The garden can still be very flowery when the days begin to get shorter, thanks to the fall flowering plants. In the ground or in a pot, many of them can brave the first cold snaps. Moreover, with the long summers, the gardener still has a lot to do at this time of year because many plants continue to beautify the garden well beyond the month of October. Thanks to this selection of 9 essential plants to brighten up your outdoor space throughout the fall, you attract pollinating insects, which helps to contribute to the preservation of biodiversity.
1 – Japanese Anemone
Japanese Anemone (Anemone x hybrida) is a perennial of the family of Ranunculaceaeobtained by crossing two varieties: Anemone vitifolia et Anemone hypehensis japonica. It flowers from August until the first frosts. It brings a note of delicacy to the garden with its flower stems whose height varies from 0.70 m to 1.50 m depending on the variety. Its charming flowers bring color to the natural space: white, candy pink, red, purple, mauve, and even raspberry pink which gradually becomes pearly.
These sublime queens of autumn resist down to -14°C over short periods and once well established, they easily colonize their space without requiring much care. They do wonders along paths, in beds, at the foot of trees and even in large pots. Japanese anemones can be grown alone or associated with, for example, phlox, grasses, roses, asters… They can even be made into sumptuous bouquets of cut flowers.
2 – L’Aster
Perfect for giving the garden a country airasters – from the family of Asteraceae – come in a wide range of colors : blue, violet, mauve, crimson, red, bright pink, pale pink, white… The choice is vast since there are approximately 600 species and varieties of asters. These hardy perennials support down to -15°C and are very easy going.
Asters bloom profusely. They attract all eyes and brighten flowerbeds, flowerbeds and pots. With single or double flowers, asters warm our hearts. They can be cut at will to make sumptuous bouquets that hold very well in a vase. The Aster therefore embellishes the outdoor space as much as the rooms of the house.
Note that it is possible to flower your garden for 8 to 9 months by mixing species since some asters are autumn flowering while others bloom from April.
3 – Miscanthus from China
Miscanthus sinensisof the family of Poaceaeis a bulky grass with silvery green foliage. Its beautiful feathery ears silvery white with pale pink or coppery red reflections appear in autumn, when the long, arching and flexible leaves turn blond.
Airy and vaporous, Chinese Miscanthus (also called Chinese Reed, Eulalie or even Elephant Grass) brings a delicate note to a rock garden and proves very decorative from January to December. Each year, without the need for intervention, this easy-going plant produces new culms replacing the previous ones.
4 – The Gaillarde Kobold
Perennial plant par excellence, the Gaillardia Kobold (Gaillardia x grandiflora) – from the family of Asteraceae – blooms profusely and without stopping from June until October. Its semi-evergreen foliage is decorative and aromatic. Its flower heads are yellow and orange-red or red with a yellow border.
The Gaillarde Kobold forms, in the massifs, embankments and rockeries, nice compact groups 30 to 40 cm in height. It brings gaiety to the garden and even to the terrace or the balcony since it is possible to grow it in a pot. In addition, it allows you to make elegant bouquets because its flowers have a very long life in a vase.
5 – Le Cyclamen
Cyclamen (Cyclamen), of the family of Primulaceae, are essential to bring color to the garden throughout the year. There exists a wide variety of species and varieties blooming at different times. The gardener can therefore find his happiness among the fall flowering cyclamen, with small or large flowers, all of which are produced in abundance in a wide range of colors, pink, red, white… Plain or variegated, some are deliciously scented. Same the foliage is extremely decorativemottled with cream above and sometimes purplish below.
Properly installed, the cyclamen naturalizes, capable of creating a magnificent carpet of flowers requiring no maintenance.
6 – The butterflye blue Scabious colombaire
Scabiosa columbaria ‘Butterfly Blue’ is an evergreen perennial plant in the family of Dipsacaceae. Easy to live with, very rustic, it blooms from April to October. Its flowers carried by fine stems swaying in the wind are charming purplish blue pompoms that attract butterflies and bees.
Very floriferous, this beautiful autumn-flowering plant finds its place in borders, beds, rockeries, meadows, and can also be cultivated for the creation of bouquets of cut flowers. The good idea is to associate it with the Scabieuse Pink Mist whose multiple pompoms are a delicate pink verging on mauve.
7 – The Autumn Chrysanthemum
The florists chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum x grandiflorum is a perennial plant of the family Asteraceae. Many hybrids are marketed today, which offers a vast choice of colors and shapes (delightful pompoms, superb flowers looking like daisies, etc.). Every foot of horticultural chrysanthemum (another name for the florists’ Chrysanthemum) produces a multitude of flower heads throughout the fall.
Whether we opt for varieties with single or double flowers, the effect is breathtaking. It would therefore be a shame to reserve these plants with exceptional autumn flowering only for our cemeteries. They do wonders in beds and in pots, deserving their place in the garden, on the terrace, the balcony and the windowsills.
8 – The Great Mallow
The Great Mallow (Malva sylvestris) is a herbaceous plant of the family Malvaceae up to 1.20 m in height. It is also called wild mallow or sylvan mallow. It is very appreciated for its hardiness but also for its flowers in clusters (racemes), whose heart-shaped petals have a beautiful purple pink color with purplish streaks. In autumn, it embellishes meadows, lawns, borders of paths and brings a natural touch to the garden.
9 – The remarkable Sedum
Spectacular, the remarkable Sedum (Hylotelephium spectabile) well deserves its name. This succulentof the family of Crassulaceaeis also called autumn sedum et End. It does not go unnoticed with its gray-green foliage and corymbs of a good fifteen centimeters in diameter.
The starry flowers remarkable Sedum punctuate the garden with their delicate pink color, from September until the first frosts. There are also many white flowering cultivars, brick or dark pink. Stonecrop is an extremely resistant ornamental plant. It tolerates without flinching down to -15°C and drought does not disturb it either. Undemanding, the remarkable Sedum grows fastbringing volume and color to rockery, flowerbeds, beds, and embellishing sloping areas that are sometimes difficult to cultivate.
Many other species are able to offer us a explosion of colors in autumn and some of them bloom from March until frost! Rudbeckia, Daylily, Perennial Fuchsia, Coreopsis also called Maiden’s Eye are other examples of plants that have all the assets to seduce us and give us balm to the heart when autumn comes around. But whatever his preferences, the gardener has every interest in remove faded flowers as you go and to do every fortnight a fertilizer supply to encourage and prolong flowering.