Although September still felt like summer this year, autumn has now truly arrived. The days are shorter, the air is crisper, and leaves and chestnuts are beginning to tumble from the trees. At our garden centre in St. Albans, you’ll find everything you need to embrace the season — from pots, planters, and autumn-flowering plants to berry bushes and spring bulbs. Brighten up your patio, balcony, or front door with colourful containers filled with seasonal blooms and evergreens.
Time to plant spring bulbs!
Now is the perfect moment to tuck bulbs into your pots and containers. Plant daffodils, mini tulips, grape hyacinths, or crocuses, and you’ll be rewarded with cheerful colour early next year. These spring bloomers aren’t just beautiful — they provide vital food for bees and bumblebees when little else is in flower. Add some evergreen berry bushes, and you’ll also attract birds to your garden, terrace, or balcony.
Top 5 autumn blooms for pots and containers
- Heather (Erica)
- Chrysanthemums
- Winter pansies
- Aster (Aster tradescantii)
- Autumn cyclamen (Alpine violet)
Best evergreen groundcover shrubs for terrace and balcony
- Dwarf Buford Holly
- Gaultheria
- Pernettya
- Foxberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea)
- Skimmia
Beautiful Combinations for Pots and Containers
Create stunning container displays by combining our top plant picks with complementary shrubs and ornamental grasses. Choose varieties with variegated foliage, wintergreen colour or eye-catching autumn tones for year-round appeal.
Consider pairing with:
- Trailing, evergreen ivy for soft, cascading texture
- Compact evergreen conifers for structure and depth
- Leucothoe, whose red-green leaves deepen beautifully in autumn
- Heuchera, available in shades from lime green to caramel to deep purple, often staying fresh all winter
- Small ornamental grasses such as blue fescue, Japanese snake grass, bronze sedge (Carex) or feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) for movement and contrast
- Silver bush (Calocephalus brownii), with silvery-grey twigs that almost glow in low light
- Ornamental cabbages with frilled or smooth foliage in striking pink, white, and green tones
Practical planting tips
- Check whether plants prefer sun or shade
- Keep compost moist but not waterlogged
- Ensure good drainage: use pots with holes and add shards or hydro granules at the bottom
- Choose frost-resistant pots to protect your arrangements through winter
Add more autumn charm
Finish the look by decorating your balcony or terrace with pumpkins, gourds, lanterns, candles, garden lights, or bird feeders. You’ll find plenty of seasonal decorations — along with a wide range of spring bulbs — at Carpenters Nursery right now.
