It has finally happened. Today was the first cool morning that we’ve had in over six months! I am trying to hold back on my use of exclamation points, but it is very difficult!!! If you’ve never lived in Central Florida it is hard to imagine just how hot it is– for six straight months. I am talking doesn’t even cool down at night kind of hot. Miserable heat and humidity.
But today we have our first break from that oppressing heat. I am not sure who is happier, me or 007, he just can’t stand the hot weather. So that being said, I got in the mood to bring a little bit of fall to our house. One of my summer containers was looking a bit spent so over my lunch hour I ran to the closest box store to pick up a few things for a fall themed container. My goal was to do this for $10.00 or less. Read on to see if that happened…
Buy this plant!
Not this plant.
In my mind I was thinking purples with a splash of orange. When I started shopping I was disappointed to see that there weren’t any purple fountain grass available but there were some lovely (and cheap!) crotons that certainly had the oranges and yellows of Fall in their leaves. With that small croton as my first plant in the cart I continued on to find some nice deep purple petunias that would satisfy my purple craving. And now it was time for that fall element. Mums.
Mums come in a wide variety of colors and I certainly had plenty to choose from today. I tried several and finally decided on a lavender color and a deep maroon with yellow centers. Maybe not the smoothest of color combinations, but I think it will compliment the croton and look nice with some pumpkins (oh yes, pumpkins!). Below you will see a couple of photos showing the mum options. As tempting as it is to get the plant in full bloom, choosing the plant just getting ready to break buds will give you a lot more color and bang for your buck.
After the mums were in the cart I was left looking for some purple. I considered a beautiful purple cabbage, but with a lot of warm weather still ahead of us I don’t think they will last as long as I would like. As you can see, these deep purple petunias were looking really nice. And cheap. $1.09 each! I picked up two of these to take home and finish off my fall container.
Here is the full container on the day it is planted. Not too chabby for $12.43, right?
