If your late-summer containers are looking a little worn out, make some colorful replacements that will refresh their look and take them through into the cooler weather of autumn.

Reassess
Take a critical look at your containers and reassess their blooms. Are all plants pulling their decorative weight? It can happen that in some mixed containers, there are one (or two) flaggers, who just haven’t made it gracefully through to the end of summer. Although some plants can be trimmed up and revived, others need to be replaced. The good news is that these spent plants are really easy to pop out of the soil.

Replace
Choose fresh annuals that excel in hot weather. Colorful replacements include Calibrachoa, whose small petunia-like flowers add small pops of new color to containers; Geraniums, which bloom in red, pink, salmon, and white; and Lantana, whose flower clusters attract and feed migrating autumn butterflies. (Here are 4 other reasons you should plant lantana in your garden and containers.)

Revive
Tuck in new plants and water well. Planting in summer’s heat requires additional attention to watering – especially with containers, because they dry out faster than the soil in your garden. Plus, new plants require constant hydration until they get fully rooted. Here are tips for watering in summer’s heat.

Written by Karen Weir-Jimerson