Let It Grow
By Tammy Thornton
Fall came in, roaring like a lion, arriving on the wings of Ophelia, ending summer as we know it. Now we will turn the calendar page, trade our flip-flops for boots, and make way for everything pumpkin. Mums (chrysanthemums), quintessential fall flowers, are beginning to show up at grocery stores, garden centers, and everyone’s front porch. But what if you are looking for an alternative to mums, or at least a variety of plants to complement your mums? Fortunately, you have an almost limitless range of options from annuals to perennials for decorating your planters, porches, and gardens for fall.
Don’t get me wrong. Mums are beautiful, coming in a variety of fall colors. They will most certainly find their way to my porch steps, and mums of years past are currently blooming in my garden. But once you look beyond the mum, you will find a wide array of flowers and plants for making an enchanting fall garden. After the dog days of summer, your garden may be looking a little weary and beat-up. Adding colorful fall flowers will give your garden a boost of freshness and bring it back to life. Recently, my family was talking about comfort food. Fall flowers and decorations make me think of those same vibes of soothing comfort, like coming home to something good and nostalgic after a long day away.
Take a tour of your local garden nursery and one of the first fall flowers to grab your attention will probably be celosia. This plant should really be renamed “what is this?”, because that’s the question one usually asks upon first seeing celosia. They come in different varieties, each with unique characteristics. The first ones you will probably notice are the flame-like plumes in red, yellow, and orange. It should come as no surprise that celosia derives its name from a Greek word meaning fire. Another variety of celosia is cockscomb. These coral-shaped flowers, in rich colors of burgundy or orange, are irresistible to touch since they look and feel like living velvet. Though celosia are annuals in our area, they should provide color until our first frost.
For daintier flowers, I can’t resist pansies. They offer pops of color in orange, yellow, burgundy, purple, white, or a mixture of all different colors. They have a look of happiness, but don’t be fooled by their cute little “faces”; these are tough buggers. They are cool-season flowers that can be planted in fall and may rebloom in spring, laughing at the cold. They may seem to disappear during the coldest part of winter (although there are “icicle” varieties that are more cold-tolerant). But come spring, you may get a nice surprise when you clear away the leaves and find these little friends blooming anew. Pansies are perfect for a window box, garden border, or part of an arrangement in your pots and planters.
Did you know you can grow daisies in the fall? Montauk daisies, also known as Nippon daisies, bloom in September and October. They have that cheerful look characteristic of daisies, but are salt and wind tolerant with dark green, leathery leaves. To keep them from getting leggy, give your daisies a haircut in late spring or early summer before buds are visible. You can use these cuttings to propagate your daisies, giving you “free” new flowers. They can also be propagated by division.
Helenium, or sneezeweed, will bring fall colors of yellow, orange, red, and bronze to your garden. These daisy-like flowers with a funny name can reach heights of 3 to 5 feet. They will attract bees and butterflies, and birds will enjoy the seed heads. However, they are deer-resistant. Plant these tall perennials near the back of your garden. Asters are also deer-resistant, but their deep-purple flowers will provide late season food for pollinators.
Ornamental cabbage and kale love cold weather, and reach their peak color intensity when temperatures drop below 50°. They form beautiful rosettes in purple, pink, green, white, and gray. Who knew vegetables could be so pretty? Combine with ornamental grasses in your landscape to add height and texture. Fall weather provides the perfect conditions for planting new grasses.
We can’t leave out Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, a type of stonecrop. This non-fussy sedum is ridiculously easy to grow. All summer, you will enjoy their fleshy gray/green succulent leaves, but in late summer and fall, they will bloom in clusters of star-shaped red or pink flowers. Left to their own, they will eventually get leggy. Simply trim the stems and then plant them in the ground. They are one of the easiest plants to propagate by cuttings.
Some of your summer annuals can do double-duty in fall. Marigolds, zinnias, and coleus provide those fall colors we love and bridge the span between summer and fall. Coleus, valued for their stunning foliage, have gained popularity for use in fall arrangements. Though they will eventually succumb to cold weather, coleus provide a rich variety of colors through the early fall months. You can take cuttings to overwinter them indoors. Coleus have the added benefit of thriving in the shade.
Over time, you can create a perennial garden with year-round beauty and structure by choosing plants that provide interest in different seasons. Garden plants such as viburnum, dogwood, oakleaf hydrangea, burning bush, and heavenly bamboo (Nandina) have attributes that make them valuable plants in fall because they produce berries and foliage that blend with our favorite fall colors.
We love to hear from our readers. What’s your favorite fall flower besides chrysanthemums? Kindly send your comments, questions, and pictures to shorelocalgardener@gmail.com
Tammy Thornton lives with her husband, children, and crazy pets while enjoying a life of gardening, cooking, and going to the beach.
