As summer slowly fades, as do most flowers and your beautiful summer color will dwindle. It’s that in-between time of year where you eagerly await fall leaf color and you are left with half spent flowers and fading foliage. It’s difficult to bring a lot of fall interest to your landscape but you have plenty of options to help spruce up your landscape. We have come up with some ideas to help you bring a little more life to fall.
- Try adding some fall blooming perennials mixed in the landscape. Fall asters are a great choice and are easy to maintain. Typical bloom time is Early Fall-Late Fall. Try using one of our favorites called ‘purple dome’. Pinch back the flowers up until July 4th to help keep the plant compact full of flowers. There are a lot of summer blooming perennials that will keep their color through fall such as catmint and Russian sage. Try mixing some perennials in your garden to keep colors thriving through the year.
- Chrysanthemums are a fall classic. This plant is in the same Asteraceae family as the aster. Your local garden center will have an abundance ready to sell in the fall. The beautiful flowers come in a variety of colors to mix and match your landscape. Try planting in your garden beds for color as an annual flower. Mums can also look great in your planters.
- Pansies have fantastic flowers. These cool season beauties come in many colors that look great in a mass planting or in mixed settings. Often these flowers are sold in the spring but just as they do well in the cooler weather of spring, they do just as great in the fall.
- If you like purple and white foliage than you should try using some cabbage and kale in your landscape this fall. The contrasting colors look great as an accent in planters and do well in the soil.
- Fall blooming bulbs can be a great choice for beginners or master gardeners. Flowers such as autumn crocus can be outstanding. These little gems can help brighten up your shady areas.
- As fall approaches, so does Halloween. What goes better with this holiday than pumpkins and gourds. Most pumpkin patches are ready to be picked over starting in mid September. Use these orange delights for a pop of color in your landscape. A good pumpkin can last up to 12 weeks before starting to deteriorate. Small gourds can have tan, orange, green and white tints so use these help accent your pumpkins.
- If you like the idea of pumpkins and mums, why not combine them? Simply remove the stem and inners and place your mum inside the pumpkin. Carved pumpkins may not last as long as your mum so make sure to keep it in a pot. If your pumpkin does start to deteriorate, just switch at your pumpkin planter.
