Get Ready for Fall With a Touch of Nature at Your Door
Celebrate the coming season with porch decorating ideas from these 10 welcoming looks
When it comes to sprucing up your entryway for the season, simple decorations can go a long way. Hang a brightly colored wreath of decorative berries, tuck in bronze-colored foliage to deepen containers, or stack a trio of pumpkins for a cheerful hit of color. Turn to the rich abundance of nature as your source of inspiration, and see just how effective a few well-chosen elements can be at creating a warm entryway.
Here, burgundy Leucadendron foliage mixes with orange echeveria flowers and clusters of persimmons. At the base of the wreath, two gnarled ‘Buddha’s Hand’ citrons pick up the door’s yellow paint.
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2. Embrace Natural Country Style
For a house with wood siding, all that’s needed to create a festive fall display is a pair of jewel-toned wreaths, along with one perfect pumpkin. With such limited decoration on the home, one’s eye is drawn to the surrounding garden’s seasonal changes, including the fern fronds turning bronze at the base of the house, and the canopies of golden leaves beyond.
For a house with wood siding, all that’s needed to create a festive fall display is a pair of jewel-toned wreaths, along with one perfect pumpkin. With such limited decoration on the home, one’s eye is drawn to the surrounding garden’s seasonal changes, including the fern fronds turning bronze at the base of the house, and the canopies of golden leaves beyond.
3. Plant a Vine for Fall Color
If your entryway has an overhang, create a stunning entrance with a vine selected for its autumn leaf display. This rambling specimen of California wild grape (Vitis californica ‘Roger’s Red’) planted over a doorway turns a brilliant shade of red by midautumn and provides decorative little clusters of grapes for wild birds. In summer, the leaves (still green) provide a natural shade canopy for the front door.
Other vines with a dramatic fall display include black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata), Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) and American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens). Note: Be sure to look for true American bittersweet, rather than look-alike Oriental bittersweet (C. orbiculatus), which can be invasive. Both species are toxic.
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If your entryway has an overhang, create a stunning entrance with a vine selected for its autumn leaf display. This rambling specimen of California wild grape (Vitis californica ‘Roger’s Red’) planted over a doorway turns a brilliant shade of red by midautumn and provides decorative little clusters of grapes for wild birds. In summer, the leaves (still green) provide a natural shade canopy for the front door.
Other vines with a dramatic fall display include black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata), Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) and American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens). Note: Be sure to look for true American bittersweet, rather than look-alike Oriental bittersweet (C. orbiculatus), which can be invasive. Both species are toxic.
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A black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata) climbs over the fence to the right of the door and produces a pretty fall display of black-throated orange flowers.
4. Transition Summer Containers
There’s no need to completely rework your summer containers to give them fall flair. Replace tired-looking warm-season annuals with richly colored fall perennials, such as bronze- and golden-leaved coral bells (Heuchera), and rust-colored autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora), as shown in this design by Le jardinet.
Keeping existing evergreens in place gives the container a mature, grown-in look. Even easier than planting: Simply add a pumpkin for an instant fall container update.
There’s no need to completely rework your summer containers to give them fall flair. Replace tired-looking warm-season annuals with richly colored fall perennials, such as bronze- and golden-leaved coral bells (Heuchera), and rust-colored autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora), as shown in this design by Le jardinet.
Keeping existing evergreens in place gives the container a mature, grown-in look. Even easier than planting: Simply add a pumpkin for an instant fall container update.
‘Fairytale’ pumpkins (Cucurbita moschata ‘Fairytale’) are particularly stunning with their unusual squat shapes and eye-catching striations.
12 Fresh Fall Container Designs for Your Home and Garden
12 Fresh Fall Container Designs for Your Home and Garden
5. Keep it Minimal
A few pumpkins placed by the entryway to this detached home office by Christopher Burns Interiors in New York nods to the season while keeping the decor understated. To re-create this minimalistic style, choose a single element to represent autumn — perhaps a bronze jug filled with branches, a crookneck gourd or a bundle of dried wheat — and display it where it can be appreciated for its simplicity.
A few pumpkins placed by the entryway to this detached home office by Christopher Burns Interiors in New York nods to the season while keeping the decor understated. To re-create this minimalistic style, choose a single element to represent autumn — perhaps a bronze jug filled with branches, a crookneck gourd or a bundle of dried wheat — and display it where it can be appreciated for its simplicity.
6. Hang a Wreath
If you do nothing else this season, pick up a simple fall wreath and tie it on your front door with a decorative bow for a quick upgrade. In this wreath by Twoinspireyou, a ring of whimsical berries stands out against a charcoal door. Wreaths of artificial berries, preserved leaves or dried fall fruits can be used year after year for fall decor.
If you do nothing else this season, pick up a simple fall wreath and tie it on your front door with a decorative bow for a quick upgrade. In this wreath by Twoinspireyou, a ring of whimsical berries stands out against a charcoal door. Wreaths of artificial berries, preserved leaves or dried fall fruits can be used year after year for fall decor.
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7. Set Out Potted Flowers for Instant Color
By late summer, nurseries are stocked with containers brimming with fall-blooming perennials with flowers in gold, orange, red and deep purple. Chrysanthemums, perhaps the season’s most popular bloomer, keep pumping out flowers for months. To brighten your entryway, pick up potted bedding mums, then place the containers where they’ll receive at least a half-day of sun.
By late summer, nurseries are stocked with containers brimming with fall-blooming perennials with flowers in gold, orange, red and deep purple. Chrysanthemums, perhaps the season’s most popular bloomer, keep pumping out flowers for months. To brighten your entryway, pick up potted bedding mums, then place the containers where they’ll receive at least a half-day of sun.
Here, pumpkins and pots of bright yellow mums edge the stairway of the Craftsman-style home’s main entrance, creating a focal point at the end of the driveway. Once blooms begin to fade, bedding mums can be planted in the garden for color year after year. In the landscape, designed by Blue Ridge, ‘Fireworks’ wrinkleleaf goldenrod (Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’) lines the driveway.
8. Use Dried Foliage for Lasting Outdoor Bouquets
Flanking a grand entrance of a traditional home, urns brimming with dried foliage lend seasonal interest with minimal effort. If kept out of the elements, dried foliage, seedpods and grasses can be used again and again to create an autumn display. Choose ingredients for your dried bouquet that pick up the paint color of your door or walkway for an integrated look.
To preserve your own garden’s foliage, clip stems of perennial seed heads and ornamental grasses, then hang them upside down to dry. Keep in mind that most untreated, naturally dried leaves and berries will lose their color.
Flanking a grand entrance of a traditional home, urns brimming with dried foliage lend seasonal interest with minimal effort. If kept out of the elements, dried foliage, seedpods and grasses can be used again and again to create an autumn display. Choose ingredients for your dried bouquet that pick up the paint color of your door or walkway for an integrated look.
To preserve your own garden’s foliage, clip stems of perennial seed heads and ornamental grasses, then hang them upside down to dry. Keep in mind that most untreated, naturally dried leaves and berries will lose their color.
9. Celebrate the Harvest
For a rustic farm look, gather a bushel or two of dried cornstalks (available at garden and feed stores), tie them with thick ribbon or jute cord, then lean them by the front door. To really play up the farm feeling, add a pitchfork, wooden rake or other garden tools.
For a rustic farm look, gather a bushel or two of dried cornstalks (available at garden and feed stores), tie them with thick ribbon or jute cord, then lean them by the front door. To really play up the farm feeling, add a pitchfork, wooden rake or other garden tools.
10. Add Baskets
Throughout the fall, baskets can offer rich texture and act as vessels for displaying natural elements like pumpkins, squashes, Indian corn or colorful fall leaves found around the garden.
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Throughout the fall, baskets can offer rich texture and act as vessels for displaying natural elements like pumpkins, squashes, Indian corn or colorful fall leaves found around the garden.
More on Houzz
8 Ways to Give Your Yard a Boost for Fall
Find more entryway inspiration
Find a pro for your home improvement project
Shop for outdoor products
Crisp white walls and a lemon-yellow door create a fresh entrance to a modern farmhouse-style home. Containers by Living Green Design stay clean and green with feathery asparagus fern, chartreuse coral bells (Heuchera), and a mix of golden-yellow and dusty-blue ghost plants (Graptopetalum). Deepen the colors for fall by hanging a wreath rich in plum, bronze and gray-green.