Fall color surprises; Fresh ideas for pots: vibrant greens with burnished hues

Take fall's favorite hues--plum, burgundy, red, orange--and add a splash of lime. What do you have? A combo that's as fresh as a spring breeze yet mellow as a vineyard at this time of year. It's an especially effective pairing in pots: The greens temper the heat of plum and red.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

This month at nurseries, you can choose from hundreds of shrubs, grasses, and perennials with leaves in burnished colors, and plants whose foliage comes in luscious shades of apple green, lime green, or yellow green. Many make great container plants; they serve as the basis for the eye-catching groupings shown here.

For a modern look, plant your arrangements in glazed pots of deep burgundy, forest green, or pebble gray. You'll create a fresh autumnal mood without having to rake a single leaf.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

DESIGN BY BUD STUCKEY

PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS J. STORY

COPYRIGHT 2005 Sunset Publishing Corp.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group