From classic garden mums to less traditional autumn-blooming perennials, there's a world of color opportunity for your fall garden bed! These eye-catching plants will take your garden through late summer, fall, and some even through the first frost. There's no reason to think the color ends with the last days of August...
AGASTACHE
Common Name: Hummingbird Mint, Hyssop
Bloom Time: June through September
Why we love it: Highly attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies, deer-resistant and drought-resistant. A range of tall sunset colored spikes, growing best in full sun.
ANEMONE
Common Name: Windflower, Japanese Anemone
Bloom Time: August and September
Why we love it: This lengthy bloomer is an excellent one for a shady bed. Delicately petaled, in white or pink, the perennial anemone adds bright spots of color in a shaded corner.
ASTER
Common Name: Michaelmas Daisy
Bloom Time: August and September
Why we love it: Cheerful little daisy-like flowers cover this bushy plant during the fall. Sun loving.
CERATOSTIGMA
Common Name: Plumbago
Bloom Time: July through September
Why we love it: Another shade lover, the leaves on this groundcover turn bright red-bronze in the fall. Covered with blue flowers during late summer.
CHRYSANTHEMUM
Common Name: Garden Mum
Bloom Time: September through frost
Why we love it: These full sun stunners are a classic fall garden staple. Enjoy richly colored blooms through the first frost. Special tip: prune plant several times over the spring/summer, before July, for the most spectacular fall blooms.
ECHINACEA
Common Name: Coneflower
Bloom Time: June through September
Why we love it: Now with more colors than ever, you can have an echinacea rainbow in your sunny fall garden! Pollinators love them, songbirds flock to the seed heads late in fall, and they make gorgeous cut flower arrangements.
HELENIUM
Common Name: Sneezeweed
Bloom Time: August through October
Why we love it: Preferring a sunny location with generous water, helenium has beautiful rays of yellow, orange, or red petals emanating from a cushioned center disc. And don’t worry about allergies, the name “sneezeweed” refers to the days when it was dried and used as snuff.
HEUCHERA
Common Name: Coral Bells
Bloom Time: Foliage all season, blooms in May/June and again in August
Why we love it: Heuchera has exquisite foliage colors and many varieties. A spring bloomer but you can cut off spent flower stalks to have a second bloom in fall. We love the versatility heuchera brings to the shade garden.
RUDBECKIA
Common Name: Black-Eyed Susan
Bloom Time: July through September
Why we love it: Masses of yellow blooms with black cone centers are a head-turner in gardens around town this time of year. Like with echinacea, songbirds (especially goldfinches) go crazy for the seed heads in late fall! So please leave the last round of blooms for the birds.
SEDUM
Common Name: Stonecrop
Bloom Time: September and October
Why we love it: Tall upright sedums like “Autumn Joy” and “Mr. Goodbud” attract the last of the butterflies with their big rosy clusters of blooms. Full sun and little water will give you the best show.