Gardening Sweet Spots
By Donna Hessel
Shop Nurseries Now for Fall Color
Garden centers and nurseries stock plants for fall gardens in August. If your containers are starting to look overgrown and faded, or if summer annuals have gone to seed in the garden and need replacing, head to your favorite garden center and check out the options for fresh fall color.
Consider these tips for fall planting:
- Look for plants that can withstand cool temperatures – even frost or a hard frost.
- Look for plants that will bloom when there is less light and shorter days in the fall and early winter.
- Look for plants with foliage color that will keep looking good until frost.
- Buy enough plants to fill a container because as temperatures cool, plant growth stops and what you plant is essentially what you will see.
- Plants will need less water as fall progresses, usually once a week is sufficient.
- Use a water-soluble fertilizer if one is needed as colder temperatures inhibit the release of slow-release fertilizers into the soil.
- Have available a sheet or other light-weight material to cover plants when there is a frost advisory early in the season.
- Insert a plastic container of plants into a decorative ceramic container for an easy-in, easy-out update option.
Add Vibrant Color for Fall
A colorful, thriving fall garden includes a mix of cool season annuals, grasses with waving plumes and perennials with beautiful foliage. In August, garden centers will likely still have some cool weather annuals in stock, such as Bright Lights® Purple Osteospermum daisies, Supertunia® Latte™ petunias and Lady Godiva® Orange Calendula (as shown). Now is the time to plant them so they can acclimate before temperatures dip.
Garden mums, such as the Mumma Mia Red mum shown on left, add warmth. Mums are, of course, the traditional plant choice to add reds, oranges, golds and purples to fall gardens and containers. In our part of the country, mums purchased from garden centers in the fall will not overwinter. Asters add hard-to-find purples and pinks to fall color. There are numerous varieties to choose from. Plant asters alongside late-blooming perennials and grasses with strong color for a vibrant autumn garden.
Annual ornamental grasses, such as Graceful Grasses® ‘Fireworks’ variegated purple fountain grass, peak in appearance in late summer and fall. Their swaying plumes add motion and texture to the garden and they become the dominant feature in a container. They will not overwinter, however.
Perennial ornamental grasses, such as Prairie Winds® ‘Desert Plains’ shown at left; switch grasses and little bluestem, highlight fall gardens. ‘Cheyene Sky’ (on right) forms a dense, vase-shaped clump of blue-green foliage that turns wine red in early summer. By fall, it is drenched in saturated color and topped with airy purple panicles. Perennial grasses are low maintenance, but they do require cutting back in spring and dividing/replanting every three to four years. A variety of cultivars is available, including short, tall, mounded, and columnar. They may have bottlebrush plumes or airy seed heads.
Perennials with colorful foliage include coral bells (on left) that come in purple, red, orange and gold. Nemesia (on right) is a cold-tolerant annual. A mounded habit makes it perfect for pairing with flowers that have a trailing habit. It’s finely textured blossoms also pair well with plants with daisy-like flowers like Osteospermum daisies.
Autumn stonecrops (sedums) are popular fall blooming perennials for sunny gardens. The smaller cultivars are easy to grow in containers. Position the smaller varieties at the edges of the garden backed by taller grasses. Sedums have low-water needs in both containers and garden beds.
Summer Flowers that Bloom into Fall
Many summer annuals will bloom well into fall. These include sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds, alyssum, celosa, flowering kale, snapdragons, black eye Susans, Japanese anemone, autumn crocus, Russian sage goldenrod, sneezeweed and blanket flower. Pictured l-r are alyssum, blanket flower, celosa and black eye Susans.
Get the Most from Fall Flowers
Prolong color in the garden by succession planting, pruning and deadheading summer annuals. Trimming plants in late summer will also improve their shape. Add some tropicals, such as cannas and perennial hibiscus which don’t start flowering until late summer and bloom until the first frost. Know when the first frost date is in your location. Add some pansies for their bright, smiling faces. I never think of pansies as a fall flower, but some varieties of pansies, such as Icicle® pansies, can survive sub-zero temperatures.
With so many choices, there will certainly be plants to add this month to keep your gardens and containers looking trim and colorful until frost once again ends the growing season. Happy shopping.
Article Sources
Garden Design Online Newsletter – The Best Flowers for Your Fall Garden – by Anne Balogh (Resource: Fallscaping: Extending Your Garden Season into Autumn, by Nancy Ondra and Stephanie Cohen)
Proven Winners Online Newsletter – “5 Ways to Boost Fall Color” – by Susan Martin
Proven Winners Online Newsletter — “A New Spin on Fall Plantings” – by Susan Martin
Proven Winners online newsletter – “Fall Potted Plants: Container Gardening in Fall” – by Kerry Meyer
Garden Design Online Newsletter – “Aster Flowers for Perennial Fall Color” – originally written by Meg Ryan – Updated: September 25, 2019
