Joanna Gaines' 8 Best Tips For A Stunning Porch Fall Planter Display

Fall is officially here, and front porches everywhere are being primed for the season. There are endless ways to transform your porch into an autumnal paradise, from harvest-themed assortments spilling down steps to spook-tacular touches adding whimsy to your entryway. Container plant displays are a given for the porch, providing versatility and flexibility to celebrate the colors of the season in whatever ways work best for your home. When it comes to designing your dream fall planter display, there are the usual first steps: Assessing the space, deciding on a general direction of the design, and keeping in mind which seasonal plants will thrive in your climate. But the gap between preliminary planning and gorgeous curb appeal can freeze many homeowners in design paralysis.

Thankfully, Joanna Gaines is here to help. In the fall 2025 issue of Magnolia Journal, Gaines shared her best tips for a stunning fall porch planter display. Never one to be overly prescriptive, Gaines offers big-picture ideas instead of nitty-gritty details. Lucky for us, it's sound advice we can use to create beautiful porch planter displays that ring in the season year after year. Follow her eight best tips for your planter display, and you'll be the envy of the neighborhood this fall.

"Before going to the nursery, I'll create a mood board with photos of what I'm looking for," Gaines said via Magnolia. Especially when planning for your fall display, a mood board makes sense. There are so many design directions you can take to celebrate the season, and while the choice is yours, it doesn't hurt to zoom in on a particular feeling or autumnal aspect you hope to capture in your front porch planters. 

Gaines said she includes a color palette in her mood board to add direction to her design. "I'll choose one or more colors to highlight in each planter," she said. Gaines explained this ensures a cohesive design that will tie all the planters together, even if each planter spotlights a different color. If you need a little inspiration, check out the 2025 colors of the year and pick a few that scream fall to you.

While each year promises an eye-catching fall trend that you'll see on every porch, Gaines advises leaving a little room for the unexpected. "Going in with a plan is helpful so you don't feel totally lost, but a variety that catches your eye in the moment may be worth trying, and that's part of the fun," Gaines said. Also, don't be shy about asking for help to ensure your plant picks will work well with the sunlight conditions on your porch.

When shopping for her own front porch, Gaines said she picked up some coneflowers that were "too good to pass up, even though they need lots of sun and a shaded porch isn't the best place for them." You might feel like your porch's conditions must dictate what you can do with your planters, but for Gaines, it's not a hard and fast rule. If you love the color or texture of a particular plant, go ahead and give it a try this season, accommodating its needs as best you can.

Gaines doesn't overthink her planter arrangements. "When planting, I tend to stick with the classic formula: thrillers (upright focal points), fillers (for lush understory), and spillers (to trail off the pot)," she said. This simple combination is an easy way to guide the overall design and hone your plant selections. If you need a little help getting started, get your front porch fall-ready with this gorgeous container garden recipe.

Combining a few plants in planters will add depth and interest to the display, as will clustering planters together in an intentional design. "When it's time to style the plants, if you're going for a full, lush look, plant two or three of each variety per planter — don't be afraid to cram them in there," Gaines said, adding, "Depending on the area you're working with, group three to six planters together to really create a statement."

"Gardening is one big experiment," Gaines assured readers. Even among seasoned gardeners, an unpredictable autumn will greatly impact the success of any outdoor planter display. So when in doubt, try it out. One plant that may not have thrived this season may very well be next year's prized bloom. "When things don't go as planned, embrace the process," Gaines said.

This season's front porch display will inform next year's, so take a note from Gaines and keep learning. When it comes to clustering, for example, Gaines advised assessing your planters, saying, "This will help you see which plants overtake each other so you can decide what you'd like to try next year." Gaines assures garden hopefuls that even failures are never wasted. "... failures lead to helpful discoveries," she said. "Even if your favorite varieties don't take off like you hope, their one burst of beauty is worth it."