Remember how I said I'd have a new post soon? Over a month ago? Life sure has this nasty habit of getting in the way, doesn't it?
Now that that's out of the way, let's go back in time and enjoy some autumn containers. These are on either side of our porch steps.
I used a mixture of live, natural, and artificial materials. The things that are alive are the little mums (Chrysanthemum sp.) and the ornamental cabbage (Brassica oleracea). The naturals are the dried Annabelle hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescans 'Annabelle') blooms, dried ostrich fern spore-bearing fronds (Matteuccia struthiopteris), green-dyed twine balls, and dried lotus pods affixed to a bendy wire. The artificial materials are the glittery feather ball and fern fronds, crabapple branches, and green orbs.
The ornamental cabbage was amazing. The purple grew brighter as the temperatures got cooler, and even withstood a few frosts. I know not everyone likes cabbage or kale, but when precious few plants (read: no plants) are blooming in October and November, I think it is a definite must for a Minnesota autumn display.
While sorting through the pictures to use in this post, I discovered a spring project: paint those containers! They are a Styrofoam/resin composite so they are nice and light (when not loaded with plants and wet soil) and have been outside for about four years. But why everything except the rim faded, I have no idea.
