How to Add Fall Accents to Your Landscape

Add rosy reds, yellows and oranges to your yard landscaping for fall colors that will beautify your outdoor decor. Yellow, orange and red autumn-themed accessories make great outdoor decorating ideas for porches or gazebos and will also set a cozy mood for patio ideas when entertaining family and friends.

No autumn landscape is complete without a few hay bales. Use them to hold pumpkins and other decorations.

Corn Husks

The color and texture of corn stalks, husks, and ears makes it an excellent decorating material for fall. This versatile material also lends itself to a variety of crafting projects, from simple arrangements to more complicated skills like weaving.

Corn husks, dyed in bright colors, add a rustic touch to table centerpieces and mantel displays. You can easily make these flowers from the husks of any breed of corn, but a special breed called “Indian corn” produces especially colorful husks that are ideal for fall decorations.

Fashion corn husks into seasonal napkin rings. Start with a soaked husk, then shape it freehand into a rose-like form with at least four rings. Glue ends together to secure. Make a few of these to match your autumn floral arrangements.

Wrap a piece of sisal rope with a bundle of broomcorn or Indian corn tassels to create a natural garland. Hang it around a door, across the porch, or on a mantel. A grouping of broomcorn or Indian corn also makes an attractive accent in the center of a fence.

Baby Peppers

A fun, modern touch to your fall landscape is a mix of succulents. These plants are well adapted to growing in pots, and they are available in a wide range of colors and shapes. They make an attractive accent for any planter and they pair especially well with a fall color palette that focuses on greens.

No front porch is complete without pumpkins, and their shapes come in a variety of sizes and patterns. They pair perfectly with ornamental kale, cabbage and pappers in container arrangements. For a unique twist, add baby peppers to the display. These compact vegetables offer a variety of color options, including dusty orange ‘Fairytale’ and cute white ‘Baby Boo.

Build a theme in your fall container with stems, flowers and foliage that match a specific hue or tone. For example, the rich greens of ‘Icicles’ licorice plant and ‘Jarrahdale’ blue spruce contrast with the silvery tones of the ‘Fairytale’ pumpkins in this display. A few sprigs of ‘Crossings’ eucalyptus and strawberry hydrangea add to the appeal. Textural grasses and ferns are another great way to add interest to fall containers, and they stay fresher longer than flowering plants.

Pumpkins

Pumpkins are a fall staple and can be used for more than just carving. Try painting a few different colors, drawing or even using stickers to give them some personality.

Use hollowed out pumpkins to hold cut flowers. Paint them to match the color palette of your arrangement and fill with water. This is a great option for bringing in some of that bright orange color to the front porch without having to worry about the flowers dying.

Instead of traditional chrysanthemums, try other flowering plants with mood-boosting shades of cream, yellow and red. Sunflowers, rudbeckia, snapdragons and thistle all come in vibrant hues of blush, burgundy, rust and crimson that complement a wide variety of fall foliage colors.

Make your front stoop stand out by adding a mix of pumpkins, gourds and other natural decorations. For example, Four Generations Under One Roof placed some small pumpkins in wooden frames to create a cute, non-carved kitty cat design. You can also try using a stencil to create an ombre effect on pumpkins. Or, try this idea from Lovely Indeed that uses a foam pouncer to inscribe spooky messages on tiny pumpkins.

Leaves

Fall colors inspire outdoor seating areas, decorate a gazebo, and transform house exterior walls and fences. Bold yellow, orange and red hues energize yard landscaping with their energizing color combinations, beautifying modern houses and cottages alike.

Using dried foliage is a great way to add autumn decorations without clogging up landfills with discarded bags of leaves. Look for items in the garden that dry well, such as stiff sandy-colored grasses, soft-curved zebra grasses and strawberry hydrangea sprigs. Tuck sprigs of pussy willow into an antique window frame, or create a natural wreath using leaves and flowers.

Layering a two- to three-inch layer of organic mulch in the landscape not only looks beautiful but also provides arthropod and wildlife overwintering habitat. Mulch is also beneficial for plants by keeping down weeds and preventing them from frost heaving out of the ground when temperatures fluctuate throughout winter.

Flowering Plants

A few seasonal accents can make a big impact on your outdoor landscape design. Hay or straw bales are classic fall decorations, and can add a harvest look to any yard. Bundles of broomcorn or shredded grapevine also offer fall color and texture, especially when wrapped with raffia bows.

Flowering plants are a group of the largest and most varied plant types. They produce seeds, fruit, and flowers that often attract pollinators and serve a function in the ecosystem. There are many different kinds of flowering plants that are suitable for fall, including helenium blooms in shades of yellow and orange and brightly colored chrysanthemums.

Decorative fall flowers are a great way to complement any garden, and can be planted in place of summer annuals or perennials. Chrysanthemums, marigolds, pansies, asters, and sedum all add beautiful hues to the garden or containers. They work well with other cool-season flowers and foliage, such as ornamental kale, spiky santolina, and festival grass (Cordyline ‘Viking’). In this container, white pine and blue spruce shrubs echo the rounded shapes of the heleniums, sedums, and kale.