Frost Changes the Season
It doesn't end it. A calm plan from fall into winter.
The first frost is a natural turning point. The mums fade, the annuals soften and the porch starts to look a little tired.
It's tempting to empty everything and stack the planters away until spring. There is a better way: keep the structure, edit the plants and let your planters carry the season.
Start editing
Winter look in place
For container plants
01
When to make the switch: reading the first frost
A light frost, around 32°F, touches tender annuals and leaves most hardy plants untouched. A hard freeze, 28°F or colder for several hours, ends most summer and early-fall plantings. Watch the overnight forecast: the week of your first light frost is the right time to start editing, and you want your winter arrangement in place before the soil freezes solid.
Not sure what will survive where you live? Check your USDA hardiness zone and choose plants rated at least one zone colder, since roots in containers are more exposed than roots in the ground.
02
What to pull, what to keep
Edit rather than empty. Most fall planters have a few pieces worth keeping.
Pull
Spent mums, coleus, sweet potato vine, begonias and anything dark or limp after the first cold night.
Keep
Ornamental kale and cabbage (their color often deepens in the cold), heuchera, sedum, grasses, pansies and violas.
Bring in
Tropicals and tender perennials such as mandevilla, hibiscus or rosemary, before nights fall below freezing.
Ornamental kale holds its shape, and its color, well past the first frost.
03
Building a winter arrangement
Winter planters rely on form rather than flowers. Think in three layers:
- Height Birch poles, red or yellow dogwood stems, or curly willow. Set them in the center first.
- Fullness Cut evergreen boughs (cedar, white pine, fir or boxwood) tucked in around the edges, angled outward.
- Accent Winterberry, pinecones or magnolia leaves for texture and warmth against the green.
Leave the existing soil in place: it anchors stems and boughs all winter. Water the arrangement in before the soil freezes so everything sets firmly.
A note on self-watering planters
If you use a self-watering Fairfield or Augusta planter, empty the reservoir before a hard freeze. Winter arrangements of cut greens need very little water, and an empty reservoir keeps things simple until spring.
04
Moving plants indoors
Tender plants that summered on the porch can winter in a bright room. Choose a spot with good light, away from heat vents, and check for pests before bringing anything inside. Planters designed for indoor and outdoor use make the move easier: Solace has removable drain plugs, so it can sit on a hardwood floor without a drip tray, and Serene brings the same clean lines to smaller plants.
Solace and Serene, brought in for the season.
05
Why the planter matters
A winter planter does its most visible work when everything else in the garden is resting. Weight, drainage and material all matter. That's what lets the planter stay put while the plants inside change with the seasons.
THE MAYNE ADVANTAGE
06
A simple winter porch recipe
For a front entrance that holds from the first frost until spring, start with a pair of tall planters on either side of the door.
| Planters | A pair of Augusta 26" Tall or Fairfield 34" Tall planters in black |
| Height | 3 birch poles or 5–7 red dogwood stems per planter |
| Fullness | A mix of cedar and white pine boughs, angled outward |
| Accent | Winterberry stems and a few pinecones |
| Finish | Warm white lights wound through the boughs for the shortest days |
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Planters for the Season Ahead
