Set the Table with Fall Color

A fall table in the Mid-Ohio Valley does not have to start with cut flowers and a trip to the florist. Some of the best centerpieces this time of year are still in their pots: garden mums for the mound of bloom, ornamental peppers for those little lanterns of color, and rudbeckia for the golden daisy faces that look like they came straight out of a September fence row.

We grow these crops in our Mason greenhouses. Garden mums are on the benches now at Mason, Gallipolis, and Belpre. You can see the current fall plant list, including ornamental peppers, rudbeckia, and the rest of the cool-season lineup, at bobsmarket.com/fall-plants. Selection varies by location, what’s currently blooming, and availability.

The idea is simple. Use living plants for the centerpiece, then put them back outside or into the landscape when the dishes are done. You get a table that looks like fall, and you still have plants when the weekend is over.

Start with The Workhorse

Garden mums. This is the plant most people picture when they think of fall. A potted mum gives you a finished mound of color without arranging stems. Use a 9-inch garden mum as a single centerpiece, or a 12-inch tri-color mum when you want more than one bloom color in the same pot. Full sun and even moisture are what they want once they go back outside.

Plants That Fill In Around Them

The same fall list has the supporting plants that make a table look finished instead of like three pots in a row. Mix from what you actually find that day. A good tablescape is a handful of plants that like the same cool weather, not a shopping list you have to complete.

•         Ornamental cabbage and kale — ruffled pink, rose, red, and cream foliage that looks better as nights cool. Use one as a low “bowl” of texture next to a mum.

•         Ornamental peppers – These are for looking, not eating, but they have the same pops of color synonymous with fall.

•         Millet — tall, grassy seed heads for height at one end of a buffet or sideboard. Keep it off the middle of a sit-down table so people can see each other.

•         Celosia — plumes or combs in fall reds and golds. A little goes a long way.

•         Snapdragons — vertical spikes that read as cut flowers while they are still growing. Good at the back of a runner.

•         Dusty miller — silver foliage that calms down strong mum and pepper colors. Useful as a “linen” plant along the edge.

•         Pansies and violas — low color for the rim of a tray or the front of a window-box tablescape. In our region, fall-planted pansies can work again in early spring once they leave the table and go into the ground.

•         Dwarf marigolds — compact gold and orange that tuck between larger pots.

•         Sunflowers — better as a tall piece on a buffet, porch table, or kitchen island than in the center of a dinner table.

Dianthus, more snapdragons, and cool-season greens such as kale, collards, and lettuce are also on that fall list if you want a kitchen-table look that leans toward the garden instead of the party.

Build It Without Making a Mess

Leave the plants in their nursery pots. Drop those pots into baskets, crocks, pitchers, or a wooden tray you already own. If the pot shows, wrap it with a tea towel, burlap, or a napkin. You can rearrange in two minutes, and nothing has to be dumped out after dessert.

1.       Start with a tray, board, or table runner so watering stays off the wood.

2.       Place the mum first. That is your mass of color. One plant is enough for a small table. Two or three work on a longer farm table if you leave gaps for bowls and platters.

3.       Add ornamental peppers next to the mum, not on top of it. You want the fruit to show, not hide in the blooms.

4.       Fill holes with cabbage, kale, dusty miller, pansies, or dwarf marigolds. Put millet, snapdragons, or a sunflower at one end if you need height.

5.       Stop before the table disappears. Leave room to set down a casserole. A tablescape that fights the food is too big.

Three Easy Color Stories

You do not need a design plan. Match what is blooming that week.

•         Harvest gold: yellow or bronze mum, millet, and a dwarf marigold. Add dusty miller if it looks too loud.

•         Porch classic: a tri-color mum, one ornamental pepper, and a pink or rose ornamental cabbage. Pansies along the front if you have them.

•         Kitchen garden: peppers, a pot of kale or collards, and a small mum. This one looks right on a kitchen island or a Sunday lunch table.

Keep the Plants Alive Through Dinner

These are cool-weather greenhouse plants, not cut stems in foam. A few hours on the dining table is fine. A week in a dark, air-conditioned room is not.

•         Water them well the morning of the meal so the pots are moist, not dripping.

•         Set saucers or a lined tray underneath. Nursery pots drain.

•         After the gathering, move them back outside to sun and outdoor temperatures. Container plants dry out faster than plants in the ground. Check them the next morning.

•         If you want the same look for several weekends, build the arrangement on a tray you can carry to the porch between meals.

When you are done entertaining, plant the mums, cabbage, kale, and pansies in a sunny bed or keep them in larger pots by the door. Water them in and treat them like the rest of your fall landscape color. In this region, fall-planted pansies are the ones most likely to work again in early spring. Garden mums sometimes return; good drainage matters more than almost anything else, and a return flush is a bonus, not a promise.

Stop By

Garden mums and an every expanding selection is available now. Look over the rest of the fall lineup at bobsmarket.com/fall-plants, then stop by your local Bob’s Market in Mason, Gallipolis, or Belpre and pick what actually looks good that day. We’re glad to help you match a mum, a pepper, and a sunflower to the table you already have.

Bring a basket or a tray if you want. The best fall centerpiece is the one that still has roots when supper is over.