Tip of the Week — 11/3/08

Posted in Gardening Tips on November 3 2008, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Fall Container Candidates
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.

The classics for fall containers tend to be mums (Minnesota has come out with a wonderful series of cushion mums) and ornamental grasses. If you would like to spice them up with something new, why not add some Bergenia (pigsqueak) or winter heaths and heathers?

Heathers (Calluna vulgaris) have wonderful foliage that comes in many shades of green, gray, gold, copper and orange. Heathers tend to flower in summer through the late fall and love full sun and good drainage. Winter heaths (Erica carnea)—as the name suggests—flowers in the winter months. The foliage tends not to be as spectacular as heathers but still come in colorful choices. They can handle partial shade but prefer full sun like their counterparts.

A good candidate for bergenias is a cultivar called Bergenia ‘Bressingham Ruby’. It has burgundy fall foliage and fares well in sun or shade. Pair it with a colorful sedge such as Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ for a striking container arrangement. If you are looking for some height in the container, Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ is a slightly more compact version of the ubiquitous Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, whose spent blooms remain standing for most of the winter for great late-season interest.