I use bouquets of slightly weathered looking sunflowers (darker golds, rusts etc..) they are ummmmm silk (gasp)
I put them in various crockery containers, along with the occasional feather, cat tail and lotus pod.
Sticks, stones and candles in lanterns round out the display.

I like the idea of sunflowers in Sept. One year I collected cattail from my pond and it looked great. Then one day I went into the foyer and one of the pods had exploded. Eeek!

When I asked dh what he would like to see in place of school stuff, he said that Sept. 1 is opening day, so something with a shotgun and dove would be nice. Uh huh.

Most everyone seems to be bringing out their Fall decor now--it's still so hot here that I can't quite get in the mood for it myself yet. I love sunflowers, so that seems like a good suggestion--not so sure about the shotgun and dove idea however! LOL

Luvs

Marti, if you spray the cattails with hairspray (the cheapest you can find is the best) they won't explode and make a mess. If I am in a hurry, I have used clear spray sealer, but the hairspray is cheaper and works just as well!! I also spray lotus pods and cattails with the very fine spray glitter intended for fancy-schmancy hair dos. They look beautiful!!

Thanks, jaybird, I'll try that.