This week my garden has begun to unravel. Yellowing leaves and pine needles fall around me as I walk through the woods to my shed. If I close my eyes, all I can hear is the song of a single frog somewhere nearby and the hum of the bumblebees still busy in the salvia. Otherwise, the world is still. It’s such a stark contrast to springtime, when birds are everywhere, singing, calling, building their nests, but I love it anyway.
Anything still blooming stands out so distinctly this season, and I’m thankful for all of the late-flowering plants in my borders. There is color everywhere I look. If you love this season as much as I do, with a little planning next spring you can enjoy lots of blooms before frost.
You might not see a lot of late-blooming perennials for sale in your garden center this month, but if you make a list of anything that catches your eye around town, or at your local botanical garden, you’ll know what to shop for next spring.
If you can’t identify a flowering plant in another garden that you would like to have, simply take a photo of it and use google lens to find out what it is. When your local garden center is fully stocked in spring, you can purchase a few things that will make your garden even more special in the fall.
Don’t forget that you can also order on line and have plants shipped to you, something I’ve done several times over the last few years. White Flower Farm is one of my go-to vendors for perennials, but there are many others.
Here’s a quick summary of what I’ve found to be some of the most reliable late-season annuals and perennials:
- Tall salvia hybrids, such as the ‘Skyscraper’ series (which I buy each spring and grow as an annual) and S. ‘Argentine Skies’ (a perennial in zone 8), seem to bloom the longest in my garden. (Others such as S. greggi seem to do better in alkaline soil, something I don’t have here in Georgia.) Salvia uliginosa, or bog sage, does well in moist, amended clay soil, but also seems happy in average soil.
- Echinaceas, or coneflowers, bloom well into October in my garden, some blooming longer. These mix so well with many other types of perennials and annuals, such as lantana, and I seem to add more to my garden each year. I especially like to use white coneflowers and white lantana together with something tall behind.
- Asters of all types are classic fall garden flowers and they come in many sizes and colors, from violet to blue to hot pink. They are great paired with goldenrod, another late bloomer that you may want to consider. Wood asters are native plants that fit so beautifully into any grouping of shade-loving plants, such as ferns or Lenten roses. The pale, delicate flowers are a welcome sight in early fall, and they seem to have a very long bloom time, lasting into November in my Georgia garden.
- Anemone japonica is a plant group that I wrote about a few weeks ago, and they do a terrific job of bridging the gap between summer and fall in the garden. ‘Honorine Jobert’, a tall white variety, is classic, but if you want something brighter, look for one of the pink cultivars such as ‘Pamina’. I prefer the pinks in my fall garden these days, but for maximum weeks of bloom, ‘Honorine Jobert’ is probably the winner.
- Dendranthema or chrysanthemum is something you will see everywhere in fall, and the ball-shaped cushion mums you can buy this month can be planted in your garden if you wish to keep them going for next year. These cushion mums will require a lot of pinching through next summer to keep them compact and bushy. I prefer the daisy types that I’ve shown in my photos because they fit into my perennial borders more gracefully. They make great cut flowers and the deer tend to bother these less often than the cushion mums, which must have tastier flowers.
I hoped I’ve inspired you to think about adding some late-blooming perennials to your garden. Many can be tucked between or behind low evergreen shrubs, so even if you think you have no space for a few of these plants, you might be surprised where they will thrive and reward you with new blooms just as the season ends. Happy Gardening!