Fall Outdoor Decor and Floral Arrangements

Fall is upon us and our summer flowers have started to fade. You can make great fall arrangements using items found in your own yard or along roadways (not someone else's property unless you ask!). Dried or potted flowers with deep fall colors, interesting branches, seed pods, cattails, rosehips, branches of colorful leaves, etc. can be used to make interesting and unique fall arrangements.

Collecting Branches, Berries, and other Fall Foliage

If you go out and walk around your yard with some clippers you can start to collect items to use. If you live close to a country there are tons of field flowers, dried pods, thistles, branches and pinecones that can be collected along the roadway Be creative when looking for items to use, dried roses or other study flowers can make a nice shape and color, rose hips on your rose bushes also provide beautiful colors. The dried center seed pod of many flowers or thistles are interesting structurally and color wise for fall bouquets. Dried berries on bushes or the leaves and fruit left on grape vines can be an interesting addition. Grape vine or ivy's can be used to make wreathes to either hang or use as a center piece. Dried grasses can be used both as filler at the base of arrangement or tied in bunches and used as structural pieces. Collecting is fun and gets your creative mind flowing and gets you out of the house for a few hours and into the fresh fall air.

Tips for Creating your Arrangement

You can use your summer containers to make fall arrangements for your yard or front steps. Cut away the old foliage and leave the soil intact, use the soil like you would floral foam to hold the arrangement in place. Think about the size of the container and its location. For a large container in the front of your house you will want something that is showy as you view it from the front walk or street. When you start to make your floral arrangement keep in mind the size and shape of your pot, the materials you have to work with and how you want it to look and feel when you are done.

Apply the same general rules to these fall arrangements as you would follow for any container gardens; you want something that creates a mound of color, something for height and something that trails. You can collect either bare braches that are interesting or colorful or branches with pretty leaves to use to give your arrangement height and presence. Shorter branches with leaves can be cut to fill in low areas on the sides and front.

This year I bought butterscotch mums in 1 gallon containers and used one each in three different containers. This provided a medium height mound of color to give the arrangement a place to start. As it is the end of the season I only paid $4 each for this gallon sized plants. After cutting away the old foliage I dug a hole in the soil so that I could insert the mum's pot and all. For the two matching pots on my front steps I added dried eucalyptus, crabapples on the branch and fall leaves for height and fullness with the crabapples trailing in the front and over the side of pot. I added a few silk sunflowers at the very front of the pot for color. In the third pot which is a large half barrel I planted the mum's slightly off center and then filled the base with clipped branches of crabapples to cover the soil and provide color around the edges. I cut tall branches off of my smoke tree and placed them centered behind the flowers towards the back of the pot and then cut a clump of yellow black eyed Susan's in front of the branches for more color and texture.

I collected apples from my apple tree and washed them and set them on a plate with a handful of crabapples scattered around on a table in the side yard and a basket of apples on the counter in the outdoor kitchen area. Colorful leaves scattered on a table or counter, etc. is an easy way to add a touch of fall to your outside décor, mix in other small items such as rocks or votive candles for visual interest. You could even make a natural runner down the center of your table using this idea. Use what you have in your yard or can collect close by; add touches of faux flowers, berries, etc. for added color and punch.

This took me all of about an hour or two and yet it transformed my yard from looking like shabby left over summer to bright, fresh fall color. I will do more containers through out my yard as time permits and as I collect more fall foliage. Once you start you will see things everywhere that you will want to collect and use. You can always change things as you find something new or add it to what you have already done or just do more arrangements; it doesn't cost you anything but your time. Have fun and experiment with different ideas until you find something you really like.

Your yard will look inviting and refreshed, which is nice for you and the whole neighborhood. As Halloween and Thanksgiving approaches you can add pumpkins and gourds from the local markets for more color and seasonal fun.

Note: the mums I used in the gallon containers can be pulled out of the arrangements later and planted into flower beds if desired.