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Garden provides materials for fall decorating

Let's celebrate all that is fall: cool nights, football games, the glorious colors of flowers and foliage, and the opportunity to give our homes and landscapes a new, seasonal look.

Luckily, Mother Nature provides a bounty of materials for us to use in fall decorating.

Mums and ornamental grasses steal the show in fall. Mums flower abundantly in a myriad of fall colors. Ornamental grasses are prized for their elegant stature in the landscape. Their seed heads dance gracefully in autumn breezes. Plant them in the garden where interest is waning or in container plantings.

Another obvious choice for fall decorating is pumpkins and gourds. Now available in unique colors and shapes, pumpkins can be used in a multitude of ways.

For a quick update, remove summer-worn flowers from urns and replace them with large pumpkins. Or, use a small pumpkin in place of a single annual when planting up new containers.

Pumpkins create an elegant scene in the garden when they are nestled among fall-blooming annuals and perennials. Line up miniature pumpkins on a deck railing or fireplace mantle, or put them on the top of fence posts. Fill a large vase or a birdbath with gourds to create instant charm, inside and out!

Ornamental cabbage can take center stage in a tablescape. Create a centerpiece by planting small cabbages in a wooden or galvanized trough and lining the edges with moss. Complement the centerpiece by tying individual cabbage leaves to napkin-wrapped silverware.

Use straw or hay bales to form the base of large displays. They create a stable base for pumpkins or planters. You can also stick decorative signs into them.

Instead of using cornstalks this year, go upscale with broomcorn. Their colorful seed heads brighten arrangements, wreaths, and other fall displays.

Purchase decorative Indian corn with kernels in colors from pale yellow to dark brown, pink to dark red, and olive green to black. Gather some together in a decorative basket, hang some on the front door, or adorn the back of a garden bench.

Don't forget about seed heads and pods. Often considered the dead stage of a plant, seed heads and pods are often more dramatic and last longer than flowers. Many can be left to dry in the garden and will wait patiently until you are ready to use them.

Make beautiful dried arrangements by including the plumes of ornamental grasses with a variety of seed heads. Even simpler, cut some flower stems, remove the lower leaves, rubber band them together, and hang your bouquet upside down. Turn an ordinary birch wreath into something special when you tuck in a variety of beautiful seed heads.

Alliums, with seed heads that resemble bursting fireworks, are beautiful in a vase all by themselves. The drying flowers of Autumn Joy sedum are another beautiful option for bouquets.

Use cattails or blazing star (Liatris) to add bold vertical accents to container plantings. If you stopped cutting rugosa roses in August, you have been rewarded with round red rose hips. Use these in wreaths or arrangements.

Oftentimes, the simplest solutions make the boldest statements. Cut some branches loaded with autumn-colored leaves and drop them in a garden urn. Or tuck branches behind outdoor lights and enjoy alluring shadows when the lights are turned on.

Pick up individual fallen leaves, rub moisturizer on the front and back, and let them dry. Once dry, leaves can be scattered around a centerpiece, across a fireplace mantle, or on bookshelves.

There is an abundance of natural materials to use in our fall decorating. Take a walk through your landscape and see what else you can find. Enjoy the discovery!

• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist and the garden center manager at The Planter's Palette, 28W571 Roosevelt Road, Winfield. Call (630) 293-1040, ext. 2, or visit planterspalette.com.

Use mini pumpkins instead of candles in a chandelier. COURtESY OF DIANA STOLL
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