Fall Color Choices

Set aside some time now to enjoy the seasonal changes. Take a break from fall clean up, and make a few colorful changes to your home landscape. While your garden is almost done and things are slowing down, you can add a new look around your home by choosing some of the following for some easy and instant colorful changes.

Ornamental kale: easy care and can last well into the winter if planted in the ground. Plus it is native to North America, easy to grow and can reach eighteen inches in height. It likes well drained soil and thrives in temperatures below fifty degrees. Kale has lacey and feathery leaves ranging in color from green to red to white depending on the variety. Ornamental cabbage has similar traits but its leaves are wavy edged, and form rosettes with pink, purple, red, or white centers.

Fall pansies have gained popularity over the years. They add a punch of color to the earth tones of the rest of the fall landscape. They are easy to find at your local garden center. Choose compact plants with deep green foliage. Plant in well-drained, rich soil in a sunny to partly-shady location. Deadhead blossoms to extend flowering. These cool-weather lovers can actually make it through frosts and even single-digit temperatures. Some may surprise you with their return in the spring.

Chrysanthemums are the popular choice for fall color. They come in a variety of single and bi-colored blooms, and there are as many as thirteen different kinds of flowers- cushion, daisy, and pom-pom are common. Mums are a wise choice for instant color. Most come in decorative containers. Just take them home and display. Mums are disease and pest resistant, and they make a big statement with little effort. For the adventurous mums can be planted in the ground or left in their containers and stored in a garage for planting in the spring.

Pumpkins, you can pick your own, or find plenty at a road side stand, garden center or even the grocery store. It would not be fall without pumpkins, cider, and hayrides. Choose one with a firm skin with no soft spots and uniform, deep orange color. A nice firm green stem makes a pumpkin really stand out. Make sure it has a flat bottom so it can sit up by itself. Wait to carve it, cut pumpkins last only a short time. Better yet, pick some up for decoration now and go later for your jack-o-lanterns, giving you an excuse for another fun day at a local pumpkin patch.

For more information on any home horticulture topic, please contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County at (570) 963-6842 or email: LackawannaMG@psu.edu

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Lackawanna County