5 Harvest-Worthy Plants for Fall Décor

By: Susan Martin for Proven Winners

Craft stores are chock full of fall décor this time of year, but before you shop, check your garden first. Everything you need to decorate your porch, mantle and table might be waiting right outside your back door – for free!

We’ll show you five types of harvest-worthy plants that can be used to make interesting, unique fall décor this season. Chances are good that you are already growing some of these common types of plants, so you’ll be able to get started harvesting this weekend. If you find you’re missing a few things you need, make a note to add them to your garden so you’ll have them on hand next harvest season.

Ornamental grasses can be harvested from container plantings or the landscape.

#1 - Ornamental Grasses: Fall Garden Staples

Let’s start with some of the most iconic plants of the fall garden. Ornamental grasses come in all shapes and sizes, and they are often used as the centerpiece in container recipes. Some are hardy perennials while others are annuals grown for a single season. All make amazing fall décor.

Pictured above, we’ve included Graceful Grasses® Toffee Twist leatherleaf sedge and Purple Baron millet in these fall containers and paired them with cool weather tolerant Superbells® calibrachoa, Supertunia® petunias and ornamental kale.

Use floral wire to bind small bunches of ornamental grasses and attach them to a grapevine wreath to make your own inexpensive seasonal décor.

Harvest a few stems or bunches of the grasses from your containers or in the landscape to make fall bouquets or crafts like the grass wreath pictured above. Prairie Winds® ‘Cheyenne Sky’ is a hardy switch grass that turns a beautiful shade of burgundy and produces wispy seed heads in autumn. Graceful Grasses purple fountain grass and Prairie Winds ‘Desert Plains’ hardy fountain grass form fluffy foxtail-like plumes that can be harvested in fall.

If you’re harvesting grass plumes, cut those that have just opened and spray them lightly with hairspray to reduce shedding of the seeds if you’ll be using them indoors.

Virtuoso® dahlias, Little Lime Punch® panicle hydrangeas, Rock ‘n Grow® sedums and the flowers of Primo® ‘Mahogany Monster’ coral bells comprise this stunning fall bouquet.

#2 - Fresh Fall Flowers for Bouquets

Look around your garden this fall at what’s still in bloom. Which flowers might make a fun fall bouquet? Some plants that are showy until frost that might work are Virtuoso® dahlias, Rockin’® salvia, Luscious® lantana, Suncredible® sunflowers, ‘Treasure Trove’ black-eyed Susans, Rock ‘n Grow® stonecrop, ‘Prairie Princess’ ironweed and panicle hydrangeas.

If you’re hoping your autumn arrangement will last a while, follow the same guidelines as you do with other bouquets. Harvest the flowers in the morning, strip the leaves off the stems below the waterline, and change the water in the vase often.

Dried Fire Light® panicle hydrangeas are accented with the foliage of Graceful Grasses® Vertigo® fountain grass in the arrangements flanking this autumn-themed entrance.

#3 - Everlasting Dried Flowers for Fall

Dried flowers seem particularly fitting for autumn décor, plus drying is a fun way to enjoy your favorite plants for even longer. A few harvest-worthy flowers you might try preserving are panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata), smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens), Truffula™ Pink globe amaranth, Flambe® Yellow strawflowers and Firefly yarrow.

Each of these retains their color once cut, so you’ll want to harvest them when the shade is just right. Or, get creative and use paint or glitter to make them any color you’d like!

The key to harvesting the flowers you plan to dry is to pick those that have already partially dried on the plant. For example, hydrangea flowers should feel slightly papery to the touch. Fresher flowers contain too much moisture and won’t dry as well. Learn more about preserving hydrangeas.

Look around your garden for plants like false indigo with interesting seed pods or seedheads that could be used in your fall décor.  

#4 – Plants with Interesting Seeds

Look beyond the flowers when scavenging your garden to harvest plants for your fall décor. Some plants produce interesting seed pods or leave behind pretty seedheads once the flowers are finished. Toucan® cannas, ‘Serendipity’ ornamental onion, Decadence® false indigo, ‘Stand by Me’ clematis, Color Coded® coneflowers, ‘Midnight Masquerade’ beardtongue and Rock ‘n Grow® autumn stonecrop are great examples.

Check any perennials you haven’t deadheaded like Decadence false indigo, pictured above. It develops charcoal-colored, puffy seed pods along the stems that once held the flowers, and they are beautiful in fall bouquets.  

Seed pods and seedheads are generally best harvested once they are dry and firm to the touch. Just take care how you use them, as some seed pods will open once they are brought indoors into warmer temperatures. They would be safer to use in a wreath hung on the outside of your door where it won’t matter if the seeds scatter.

Cutting red-twig dogwood stems works for fall décor, but also benefits the plant by stimulating fresh new red growth.  

#5 Harvest-Worthy Evergreens and Plants with Colorful Stems

For a classic look that’ll take you from fall into winter, harvest evergreen boughs and plants with colorful stems or branches like birch or red-twig dogwood. Evergreen boxwood, inkberry, holly, winterberry, arborvitae, juniper, false cypress and yew branches can be harvested to make fresh swags, table runners, wreaths and arrangements.

We love the arrangement of Arctic Fire® Red dogwood stems in the vase pictured here. It’s proof that stunning fall décor can be easy and free if you’re willing to use your imagination and find harvest-worthy plants in your garden.   

Handy Harvesting Tips

• Use clean, sharp pruners when harvesting and set the cut stems immediately into cool, fresh water.
• Harvest in the morning on a dry day. Moisture facilitates decay when preserving flowers, foliage or seed pods.
• Fully open flowers that have begun to dry slightly on the plant will dry better than freshly opened flowers.
• Don’t harvest more than one third of the plant in a single season.
• Inspect carefully for bugs before bringing anything indoors.

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Contributor Bio: Susan Martin is an avid zone 6 gardener and content creator who enjoys spreading her passion for plants to others across North America.

All images courtesy of Proven Winners.

Patent Information: Prairie Winds^® 'Cheyenne Sky' Panicum virgatum USPP23209; Prairie Winds^® 'Desert Plains' Pennisetum alopecuroides USPP20751; 'Treasure Trove' Rudbeckia USPP36594 CanPBRAF; 'Prairie Princess' Vernonia USPP36918 CanPBRAF; Truffula^™ Pink Gomphrena pulchella USPP31728 Can6276; Flambe^® Yellow Chrysocephalum apiculatum USPP19175 Can3280; 'Serendipity' Allium USPP32023 Can7064; 'Stand by Me' Clematis USPP30556; 'Midnight Masquerade' Penstemon USPP29603 Can6262; Arctic Fire^® Red Cornus stolonifera USPP18523

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