What Low Maintenance Plants for Fall Planters to Choose? 7 Pretty Species to Replace Summer Ones!

The vacations are over! It’s time to get back to your good garden habits and enjoy the last rays of sunshine. You don’t have a garden, but you’re lucky enough to have a little green balcony? How fortunate! Plants for fall planters will slowly but surely replace summer ones to enhance your outdoor space. To inspire you, here are 7 ideas for low maintenance plants and flowers!

7 Flowers and Plants for Fall Planters + Growing Instructions

To create a beautiful window box, the choice of plants for fall planters is crucial! Choose seasonal species that will remain beautiful throughout the fall-winter season, i.e. hardy perennials and annuals that require minimal maintenance. And to brighten up your windowsills, choose flowers in warm shades. Do not hesitate to vary their height thanks to hanging plants and to create different plant combinations. Combine winter heather, pansies, asters, pink or white chrysanthemums, cyclamen, etc. The only recommendation: consider the needs of the greenery you choose. Make sure they like the same type of soil and the same exposure.

Leucophyta (Calocephalus) or Our Big Favorite

For elegant and modern looking fall planters, rely on leucophyta! A plant resistant to cold and drought at the same time, calocephalus promises to bring an unparalleled cocooning touch to your outdoor corner. This perennial shrub with evergreen foliage is also ideal for seaside planters and rock gardens. It forms a beautiful silver ball bearing very fine leaves of matching color which will give a graphic look to your outdoor area, balcony or window boxes. Leucophyta likes sunny exposures and well-drained, acidic or neutral soils. That said, don’t over-water. Once a week is more than enough.

Also read: Balcony Plants for Winter: Lists of Suitable Varieties for Your Outdoor Pots

Zinnia

Which annual plant to choose for a warm-colored outdoor pot or window box? Nothing like zinnia! This upright annual enjoys a long, abundant flowering season. It can flower all fall long. Hardy and low maintenance, zinnia is easily combined with other annuals. Plant it in May or September in a deep, perforated planter, provide it with a bed of clay balls for better drainage and add humus-rich soil. Remember to keep a distance of 4-6 inches/10-15 cm between each plant.

Also read: What to Plant Next to Chrysanthemums? 10 Flower Ideas for Your Fall Exterior

Cyclamen

With its sorbet tones, frilly, slightly curled petals and heart-shaped leaves, cyclamen are among the best low maintenance plants for fall planters and window boxes that will survive winter. It blooms from November to March, when color is desperately needed. They say it’s fragile, but it’s not that fragile. Some varieties are able to withstand minimum temperatures. And although it’s usually reserved for classic pot plants, cyclamen is a perfect match for other potted perennials, grasses and hanging flowers. Place the tuber, curved side down, in a perforated planter filled with clay balls and substrate to aid drainage. Potted cyclamen generally prefer well-drained, slightly acidic soil. So opt for a mixture of cactus potting soil, sand and peat.

Also read: Why Are Cyclamen Flowers Falling off? What Are the Conditions in Which the Plants Thrive?

Plants for Maintenance-Free Fall Planters: Pansies

What other flowering perennials should you plant on your balcony in fall to embellish your pots and window boxes? Pansies come from the Viola family, but they are much hardier than their siblings! There are over a hundred varieties of this beautiful flower and the good news is that it can grow and thrive all year round look after it properly. Pansies like cool, moist soil. They are one of the half-shade, half-sun perennial plants that require no or very little maintenance to grow. To successfully plant them, wait until the end of September when the heat is not so strong. Temperature is essential when planting them on your balcony. By the way, they’re strong enough to last through the winter, despite their fragile, delicate form.

Fall Daffodil (Yellow Autumn Crocus)

The yellow fall daffodil (Sternbergia lutea) is a member of the Amaryllidaceae family. But contrary to what its name might suggest, this bulbous perennial is a false daffodil. Plant this flower in September, in a window box or outdoor planter with holes and enjoy its beautiful yellow flowers all fall. Like the rest of our low maintenance plants for fall planters, crocuses hate standing water. A good drainage system is therefore essential. This bulbous perennial plant is very easy to grow. It thrives in poor, dry, well-drained soil and in sunny to semi-shady locations. Its greatest asset is that it is very resistant to diseases and parasites. When to cut crocus stems? After flowering, in November-December. Wait until they dry out completely before removing them.

Winter Heathers

Heathers are perennial ground-covering plants with evergreen foliage that create pretty, low-maintenance flower beds in the garden. But that doesn’t mean you can’t invite them into your outdoor planters in the fall. Their greatest asset is that they are very resistant to both cold and heat. They are not fussy and require very little maintenance. At the start of the blooming season, heathers tend to grow from their old, withered stems, unless they are pruned. With this in mind, you need to know when and how to prune your heathers. For year-round flowering, plant winter and summer heathers in succession.

Plants for Fall Planters: Decorative Cabbage for Original Window Boxes

Fall is also the season for growing plants in the vegetable garden, so why not add some vegetables to your fall outdoor planters. Decorative cabbage is perfect for this purpose. Choose the Brassica Oleracea Acephala variety as it is cold-resistant. Place it in your window box in sun or part-shade. Water rarely and admire the beautiful colors all season long. For those of you who like the idea of mixing green plants with decorative vegetables, you can also plant ornamental chili peppers. Here’s what you need to create colorful and exotic fall window boxes or planters for the balcony!

Tips and Tricks for Creating and Maintaining Beautiful Fall Planters

To make your fall planters a success, place a 1 inch/3 cm draining layer of clay balls at the bottom of each container or window box. Next, fill the planter two-thirds full with potting soil and arrange the plants as you see fit.

If they are in a pot, rotate the pot to make a hole, then remove the pot and place the plant in it. Pack and water. Add potting soil if necessary. When it comes to maintenance, plants for fall planters are definitely easy to maintain. However, it is important to properly manage watering and drainage at the bottom of each container. Water when the soil is dry and install a layer of clay balls, pebbles, gravel or even sand to ease water drainage. Finally, to nourish the roots, use the right fertilizer. Use a natural fertilizer rich in potassium to boost the growth of your above-ground greenery.

Also read: What to Plant in a Vegetable Garden in November? – 7 Delicious Frost-Resistant Crops!