As fall approaches, creating a moody container garden can add a touch of elegance and mystery to your outdoor space. While bright flowers have their charm, dark-hued plants and containers offer a striking, dramatic look. Whether you’re aiming for a spooky seasonal vibe or simply a sophisticated garden, mixing thrillers, fillers, and spillers can help you craft the perfect container garden for fall. Below, we’ll explore the best plant combinations for a captivating garden display.
1. Thrillers: Add Height and Impact
Thrillers are the focal plants of your container garden, offering height and visual interest. They should complement the color scheme of your container and provide a bold statement. When selecting a thriller, ensure it shares similar sun and shade requirements with the other plants in your container.
Purple Ornamental Cotton
The striking reddish-purple, heart-shaped leaves of purple ornamental cotton create an intriguing contrast with its fluffy cotton-like flowers. This plant thrives in hot climates and changes color from white to light pink before the cotton blooms.
‘Tropicanna’ Black Canna
This large plant with striped leaves and red flowers stands out from summer to fall. ‘Tropicanna’ black canna can grow up to 6 feet tall, making it a perfect thriller for your garden. It thrives in full to partial sunlight.
‘Dragon Wing’ Pink Bronze-Leaf Begonia
Featuring glossy, bronze-colored foliage and bright pink flowers, the ‘Dragon Wing’ begonia adds a vibrant touch to any container garden. This drought-tolerant plant blooms from spring to fall, making it a long-lasting addition.
Purple New Zealand Flax
With its strap-like dark purple leaves, Purple New Zealand flax adds texture and architectural interest to your container garden. It can grow up to 6 feet tall and occasionally blooms with bright red flowers in the warmer months.
‘Red Star’ Cordyline
The ‘Red Star’ cordyline boasts deep red foliage that reaches up to 6 feet in height. Its fountain-like leaves work well in smaller containers, adding an elegant touch to your fall garden.
2. Fillers: Fill in the Gaps
Fillers are plants that provide mid-range height and help fill the empty spaces between your thriller and spiller plants. These plants add volume to your container garden while ensuring the overall design remains balanced.
‘Purple Prince’ Alternanthera
With its dense burgundy foliage, ‘Purple Prince’ alternanthera is perfect for filling the middle space in your container garden. Its red undersides give it a striking two-tone effect. This plant thrives in filtered sunlight.
‘Ostica’ Bronze African Daisy
‘Ostica’ bronze African daisies bloom with purple centers and dramatic shades of pink, purple, and bronze. These plants perform well in full sunlight and are perfect for adding color and texture to the middle layers of your garden.
Purple Basil
Both ornamental and edible, purple basil offers dark leaves and a clove-like flavor. Place this plant in full sun, and be sure the soil remains moist but well-drained for optimal growth.
‘Black Pearl’ Ornamental Pepper
With nearly-black leaves and glossy black and red fruits, ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental pepper is more ornamental than edible. This filler plant reaches up to 18 inches and thrives in full sunlight.
Black Mondo Grass
A unique filler plant, black mondo grass produces purple-black grass-like foliage. Though it rarely flowers in containers, this perennial groundcover adds depth and texture to your arrangement. It thrives in part sun.
‘Black Prince’ Coleus
With nearly black, soft foliage, ‘Black Prince’ coleus pairs well with darker thrillers and spillers. It’s easy to grow and adaptable to both sun and shade conditions, making it a versatile filler plant.
3. Spillers: Cascading Beauty
Spillers are the plants that trail or cascade over the edge of your container, creating a contrasting effect to the upright thriller plants. These plants are typically low-growing and add visual interest to the container’s borders.
‘Bronze Carpet’ Stonecrop
The ‘Bronze Carpet’ stonecrop features bronzy-red succulent leaves and is highly drought-tolerant. This spiller thrives in full to partial sunlight and adds a soft, trailing element to your container garden.
‘Wonderland’ Deep Purple Alyssum
With its deep fuchsia blooms, ‘Wonderland’ deep purple alyssum adds a soft, cascading effect to your garden. These semi-trailing flowers are sweetly fragrant and bloom in spring.
4. Plant Combinations for Stunning Fall Containers
Here are a few beautiful combinations to create a cohesive, dark-themed container garden:
Cordyline + Sweet Alyssum + Sweet Potato Vine
This trio is ideal for a black container. The cordyline adds height at the back, while the sweet potato vine spills over the front. ‘White Stream’ sweet alyssum introduces a lighter, contrasting color, making the container look balanced and dynamic.
Coleus + Petunia
Mix and match different varieties of coleus to create a layered effect. ‘Vino’ coleus acts as the thriller, while ‘Inky Fingers’ coleus works as both a filler and spiller. Add ‘Black Ray’ petunias to introduce darker tones with a pop of color.
Elephant’s Ears + Heuchera + Iresine
For a bold look, combine ‘Obsidian’ heuchera and iresine with elephant’s ears. The large burgundy and green leaves of the elephant’s ear provide height, while the smaller, dark foliage of heuchera and iresine fill in the lower part of the container. This combination works best in shady spots.
Pseuderanthemum + Rex Begonia + Inch Plant
This mix of green, silver, and burgundy foliage creates a beautiful contrast. The burgundy pseuderanthemum spills over the back, while rex begonia and inch plant add silvery and purple tones to the front. This arrangement thrives in bright, indirect light.
Creating a moody container garden for fall doesn’t have to be difficult. By selecting the right combination of thrillers, fillers, and spillers, you can craft a container garden that exudes elegance, mystery, and beauty throughout the fall season. Whether you opt for dark foliage, striking flowers, or cascading vines, these plant combinations will bring your garden to life in a sophisticated and dramatic way.
