My garden might have caught the eye of more than one passerby this summer, but there's one area that I completely neglected. My usually stellar container gardens, blooming with variety and texture, were reduced to one sad little geranium. With fall sneaking up a bit too fast, I'm determined to make over my lack-luster containers so they're the shining star of my garden come Thanksgiving.

With the vast variety of blooming spring and summer plants, it doesn't take much to throw together a nice looking potted container without much work at all. But I find this task to be a bit more daunting when fall or winter approaches. One, you don't have anywhere near the variety of plants to choose from. Two, I am just not drawn to the yellow, orange, red color combinations that tend to flood the aisles of garden centers during this season.

Lo and behold, this doesn't mean that with a little more thought or research you can't plant one heck of a stunning container garden that's not just limited to mums or pansies! A few plants to consider — plants that will weather into the colder months — are heuchera, decorative cabbage or kale, sage, creeping jenny, verbena, lamb's ear, oxalis, and white clover. Here are a few ideas that will get you thinking outside the box and go beyond the basic boring fall container garden.

1. Muhly grass, acorus grass, coralbells, pansies (tall pot), Mexican feather grass, flowering kale, pansies, and creeping jenny (short pot). From Fine Gardening.

2. Moss-planted in a low, oversized bowl. From Martha Stewart.

3. Coneflower, ornamental oregano, creeping jenny, and stonecrop in a tall hourglass container. From The Bulletin, Terrain.

4. Sweet potatoe vine, sedum, lamb's ear, flowering kale and ornamental grass in terracotta. From About.com.

5. Cotoneaster berries and Atlas cedar tree. From Sunset.

(Images: as linked above.)