This border was tired after a long, hot summer, but we gave it a festive harvest theme that carried it over from Halloween till Thanksgiving. Pump new life into your fall garden with these colorful ideas.

A Bounty of Produce
Pumpkins, gourds, and other produce are now making their way to the market. We scattered pumpkins among the plants to add a touch of orange to the garden and even included a few tan and white ones to contrast with the traditional orange globes. Buy firm pumpkins with no soft spots; fresh ones that are not bruised can last for a month or more in cooler weather. Also look for cornstalks, sugarcane, and hay bales.

Decorate With Vines
Next, we gathered several vines from a side lot and wove them through the pumpkins to make a little thicket. Wisteria, grapevine, honeysuckle, or rattan all work. Native to the South, rattan vine (Berchemia scandens) has green bark and twining stems. The supple vines connect the pumpkins, making them appear to be growing together. If you can't find any vines around your home, look at garden or florist shops for bittersweet vines.

Make a Scarecrow
Standing guard over the scene is a scarecrow. A wood frame built from scrap lumber forms his arms, legs, torso, and neck. A flannel shirt and a pair of jeans, stuffed with pine straw, cover the frame. We used a white pumpkin to make the head, with the stem positioned to look like a twisted little nose. An old hat, also filled with straw, tops the bald head.

Add Fall Flowers
We planted one large red chrysanthemum for a splash of color. If you want your mums to last, choose ones that are tightly budded and just beginning to show color. You can also use marigolds and salvias.

Colorful, Edible Foliage
There are several attractive, leafy greens that can be used during this cool season, such as kale, cabbage, beets, lettuce, mustard greens, and Swiss chard. We planted chard in the border around the largest pumpkin. It has red, crinkled foliage that looks great against the smooth, orange pumpkins. The crunchy, edible leaves will grow about 2 feet tall and can be harvested for salads when young.

Grasses for the Garden
The long, narrow leaves of ornamental grasses sway in the autumn breezes. This time of year, showy seedheads top wispy foliage. Zebra grass (Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus') forms the garden's centerpiece. The 4-foot-tall, mounding plant has green blades with striped golden bands. 'Cabaret' miscanthus (M. sinensis 'Cabaret'), another large grass, boasts showy, white stripes that run down its rich green leaves.

Add some of these fall accents to your garden. It's a great time to be outside, and there are lots of plants and produce available at garden shops and markets. Enjoy autumn's generous bounty.

"Easy Pumpkin Patch" is from the October 2003 issue of Southern Living.