The Best Flowers and Perennials to Plant in Your Garden This Fall
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As summer winds down, the flowers in your garden might be looking a little tired and faded. But you don’t have to stop enjoying your landscape when autumn arrives. It’s time for a whole new season of color and beauty!
Whether you want to expand your garden beds or refresh container plantings for autumn, many flowers don’t start to show off until the leaves begin to turn. Beginning in late summer, asters take center stage, some soaring to six feet with dazzling daisylike displays in shades of white, pink, purple, and occasionally blue. Pansies pop up in September and can add a punch of color for up to eight months in warmer climates, while the saffron crocus blooms just once, displaying its short, purple flowers for only a few weeks. Adding fall flowers to your garden makes sitting on your deck or patio much more appealing in the cool of an autumn evening too. These flowers are also an important source of food for pollinators late in the season.
Fall is an ideal time to plant perennials and shrubs, when temperatures are cooler and rainfall is plentiful. Just make sure they’re suited to withstand winters in your USDA Hardiness zone (find your zone here). Also plant at least six weeks before the ground freezes so your new additions can establish healthy root systems before winter. That’s typically about mid-November for much of the country.
Ahead, our favorite fall flowers to plant for amazing autumn color.
Dahlia
Showy dahlia blooms uninterrupted from midsummer to the first frost. If a color is missing from your garden, this perennial can fill the gap, as it comes in every hue except for blue. While hardy in warm regions, it cannot survive the winter below Zone 8, so plan to dig up the tubers about two weeks after the foliage has dropped and replant in the spring.
Goldenrod
Asters might be the stars of your autumn garden, but their close relative goldenrod could be a cheery complement with its fluffy flower spikes that emerge in late summer in various shades of yellow. With more than 100 species—most native to North America—you are sure to find one suitable for your locale.
Petunia
Brighten beds and containers with petunias, known for their seemingly endless selection of colors and patterns like stripes, splashes, and even hearts. Can’t pick a color? Consider Supertunia Lavender Skies, which boasts lavender-blue flowers that appear to change throughout the day. While their primary blooming season is summer, petunias can start in spring and linger into fall.
Sunflower
Though perennial sunflowers are not quite as large or fast growing as their annual cousins (Helianthus annuus), they are prolific bloomers for up to 12 weeks into the late autumn. Ranging from gold to lemon yellow, they pair beautifully with dahlias.
Sweet Alyssum
A cool-season flower that can be set out in early spring, sweet alyssum fades in the summer heat, but its clusters of tiny white, pink, or purple blooms will likely cover your garden again in the fall when temperatures stabilize.
Helenium
Add glorious late summer and fall color to borders with groupings of sun-loving helenium, also known as sneezeweed. Thanks to the work of horticulturists, the genus has moved far beyond the yellow daisylike natives to include orange, dark red, and golden brown cultivars and hybrids in a variety of forms and heights.
Pansy
Technically tender perennials grown annually, pansies can last from September to April or May in warm regions without long periods of frost. Their single-colored or streaked heart-shaped blooms show out most in the cooler months of spring and fall.
Fuchsia
From spring to fall, fuchsia yields dozens of intricate blooms usually in deep pinks, reds, and purples even in shady spots. Many cultivars are available and those with trailing stems look lovely cascading from a pot or hanging basket.
Chocolate Cosmos
Higher maintenance than annual cosmos, this perennial species (Cosmos atrosanguineus) bears dark red flowers that smell like chocolate until fall temperatures dip below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. A dwarf cultivar called Choca Mocha keeps its deep maroon, dahlia-like blossoms through the season.
Saffron Crocus
Yes, crocuses are among the first spring flowers to emerge from the snow, but Crocus sativus (aka fall crocus) produces not only two to four vivid violet blooms but also saffron for two to three weeks between October and November. Just imagine gathering the world’s most expensive spice from a plant in your backyard. Try tucking the corms one by one into low ground cover to hide them from pesky squirrels and chipmunks.
Caryopteris
This handsome shrub starts blooming in late summer and fall. It's true that blue flowers are pollinator favorites.
Chrysanthemum
Mums are always a popular fall flower because they come in every color imaginable from creamy white to hot pink. Plant them as early as possible in late summer or fall so they can establish roots to survive winter and return next year.
Canna Lily
With its big, bold banana leaf–like foliage and tropical appearance, you might think of canna as a summer flower. But its exotic-looking flowers bloom until a frost, so you can enjoy their color well into fall. In Zone 6 or colder, you’ll need to dig up the rhizomes after a frost to save them for replanting next spring.
Aster
These pretty, fringy flowers in shades of pink, purple, blue, and white bloom in profusion about the same time as mums and entice pollinators to your garden.
Heuchera
Grown more for its striking foliage, which comes in colors ranging from lime green to burgundy, heuchera has a handsome mounding form that is especially appealing when planted in groups. It also does well in containers.
Montauk Daisy
This sturdy perennial has leathery green leaves and classic bright white daisies that bloom very late in the season. In warmer climates, it can thrive well into November.
Sedum
There are many types of sedums, but the upright forms are great choices for providing lasting fall color. Sedums are easy to grow, tolerate poor soils, and bloom for weeks and weeks. They also provide much-needed late-season nectar for pollinators.
Blanketflower
The vibrant colors of blanketflower make it a welcome addition to the autumn garden. Bees and butterflies love it!
Russian Sage
You'll get weeks of bluish-purple flowers from midsummer to fall, but it's the silvery stems and leaves of this perennial that are the main attraction.
Shrub Rose
Roses aren’t as fussy as you think. Shrub roses are one of the easiest types to grow and flower well until a frost, so they’re a great choice for color from spring to fall.
Japanese Anemone
The delicate flowers of Japanese anemone bob in the wind on long stems. It blooms for weeks from late summer to fall.
Coneflower
This prairie native has cone-shaped flowers that keep going strong throughout the fall. It’s available in an array of colors from hot pink to deep coral to creamy white.
Hydrangea
Hydrangeas blossom from midsummer through fall. They come in numerous sizes, so read the description on the plant tag or label so you know what you’re buying.
Black-Eyed Susan
It’s impossible not to love the smiley faces of black-eyed Susans. This North American native blooms from late summer to fall.
Rose of Sharon
When many other shrubs are done for the season, rose of Sharon steps up to provide at least two more months of color. New types grow in a columnar form so they work even in compact spaces.
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