Every year about this time, gardeners face a big dilemma.

Those who racked up success with summer annuals have two choices: Relish that last splash of color for several more weeks before fall's first frost zaps the plants. Or bite the bullet and yank them up for replacing with winter annuals while the soil's still warm enough to establish healthy roots.

Photos by Rich Addicks / AJC (ENLARGE)
Tropical delight
(ENLARGE)
Succulent success
(ENLARGE)
Shady business
(ENLARGE)
Dramatic overtones
(ENLARGE)
Some like it hot
(ENLARGE)
Bountiful baskets

And for those with container gardens overflowing with lush, mature annuals, it's an even sadder day when those plants are relegated to the compost bin or bagged curbside.

"It's hard, because this stuff really looks phenomenal these days," says Amanda Briner, outdoor gardens manager at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

This week and next, she and the garden's other horticulturists are replacing hundreds of summer annuals, tropicals and bulbs with color for the upcoming fall/winter/spring months, including thousands of pansies, ornamental vegetables and tulip bulbs.

Before they started — while the pots looked their finest — they shared their recipes for six of this summer's most successful container gardens. This year's choices emphasized hot, bold tropicals, such as elephant's-ear and coleus, which keep a heat-drenched late-summer garden going strong until frost.

Hang onto these winning combinations for planning next spring's garden. After all, the planting frenzy will be here just six short months from now.

TROPICAL DELIGHT

• Burgundy canna, Canna australis

• Green and burgundy coleus, Coleus 'Fishnet Stockings'

• Mexican heather, Cuphea hyssopifolia

• Dichondra 'Silver Falls'

SUCCULENT SUCCESS

• Purple heart, Setcreasea pallida 'Purple Heart'

• Aloe vera

• Variegated sedum, Sedum variegata

SHADY BUSINESS

• Elephant's-ear,

Alocasia wentii

• Dichondra 'Emerald Falls'

• Begonia 'Looking Glass'

• Orange impatiens, Impatiens walleriana 'Super Elfin Bright Orange'

• Flowering maple, Abutilon 'Little Imp'

DRAMATIC OVERTONES

• Black elephant's-ear, Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic'

• Red coleus, Coleus 'Kono Red'

• Portulaca 'Summer Joy Scarlet'

SOME LIKE IT HOT

• Chartreuse elephant's-ear, Xanthosoma 'Lime Zinger'

• 'Margarita' sweet potato vine, Ipomoea batatas 'Margarita'

• Pink pentas, Pentas 'Hot Pink'

• Purple coleus, Coleus 'Trailing Bleeding Heart'

• Pseuderanthemum 'Kaleidoscope'

BOUNTIFUL BASKETS

• Red and gold coleus, Coleus 'Heart'

• Firecracker vine, Manettia luteorubra

• Lantana 'Banana'

• Lantana 'Tangerine'

• Portulaca 'Summer Joy Scarlet'

• Solanum jasminoides 'Variegata'