This client has a very distinct point of view about what she likes, and a sincere interest in the landscape. She is a young person with a flock of young kids-how she manages to even think about it surprises me. What we do for her is very low key and simple. The hydrangeas on standard in her summer pots we winter over in the ground. Most times we plant white, sometimes there is a little lavender or purple.
A few years ago we made these steel boxes for her; they sit on the ground, as her windows are very low. I took this picture of one of those boxes September 5-this was the first time I had seen it since it was planted. The white non-stop begonias were thriving; I was impressed. They are not the easiest plant to grow. The heliotrope has faded from the picture, but the box by and large looked great. June Bride caladiums, euphorbia Diamond Frost, cirrus dusty miller and variegated licorice have all grown together quite companionably.
All good things must come to an end-I wonder if Chaucer’s summer pots were waning when he wrote this. Can you hear me sighing? Steve cleared out all but one of my deck pots yesterday-I cannot bear that look of decline. I should do like this client. When summer comes to an end, she moves on to the next season. Having kids, she was interested in a containers that would look just right for Halloween.
I like Halloween. The best are all the kids that come to the door in costume. Next best, I love any holiday that depends greatly on the plants and props native to the season, presented in a suitably holiday way. I could not engineer anything as horrifying as what the average 10 year old could dream up, so I focus on the plant part. First up for these pots, a centerpiece of broomcorn, and 3 colors of amaranthus, zip tied to a stake that goes most of the way to the bottom of the box. A good deal of the soil had been removed as part of the rootball of the hydrangea on standard. We topped up the boxes with new soil.
The cabbages and kales I have written about before. There color only gets better, as fall progresses. But when I am thinking Halloween, my kale of choice is Redbor. Redbor kale is stalky growing, and krinkly leaved.
The color of redbor is an amalgamation of grey, turquoise, purple and black. As the night temperatures decline, that color gets a little more emphatically black. Black for Halloween? Perfect.
I planted the kales in the outermost corners of the box, and angled them out. Tied around the bottom of the centerpiece-2 bunches of molten orange dyed eucalyptus. We like a little fire going on at the center. The turquoise and cerise cabbage front and center is a little tame and off color, but it will keep the planting looking great and full until Halloween.
The orange eucalyptus appears to have pushed to redbor kale outwards. This is a very easy way to be spooky-plant the plants out of kilter. What might take the place of that cabbage in the front? A lit pumpkin? A skull? A giant spider? A skeleton hung over the side? A mummified hand dripping in plastic blood? No doubt I will consult the kids about that. In the meantime, my client is happy to have a lively planting in her boxes at the front door.
Every nursery, farmer’s market, roadside stand, grocery store, garden and vacant land has materials that look great in fall pots. As for the spiders, skulls and skeletons that need to be added that one night, any kid can help you get ghoulish.
Window boxes of size permit expression of size. These boxes are viewed primarily from a garden room indoors, so big and striking, and not too tall, is the order of the day. As they face the south, and are somewhat protected from freezing winds and cold temperatures, these boxes prosper late into the fall season and through Thanksgiving.
Whomever it was who invented stick stacks, I thank them. These 6 foot stacks comprised of wood cut into quarter inch by quarter inch squares are uniformly vertical when they go in a pot. A piece of steel rebar is driven deep into the pots, and the stack wired to it. This keeps the centerpiece from tilting. Funny how an element askew has that air of neglect about it. I like to see people keeping up the appearance of their homes from the street. Stick stacks change in appearance with exposure to weather. As the wood absorbs moisture from the air, they curve away from the center in a very graceful way. The preserved green eucalyptus weathers just about anything.
Tender is a fabulous dress shop that is known for its cutting edge fashion. Their fall pots are dressy. Maple leaves coated in copper shine, as do the pumpkins with a dusting of gold. Integrifolia dyed an intense shade of fall orange compliment the dyed pencil thin willow sticks. Orange and white pansies complete the ensemble.
This narrow courtyard, part of a condominium, is organized around four very large white concrete pots inlaid with bands of curved stainless steel wire. Fiber pots painted white in galvanized steel stands are home to my client’s tomato plants in the summer; the tall kale, pansies, and creeping jenny compliment the cabbages and ivy in the concrete pots in both form and feeling. 
Lime integrifolia and diamond shaped moss pillows help create a clean and more modern look; not every client is enamoured of pumpkins and the like. Bleached sticks and pods complete the look.
