Fall Flower Boxes

October 6, 2014 | My Jottings

When we moved into this house two and a half years ago, Sara took on the job of keeping the three large flower boxes affixed to our front deck filled with seasonal beauty. It’s a challenge in the summer months, since there’s no shade over the deck and the sun rises toward one end and sets at the other, giving us full solar exposure all day long. It’s wonderful for winter, but hard on most flowers. This last summer Sara planted various sun-resistant plants and flowers, and made each box monochromatic — one was filled with yellow flowers, the middle box was all purple, and the one to the west had red. It was stunning, and I asked her to do it again next year.

She has also put cut evergreens in our boxes each December. We bought some inexpensive but large outdoor ornaments at Menard’s and she wired those in with all the gorgeous greenery, and when a soft blanket of snow fell on them? Oh my, I loved that. Here are some pictures of Sara putting together the winter boxes before the snow, and click here if you’d like to see how they looked after snow had blanketed them.

Well, last week Sara decided to surprise me and transform our flower boxes into something autumnal. I can’t even tell you how wonderful it is to sit at our dining room table and look out onto this beauty. It takes my breath away. Fall is my favorite season anyway and I never tire of the colors even though I’ve lived in northern Minnesota for over 33 years, but these boxes have been a feast for the eyes and a balm for the soul.

These photos can be enlarged by clicking if you like. You might be able to see the purple kale, dried hydrangea, red sumac leaves and blossoms, and dogwood branches:

Box after box, mounded with fall’s beauty:

The rain we’ve had the past few days has made the leaves a little soggy, but they’re still vibrant. Sort of like people? Are you a little soggy but still vibrant? I don’t know if I am…soggy sounds about right, but vibrant… uhhhhh, not so much.

Here’s a view from the front…I like the wild and twisty twigs and branches that poke up here and there:

And this is a view from our front door:

Sara has a Facebook page for her floral design business if you’d like to check it out, here. And if you click here to see her gorgeous web page, as the slide show plays you’ll see the floral hats and shoes she designed as well!  🙂

We also have some fall decor inside our house, and maybe I’ll share some pictures soon.

Do you decorate for fall? If so, what kinds of things do you do?