Scented Texture in Plant Containers

Rethink your porch with plant container ideas that prove there's elegance and purpose in simplicity. Container gardens where you swap greens for herbs are functional and provide a wonderful texture of smells. Try our autumn arrangement of lemongrass positioned in the center, then fill in the gaps with basil and rosemary for fragrance. While the scent appeals to garden party visitors, it could also keep those naughty pets away.

Autumn arrangement with flowers and plants // Photo on Planters Etc

20. Use Containers That Tolerate Cold

It's important to make sure your pots and fall container gardens are made of a material that will withstand freezing and thawing in case the weather turns bad. Ceramics are stunning but they won't survive. Instead, use fiberglass containers. This material is hardy and can withstand many years of use without any chipping or flaking.

Fiberglass planter is good for cold weather // Photo by Planters Etc

In addition, fiberglass material is both suited for the summer and the winter as it keeps the temperature of your plant more stable. Some materials like metal get too hot in the summer, and too cold in the winter.

At Planters Etc, we carry a range of planters with colors that will suit any decor or any planter ideas you may have. Take a look to see which exciting color combinations fit your arrangement idea for this season's fall planters!