Dress Up Your Landscape For Fall!

Tip of the Week: Dress up your landscape with some of fall’s favorites – pumpkins, gourds, and mums!

By now you’ve seen them everywhere – pumpkins, gourds, and mums in a variety of colors, from yellow to deep red. Fall is here, and thank goodness we have some festive and colorful items to add to our tired landscapes. These signature fall staples make your landscape pop with color, and keep your landscape looking beautiful and colorful all season long.

Plant Mums! Perhaps one of the quickest and smartest investments to make in any fall landscape is to add mums to planters or directly in the ground. Mums are inexpensive and can be purchased just about everywhere – especially the grocery store. They make great boarders, or can be planted in mass for a striking display. And, the best thing, they are a perennial. If planted early enough they will come back next spring. For fall plantings and the best chance of survival, plant them in well-drained soil, in a mostly sunny spot. Before winter, cover with several inches of mulch. Wait until spring to cut back stems, and then fertilize well to stimulate new growth. In my opinion, the best color combinations are oranges and yellows with creams and whites, purples paired with green garden foliage, or red and orange for a bright display.  Throw a few pumpkins in the mix and you’ve got a gorgeous garden display.

Add Pumpkins & Gourds! The easiest of all fall landscape updates is to add pumpkins and gourds around your front door, gates, and walkway entrances. You can even punctuate flower beds with a few pumpkins or unusual looking gourds. When buying pumpkins, especially if you have kids, buy ones that are easy for them (or you) to carry and carve. Remember if you’re planning to carve, the bigger the pumpkin the longer it will take to clean and carve. Also, I highly recommend investing in a pumpkin carving kit, or pumpkin stickers, which is a great alternative for little ones that can’t yet use a knife to carve.   If you don’t plan on carving your pumpkins – flank your door with one on either side or buy one very large impressive pumpkin for your entrance. Consider adding gourds to your display or purchase in place of pumpkins. Large gourds, especially misshaped gourds, make for an interesting and spooky Halloween display. Finally, leaving your uncarved pumpkins or gourds outside as long as they’ve not rotted, is an acceptable decoration throughout fall.  When you’re finished with either – compost the shells instead of throwing them away.

Pumpkin Patch Guide. I can’t encourage you to add pumpkins, gourds, and mums to your landscape without giving you some idea of where to get it all, and where you can celebrate fall with your family.  There are so many great pumpkin patches throughout Northern Virginia, and of course you can always go to your local garden supply or farmer’s market. But, here are a few pumpkin patches that get rave reviews from our friends and family.

• Cox’s Farm Festival, Centreville, VA: http://www.coxfarms.com/
• Heather Hill Pumpkin Patch, Fairfax Station, VA: http://www.heatherhillgardens.com
• Ticonderoga Fall Festival, Chantilly, VA: http://www.ticonderoga.com
• Pumpkinville, Leesburg, VA: http://www.pumpkinfestleesburg.com/
• Great Country Farms Pumpkin Harvest Festival, Bluemont, VA: http://www.greatcountryfarms.com/
• Hill High Farm, Winchester, VA: http://thepumpkin-patch.com/

Whatever fall landscape additions you decide to make or pumpkin patch you visit, we’d love to see your pictures. Post to our Facebook Page or send us an email!

Happy Fall!

Aaron Gorski

Owner, The Greener Side Lawn & Landscaping LLC

Please send all your landscaping and fall gardening questions: PatchQuestions@GreenerSideLLC.com

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