With the fall season fast approaching, take our end-of-summer tour filled with ferns, foliage, and find out the great idea we came up with for those 8 massive boston ferns for the winter!

Welcome late September! Our weather has finally turned cooler even though just last week we still used our air conditioners! So while not yet officially the first day of fall, it sure feels like it’s the beginning of fall weather!

Before the end of summer growing season, I didn’t really plant anything extra except for around the garden shed. I appear to adapt well to the ever returning perennials lifestyle, which I’m very grateful for!

See the garden shed planted HERE

View the late summer garden shed flower results HERE

However earlier this summer, I did pick up 8 outdoor hanging ferns, where I always place four under the porch near the front door, along with 4 on my patio out back.

I use to get flower baskets, but once I started buying ferns instead, I’ve never looked back! My findings have been that ferns are easier to care for, and they grow massive making quite an abundant visual statement!

Read how I transformed cheap $5 discount ferns into lush beauties HERE

Since the ferns are at their absolute prime right now, when the weather turned cold so quickly, I decided to reach out to a few people and ask when it was time to winterize the ferns.

The suggestion I got was to bring them in pronto! Oh boy. With 8 massive abundant ferns with most measuring 36″ tall x 36″ wide, where in the world would I put them?! And do I even WANT to winterize that many?

Keep the ferns or toss them?

 

I normally just hang the ferns until they die. So that’s why I mulled over winterizing them. But I did have some choices…

• keep the ferns outdoors until they died (like I do every year!)
• winterize the ferns indoors until next spring
• or possibly sell them since they were SO perfect now, to recoup some of their original cost

After a quick glance through marketplace, it appeared many were selling their summer ferns. So I took note of the price and condition, and decided to list mine at a slightly lower price than what I felt they were worth. My ad was certainly more enticing than most!

The very next day, they all sold except one! Ok then… I guess I was letting go of my ferns early.

However there was a blessing in this. Purchasing 8 full retail price ferns was a bit of an investment, and if I sell them for nearly what I paid for them, it’s like having 8 ferns all summer at a fraction of the price.

And I was rather done watering them every single day. 

So I decided to enter early fern care retirement, and sell now while they were still perfect.

But I couldn’t let them go without a quick photo shoot! So right before folks started arriving, I grabbed the camera to share this fall season fall tour of ferns and other foliage.

I really like to document how the yard does each year. It’s so interesting to see what really takes off vs. what didn’t work out.

So here’s the late summer / early fall foliage tour!

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A fall season outdoor tour of

large boston ferns and foliage

 

Boston fern plants are from HERE

Resin wicker patio chairs are from HERE

Boston ferns on the patio

 

So let’s start on the patio. This is the space I spend most of my time at during the summer months, so having 4 ferns to peek through makes the space feel lush and so green!

Lantern DIY is HERE

To the right sits the picnic table with french doors behind it leading to my blog office in the kitchen.

Buffalo Check plush blanket is from HERE

But something’s missing. The spot I like to sit at the most is in THIS pallet sofa, which faces the wicker chairs. It offers the best view and is the comfiest spot ever! But it just had a random blanket on it so it wasn’t very photo worthy.

You may or may not have also noticed the patio isn’t decorated up to the nines for this shoot and what you see here.

Other patio projects this summer:

 

• See how the wooden lantern was painted HERE
• Check out two wooden stools used as patio side tables HERE (now located at the hot tub area HERE)
• View how the chair pads were stenciled into grain sack fabric HERE

I did a few other outdoor projects such as the flowers surrounding the garden shed, and of course, the hot tub series along with building our first deck!

But that’s about it.

Decorating outdoors this year was all about clean, comfortable, and not over-the-top just for a photo shoot. In fact, we didn’t even sit to eat at the picnic table even once this summer so no pretty tablescapes for that either. Instead, the table was used to house the grill which worked out perfectly. It saves space that doubles as a grill stand or table when desired.

And there’s a reason I didn’t really do home tours this year (yet!) of my home.

This was a season that we were so busy living in our home, I didn’t find time to decorate it. In fact, this entire year has felt like that. I don’t even remember the last time I did a room tour. But when your house is working hard just in living mode, well, that’s just what happens. And we enjoyed every minute of letting our guard down and living simply, just the way we’ve needed to this year.

But I’m definitely getting the decorating and purging bug once again, so thank goodness for fall decor and Christmas decorating coming right up!

Boston ferns on the front porch

 

Moving to the front of the house, more beloved massive boston ferns line the entire front porch. Don’t they look super lush?! They are so big, I had to trim one just to drive under it to park inside the garage workshop!

Boston fern plants are from HERE

To take all the ferns down while they looked this fabulous wasn’t easy. They got water every single day they were hung, always protected overhead from the weather elements, and outperformed themselves. They were stunning.

And now with them gone, it’s so bare it feels like I’m moving! However, now I can focus on doing a light pressure wash for fall decor and before Christmas decorating, and let this summer vibe go.

Front view of the house and foliage

 

This front view of the house with the flowerbeds showcases how abundant everything grew this year. It’s like all I had were large plants.

We had some very hot weather with drought conditions right before the fall season, so I’m actually surprised how well the hydrangea and hostas did. I personally think the North facing house shade shelter saves them.

Tall grass plant

 

One big win was this massive grass plant that reached the house roofline! It’s so tall, it resembles a tree. Isn’t it spectacular? Yet another perennial win.

Once our fall winds kick up, I’ll be adding spikes and wrapping the grass fronds so they don’t bend in half, until they’re ready to cut down to the soil again come winter.

See how the split rail fence was built HERE

Split rail flower bed with grass and evergreen tree

 

The split log flower bed also performed so well this summer!

By the way, the weeds in the driveway are my son’s project. He likes the English cobblestone look. I promised him if he let me pull them, I’d get some nice moss to replace it. Which is another project for perhaps next year! So we mowed the exposed concrete driveway instead. LOL

The droopy evergreen tree use to steal the show, but now the grass plant has taken over during this fine fall season. It gets all these lacy frond tips that turn the grass into an absolute stunner! Later in fall approaching winter, the fronds all turn brown that resemble wheat which is equally gorgeous!

And what an easy keeper. We had a drought summer conditions and this grass did well with no water!

Split rail flower bed with Mountain Ash tree

 

On the other side of the driveway, this split log flower bed houses a massive Mountain Ash tree. The berries which linger all fall and into the beginning of winter make a tasty treat for the birds which will transpire shortly.

The berries also make a mess on the ground as they ripen, with lots of leaves, although very small. So the tree requires some upkeep to keep the driveway tidy. 

Would I have another Mountain Ash tree? Only if it was parked on back acreage in an area I didn’t have to clean up after. Otherwise, nope! But it sure is pretty!

Underneath the Mountain Ash, the flowerbed could use some permanent structure kind of work. These are the remainders of Bachelor Buttons, Yarrow, Parsley, some grass plants, Sedum, and winter lilacs.

The flower bed turns into a bit of a jumble (tossed salad?) during the fall season, but in a weird sort of way, to me it resembles a natural meadow which chimes in well with the split rail fence and Mountain Ash tree. This area takes on a farm acreage vibe so this is about as close to living on a farm I may ever get…

HERE’s a pretty fall Orchard crate shoot in this area a number of years back.

View the You Pick Orchard stencil used HERE from THESE FALL STENCILS.

I’m certainly feeling more ready for pumpkins, a good apple harvest and all those other fab outdoor activities that come with the autumn months.

All-in-all, I think our yard that’s reliant on perennials has done really well this year!

For not really doing much of anything at all…

Happy fall season!

Did you do lots of planting in your yard this year, or coast with what you already had?

Other outdoor projects this year:

 

Adding a plug and play hot tub to the back yard

The summertime shed in full bloom (how to get the look)

Stenciling chair pads into grain sack fabric

Visit more unique outdoor projects HERE

Check out other fall outdoor tours HERE

See fall decorating ideas HERE