November in Tennessee brings cooler temperatures and the perfect chance to dress up your porch with beautiful container plants. Adding festive plants to your outdoor space creates a warm welcome for family and guests during the holiday season.
The right combination of colorful flowers, evergreens, and seasonal favorites can transform any porch into a cozy autumn retreat that celebrates the spirit of fall.
1. Ornamental Kale
Ruffled leaves in shades of purple, pink, and cream make ornamental kale a stunning November showstopper in Tennessee gardens. Cold weather actually makes the colors more vibrant, turning your containers into works of art.
Plant them in well-draining soil and place them where they’ll get full sun to partial shade. Water regularly but don’t overdo it, as soggy soil can cause problems.
Pair ornamental kale with pansies or violas for a gorgeous fall display that lasts through winter.
2. Pansies
Nothing says fall cheer quite like a pot full of smiling pansy faces! Available in nearly every color imaginable, pansies handle Tennessee’s November chill like champions.
Plant them in containers with good drainage and feed them monthly with liquid fertilizer. Deadhead spent blooms to encourage more flowers throughout the season.
Morning sun with afternoon shade works best, keeping blooms fresh and vibrant. Mix different colors together for a rainbow effect that brightens even the gloomiest November days.
3. Chrysanthemums
Mums are the queens of autumn, bursting with bronze, gold, burgundy, and rust-colored blooms. Tennessee garden centers overflow with them in fall, making it easy to find the perfect shades for your porch.
Choose plants with lots of unopened buds for the longest show. Keep soil moist but never waterlogged, and pinch off faded flowers to extend blooming time.
After the first hard freeze, you can plant mums in the garden where they might return next year.
4. Wintergreen
Glossy evergreen leaves and bright red berries give wintergreen serious holiday charm. Crush a leaf between your fingers and you’ll smell that familiar minty scent that gives the plant its name.
Wintergreen prefers acidic soil and partial shade, making it perfect for shadier Tennessee porch spots. The berries appear in fall and stick around through winter, adding festive pops of color.
Combine wintergreen with white cyclamen or silver dusty miller for an elegant container arrangement.
5. Dusty Miller
Silvery-gray foliage makes dusty miller the perfect backdrop for brighter fall flowers. The soft, fuzzy leaves almost look frosted, adding a touch of winter magic to November containers.
Extremely cold-hardy, dusty miller laughs at Tennessee’s November temperatures. Plant it in full sun for the best leaf color and texture.
Use dusty miller as a filler plant to highlight colorful pansies, kale, or mums. The contrast creates depth and visual interest in your arrangements.
6. Ornamental Cabbage
Like its cousin ornamental kale, cabbage brings bold color and interesting texture to fall containers. The tightly packed leaves form rosettes that resemble giant roses in shades of purple, pink, and white.
Cold temperatures intensify the colors, making November the perfect time to showcase these beauties. Plant them in rich, well-draining soil with full sun exposure.
Ornamental cabbage stays attractive through frost and light snow, giving you long-lasting porch appeal well into winter.
7. Violas
Smaller than pansies but just as tough, violas produce masses of cheerful blooms throughout fall and winter in Tennessee. Their delicate appearance hides an iron constitution that handles freezing temperatures with ease.
Plant violas close together for a carpet of color in your containers. They prefer cooler weather and actually bloom more profusely as temperatures drop.
Choose from solid colors or whiskered varieties with darker markings. Water when soil feels dry and feed monthly for continuous flowering.
8. Evergreen Boxwood
Classic boxwood brings timeless elegance and year-round greenery to container gardens. The dense, small leaves create a formal look that pairs beautifully with seasonal flowers.
Boxwood tolerates cold weather perfectly and provides structure when flowering plants fade. Choose dwarf varieties for containers and place them in partial shade to full sun.
Trim into balls, cones, or spirals for added interest. Add festive ribbon or lights during the holidays for extra charm without harming the plant.
9. Heuchera Coral Bells
Bold foliage colors ranging from lime green to deep burgundy make heuchera a standout container plant in Tennessee landscapes. Unlike many fall favorites, coral bells offer colorful leaves rather than flowers during November.
Cold-hardy and low-maintenance, heuchera thrives in partial shade with consistent moisture. The leaves stay attractive through winter, providing months of color.
Mix different heuchera varieties together for a tapestry effect, or combine them with pansies and ornamental grasses for textural contrast.
10. Ornamental Grasses
Feathery plumes and graceful movement bring life and texture to November containers. Ornamental grasses like fountain grass or Japanese forest grass add height and drama to your arrangements.
Choose varieties that stay compact for containers, and position them where they’ll catch the breeze. The seed heads and foliage look stunning when backlit by autumn sunshine.
Grasses require minimal care once established. Combine them with mums and kale for a complete fall display that feels natural and organic.
11. Cyclamen
Butterfly-like flowers in pink, red, white, or purple float above heart-shaped leaves like delicate dancers. Cyclamen blooms when most other plants are fading, making it a November treasure.
Keep cyclamen in partial shade and water carefully at the soil level, avoiding the crown to prevent rot. Cool temperatures keep blooms fresh longer.
The variegated foliage adds interest even when flowers fade. Bring containers to a protected spot during hard freezes to extend the display.
12. Dwarf Alberta Spruce
Perfectly cone-shaped with bright green needles, dwarf Alberta spruce brings Christmas tree charm to your porch year-round. The compact size makes it ideal for containers and small spaces.
Extremely cold-hardy, this evergreen handles Tennessee winters without complaint. Place in full sun to partial shade and water regularly, especially during dry spells.
Decorate with miniature ornaments and lights during the holidays, or tuck pinecones and berries around the base for natural fall decoration.
13. Snapdragons
Tall flower spikes in jewel tones add vertical interest and old-fashioned charm to fall containers. Kids love squeezing the flowers to make the dragon mouths open and close.
Fall-planted snapdragons often overwinter in Tennessee, blooming again in spring. Choose compact varieties for containers and deadhead regularly for continuous flowers.
Plant them in full sun with rich, well-draining soil. Combine snapdragons with trailing ivy or sweet alyssum for a layered, professional-looking container design.