Courtesy of driedfloralshop.com
This week’s question resonates with all of us. Who doesn’t love to spruce up for the season but what do you do if you live in the shade of a fine old tree? Here’s one reader’s query: “I love mums, but our covered front porch doesn't get any sun, so they always wilt. What can I do to make our front porch colorful and fall festive without using mums?”
We turned to the expertise of landscape designers Nancy Pedley and Kim Kelce (yourlandscapedesigners.com). They answered the call with this solution: “First of all, the mums should last at least 3 weeks in a shaded area. It may be a lack of water issue. There are many ways to embellish a shaded porch in the fall. Consider some of the following ideas:
1. A fall wreath on the door
2. Display of colorful squash and French heirloom pumpkins
3. Dried floral arrangements including bittersweet, hydrangea, preserved grasses, twigs, etc.
4. Containers filled with kale, cabbage, golden millet, Carex, ornamental grasses, Lysimachia ‘Goldilocks’, Lamb’s Ear, Celosia, and Nandina. They could be embellished with multicolored squash and pumpkins or not. What you include depends on the size of the container.
5. It is the season to gather the beautiful lime-colored Osage orange that makes quite an impressive statement arranged in an urn.
