By the end of September, we’re all ready for fall, even if Alabama weather hasn’t gotten the message.
By then, we’re ready to bring home the mums, put out the pumpkins, and enjoy a little cooler weather. But around here, a Saturday in October can just as easily end up being 85 degrees.
That’s when decorating for fall around Montgomery and Pike Road gets a little tricky. You want to enjoy everything now, but you also don’t want your mums fading or your pumpkins getting soft before Halloween even gets here.
You don’t have to wait for the weather to cooperate, though. What you bring home and how you take care of it can make a big difference in how long your porch lasts.
1. Don't Grab the Mum With the Most Flowers
It’s hard not to reach for the mum that’s already covered in big, colorful blooms. After all, that’s usually the one that catches your eye first.
But if you want that mum looking good a few weeks from now, keep looking.
Pick one with plenty of tight buds and just a little color starting to peek through. It might not be the prettiest one on the table that day, but that’s exactly what you want.
Once you get it home, those buds will gradually open and give you color over a longer stretch instead of putting on their whole show during the first week.
When the flowers eventually fade, you don’t necessarily have to throw the plant away either. Garden mums are perennials, so you can try moving yours into a sunny spot in the yard. Plant it in a sunny spot while there’s still some warmth in the season, and with a little luck, it may come back next year.
2. Don't Make Your Mums Do All the Work
A porch filled with nothing but mums can look great at first. The problem comes a few weeks later when they all start withering around the same time.
That’s why we like mixing in a few other plants that can keep the color going as the weather cools down. You don’t need all of these, but here are a few worth looking for.
- Pansies and violas are hard to beat once our nights start cooling down, but they’re worth waiting for if we’re still in the middle of a hot stretch. Once the cooler weather settles in, they can keep your porch colorful well beyond Halloween.
- Ornamental cabbage and kale bring in greens, purples, and creamy whites. The colors become more noticeable as temperatures drop, so these can actually look better later in the season.
- Ornamental peppers are an easy way to work in reds, oranges, yellows, and purples. The peppers can be surprisingly hot, though, so keep them away from curious kids and pets.
- Heuchera and trailing ivy work well around the edges of containers when you want something to spill over the sides and break up all those round mum shapes.
- Pink muhly grass gives you some height and really starts showing off when its wispy pink plumes appear in the fall. When you’re finished using it on the porch, you can move it into the yard and keep enjoying it.
Pick two or three that work with your porch, your containers, and the colors you already have. That way, when the mums are no longer the showstopper, the rest of your porch still has plenty going for it.
3. Give Your Fall Plants Some Room
Once you’ve picked out the plants for your porch, don’t forget about what they’re growing in.
Those little plastic nursery pots are fine for getting plants home, but they can dry out quickly when we get one of those warm October stretches. There just isn’t much soil in there to hold onto moisture.
Moving it into larger glazed ceramic or terracotta pots gives them more soil to work with and helps the containers hold moisture longer. Plus, a good-looking pot can become just as much a part of the porch as the plants themselves.
You’ll still need to keep an eye on watering, especially when the afternoons stay warm or we get a few breezy days in a row. Instead of pouring water over the leaves and flowers, aim for the soil around the base of the plant and keep going until you see some draining from the bottom of the pot.
And don’t assume cooler weather means you can stop checking the soil. Containers can dry out faster than you realize, so give the soil a quick feel every few days and water when it starts to feel dry.
4. Don't Forget About the Pumpkins
Your mums aren’t the only ones that can have a rough time with an Alabama October.
Pumpkins and warm, damp conditions aren’t exactly a great match. Leave one sitting on a wet doormat or damp porch and the bottom can start getting soft before you notice anything is wrong.
Make sure your pumpkins are clean and dry before putting them out. Then give them a little breathing room underneath. Pine straw, a wood slice, or a plant stand can keep them from sitting directly against a damp surface.
If your front porch gets strong afternoon sun, find a shadier spot for them when you can. They’ll last longer without spending every afternoon baking in the heat.
And hold off on carving.
We know it’s tempting, especially once October gets here, but an uncut pumpkin is going to last much longer than a jack-o’-lantern in warm weather. Let the whole pumpkins decorate the porch for most of the month and save the carving for a bit closer to Halloween.
You don’t have to stick with the classic orange pumpkins, either. Mix in a few white, blue-gray, or Cinderella-style pumpkins along with some gourds to give the porch more variety. Play around with different sizes and shapes, too. The flatter pumpkins are great for stacking, while the smaller ones can fill in those awkward spaces between pots.
5. Stop Lining Everything Up
You’ve picked the plants. You’ve got the pumpkins. Now resist the urge to put one thing on every step and call it done.
Group things together instead.
Put something taller toward the back, whether that’s pink muhly, dried grasses, cornstalks, or a tall planter. Bring your mums and other flowering plants into the middle. Then tuck pumpkins, gourds, and trailing plants around the bottom.
You don’t need everything to match. You just want enough difference in height that your eye has somewhere to go.
Just like with summer porch decorating, you don’t have to crowd everything around the front door. If you’ve got rocking chairs, a bench, or a porch swing, move a smaller grouping over there too.
Once you think you’re finished, step back toward the driveway and take another look at the whole porch. From a distance, it’s much easier to spot an empty corner, a plant that’s getting lost behind a taller pot, or an area that could use a little more color.
Move things around before you buy more. Sometimes one pot just needs a new spot, not a new neighbor.
You Don't Have to Finish the Porch in One Weekend
There’s no rule saying your fall porch has to be completely finished the first weekend of October.
Start with mums, pumpkins, grasses, and whatever else catches your eye early in the season. When those Alabama nights finally cool down, you can bring in pansies, violas, cabbage, and kale. Save a couple of pumpkins for carving closer to Halloween, and you’ve got an easy way to keep things looking fresh as the season moves along.
And if you’re standing in front of the tables wondering which mum still has plenty of blooms ahead of it, whether it’s cool enough for pansies, or what would look good in that empty pot beside your front door, come see us at Froggy Bottom Garden Center in Pike Road.
Bring a picture of your porch if you’d like. We can take a look at the space, how much sun it gets, and what you already have before helping you pick out plants and pottery that will work with it.
You’ll find us on Highway 80 East in Pike Road. If you have your heart set on a particular color or need a larger quantity, give us a call at (334) 215-3704 before making the trip.
Or just stop by, walk the tables, and see what catches your eye. Sometimes that’s the best way to put a fall porch together.