Fall Blooming Perennial

Fall blooming perennial plants to place into your garden for some late season color.

Fall Is For Planting

The temperature may be cooling off outside, but that doesn't mean you have to stop visiting your garden. The cool weather makes it more pleasurable to be working outdoors.
Plants will adjust to the garden much easier with the cooler temperature than they would if it was scorching hot out.

I like to stop any planting 3-6 weeks before the first frost is likely to hit. This gives the plants a chance to get settled into their new home.

You don't want to use a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen at this time as any new growth will be sensitive to cold temperature. Use a root stimulator to help get the roots growing.

Tall Perennials For Fall Blooms

Cimicifuga simplex (common name: bugbane) zones: 4-8
Tall upright spikes full of star shaped white flowers.

Eupatorium fistulosum (joe-pye weed) zones: 3-8
pinkish purple flower clusters sit atop tall stems.

Anemone Japonica (windflower) zones: 6-8
A fall blooming anemone (often confused with the spring blooming and summer blooming type)with single cupped flowers that stand above the foliage. Flowers are in pink or white.

Aster (Aster) zones 5-8
Clusters of daisy like flowers typically with yellow centers. Plants flower in white, purple or pink.

Rudbeckia(black eyed susan) zones: 3-9
Daisy like yellow flowers with a brownish center. One of the easiest perennials to grow.

Medium Fall Blooming Perennial Plants

Sedum (live forever) zones: 3-10
Autumn Joy is the most popular variety. It is a very hardy plant with clusters of light pink flowers that deepen to a burgandy color as the weather cools down.

Chelone (turtlehead) zones: 5-9
A unique name and a fun plant to grow. The pink flowers are shaped like a turtles' head supposedly, I have this one in my garden, the flowers brighten up the fall garden.

Chrysanthemums (garden mums) zones: check with your local garden center.
Garden mums growing in containers are great for putting a splash of color in an area that has turned all green for autumn. Not all varieties are hardy for gardens so check with your favorite garden center if you want hardy mums.

Tricyrtis (toad lily) zones: 6-9
Another unique plant that is fun to grow. The flowers are small but they are so interesting to look at. They have spots and speckles on them. Easy to grow.

Kniphofia (hot poker plant) zones: 6-9
Grass like leaves with stalks bearing cone shaped spikes of brightly colored flowers.

Short Fall Blooming Perennial Plants

Liriope (lilyturf) zones: 6-10
Evergreen grass great to use for edging beds. A puple flower stalk emerges in fall. The leaves can be dark green and glossy or lighter green with a white stripe. The picture on the right shows variegated liriope in the foreground. The pink flowers are from garden phlox that sits close to the fence.

Sedum (dragons blood sedum) zones 4-9
A low growing ground cover sedum that gets little reddish purple flowers in the fall. the foliage turns from a green succulent look to a burgandy coloring as fall emerges. It is slow growing.

Senecio (candle plant) zones: 8-10
Flower spikes emerge above dark green, hairy leaves. The flowers are deep pink and daisy like. Very pretty color for your fall garden.

Begonias (angle wings, rex) zones: check with local nurseries for hardy varieties.
Begonias produce carnation like blooms in an array of colors. While most are planted in hanging baskets, there are varieties that can be grown in the ground if you are lucky enough to live in a warm climate area.