I get bored easily. The endless scroll of orange tones for fall container displays on Pin-stagram. The tawny cornstalks, the russet mums, the orange pumpkins casually cascading down perfectly styled front porches never quite work for me.
Like the shoemakers’ children, my own porch never seems to be properly styled. Maybe it’s my dusty work boots shoved under the faded garden bench, the overflowing sports-balls bin, the weedy walk that I should get around to dealing with.
Or maybe it’s apocalyptic orange hue from the wild West actually on fire.
I’m tired of orange.
I know I display my native Seattle roots when I say I need the calming tones of grey and blue, after our screaming hot August. But because it’s not a traditional fall color, I still need a way to tell the story that it is finally fall.
Enter the humble pumpkin.
I tried to grow my own this year, those cute pale ‘Baby Boo’ starts, and that jet-black ‘Midnight’ variety that I had every intention of actually planting out. Thank goodness for the grocery store.
I started my design with a grey squash, and a cute white pumpkin. I echoed their color blue with a little ‘Blue Star’ juniper, some Dusty Miller, and a variegated Pieris ‘Little Heath’. The trick is to search the rock-garden sections of independent garden centers to find the tiny conifers and small shrubs suitable for pots.
Contrast is key, so I opted for a Heuchera ‘Little Cutie Sweet Tart’ for that vivid lime foliage that complements the variegation of the Pieris. I added tiny tinge of orange in the Carex testacea, because grasses are always essential for movement in a container. But I brought it back to blue and grey by finishing the look with the ‘Sorbet True Blue’ pansies, which bloom and bloom all winter long.
When is an orange not an orange?
Of course, sometimes you need to use a strong orange to complement a vivid blue; here I just used a grocery store acorn squash with just enough color to give the hint of fall, and filled the container with gold and bronze and plum, letting the foliage tell the fall color story. As always, I advise that your winter pots rely on the strength of foliage.
So, the next time you’re met with a tiresome display of orange, head to the farmers market and seek out unusual colors and forms. With diversity like these pumpkins, what will you create?
