Plants that flower in fall
Perennials, bulbs and shrubs that start flowering in late August or later, for a bed that ends the year in colour.
A bed planted for June is over by August. The plants that carry it into autumn are mostly North American: the asters, goldenrods and late sunflowers of the prairie, which wait for the shortening days to flower. They are joined by the sedums, the Japanese anemones and the grasses, which flower and then turn.
Every plant here starts flowering in late August or later. Autumn flowers answer to day length, so they keep much the same dates in every zone, while spring flowers move a week a zone.
90 plants: 64 perennials, 7 bulbs, 9 grasses and 10 shrubs.
The dozen to start with
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Sasanqua camellia
8 ft · early October to mid December
A camellia that flowers in autumn and early winter, with smaller leaves, a looser habit and masses of single or semi-double, lightly scented flowers.
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Japanese anemone
3 ft · mid August to early October
Graceful, simple flowers on tall stems that bring fresh colour to late summer and fall.
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Garden chrysanthemum
24 in · mid September to late October
The florist's mum: dense domes of daisies, pompoms or buttons in every autumn colour.
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Pink muhly grass
3 ft · mid September to early November
In October a quiet mound of wiry, dark green leaves disappears under a billowing cloud of vivid pink that looks like cotton candy.
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Sedum 'Autumn Joy'
24 in · mid August to mid October
Succulent blue-green stems topped with broad flower heads that shift from pale green to pink to rusty red.
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Rain lily
8 in · mid August to early October
Crocus-like white flowers that burst into bloom a few days after a late-summer rain, above tufts of dark, rush-like, evergreen leaves.
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Autumn moor grass
16 in · mid August to early October
A neat, long-lived tuft of yellow-green leaves with narrow, silvery-white flower spikes in late summer.
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Formosa toad lily
2½ ft · late August to mid October
Upright stems with glossy leaves, topped by branched clusters of purple-spotted flowers from late summer.
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Red spider lily
18 in · mid September to early October
Bare stems shoot up after the first rains of September and open clusters of coral-red flowers with long, curling stamens like spider's legs.
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Japanese fatsia
6½ ft · mid October to late November
Huge, glossy, deeply lobed leaves like giant hands give a tropical look in shade.
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Common witch hazel
15 ft · mid October to late November · host plant
The last native shrub to flower: spidery, yellow, scented flowers open as its own golden leaves fall, in October and November.
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Seven-son flower
16½ ft · late August to mid September
Scented white flowers in late summer; then the calyces turn cherry red and look like a second flowering in October.
A bed planned only from these plants
The planner was given only the plants on this page that suit zone 6 and full sun, and designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed from them when the page was made.
The plants
- 1 Sedum 'Lidakense' × 64, pink
- 2 October daphne × 11, pink
- 3 Stiff goldenrod × 3, yellow
- 4 Big bluestem 'Blackhawks' × 4, purple
- 5 Pink muhly grass × 1, pink
- 6 Tatarian aster 'Jindai' × 3, purple
- 7 Aromatic aster 'October Skies' × 3, blue
- 8 Saffron crocus × 5, purple
- 9 Autumn crocus × 3, lavender
Planned as a naturalistic planting: low grasses and groundcovers, the matrix, make up 47% of the planted ground. The flowering is at its height from mid September, with 7 kinds out together. Sedum 'Lidakense' is planted in 7 places along the bed, which gives it rhythm. The Design check says the flowering season needs revision.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 6 Good, 1 Needs revision. Its weakest point is succession: Something is in flower for 13 weeks of the year, from mid August to early November, with no pause. Nothing flowers in spring. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
All 90 plants
Show all 90, by where they go in a bed
Front of a bed 19
- Aster 'Wood's Purple' 16 in · early September to mid October
- Autumn crocus 5 in · mid September to mid October
- Autumn moor grass 16 in · mid August to early October
- Christmas rose 'Jacob' 10 in · late November to late December
- Colchicum 'Waterlily' 6 in · mid September to mid October
- Goldenrod 'Golden Fleece' 18 in · late August to early October · host plant
- Hardy cyclamen 5 in · late August to mid October
- Heath aster 'Snow Flurry' 6 in · mid September to mid October
- Japanese onion 'Ozawa' 10 in · early October to early November
- Meadow saffron 6 in · mid September to mid October
- October daphne 8 in · mid September to late October
- Rain lily 8 in · mid August to early October
- Red spider lily 18 in · mid September to early October
- Saffron crocus 5 in · early October to early November
- Sedum 'Frosty Morn' 18 in · late August to early October
- Sedum 'Lidakense' 4 in · late August to early October
- Sedum 'Vera Jameson' 10 in · mid August to late September
- Showy stonecrop 'Brilliant' 18 in · mid August to late September
- Showy stonecrop 'Neon' 20 in · late August to early October
Middle of a bed 33
- Aromatic aster 'October Skies' 20 in · mid September to late October
- Aromatic aster 'Raydon's Favorite' 3 ft · mid September to early November
- August lily 24 in · mid August to mid September
- Blue mistflower 2½ ft · late August to mid October
- Blue wood aster 3 ft · mid September to mid October · host plant
- Blue-stemmed goldenrod 2½ ft · early September to mid October · host plant
- Bottle gentian 20 in · late August to early October
- Calico aster 'Lady in Black' 3½ ft · mid September to mid October
- Chrysanthemum 'Mary Stoker' 24 in · late August to mid October
- Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield Pink' 2½ ft · late September to early November
- Formosa toad lily 2½ ft · late August to mid October
- Garden chrysanthemum 24 in · mid September to late October
- Garlic chives 20 in · late August to mid September
- Hairy alumroot 'Autumn Bride' 24 in · late August to early October
- Hardy begonia 24 in · mid August to late September
- Ironweed 'Iron Butterfly' 2½ ft · late August to early October
- Japanese anemone 3 ft · mid August to early October
- Japanese anemone 'September Charm' 3 ft · mid August to early October
- Leopard plant 24 in · early October to early November
- Montauk daisy 3 ft · mid September to late October
- New England aster 'Purple Dome' 20 in · early September to mid October · host plant
- New York aster 3 ft · late August to mid October · host plant
- Pink muhly grass 3 ft · mid September to early November
- Prairie dropseed 2½ ft · mid August to mid September
- Rose turtlehead 2½ ft · mid August to late September · host plant
- Sedum 'Autumn Fire' 24 in · mid August to mid October
- Sedum 'Autumn Joy' 24 in · mid August to mid October
- Sedum 'Matrona' 24 in · mid August to early October
- Toad lily 2½ ft · mid September to mid October
- Turtlehead 'Hot Lips' 3 ft · mid August to late September
- White snakeroot 3½ ft · late August to mid October
- White wood aster 24 in · late August to early October · host plant
- Zigzag goldenrod 3 ft · mid August to late September
Back of a bed 38
- Autumn monkshood 4 ft · mid September to mid October
- Big bluestem 6 ft · mid August to late September
- Big bluestem 'Blackhawks' 5 ft · mid August to late September
- Blue sage 4 ft · late August to mid October
- Bodnant viburnum 'Dawn' 10 ft · early November to late December
- Boltonia 'Snowbank' 4 ft · early September to mid October
- Bugbane 'Brunette' 5 ft · early September to early October
- Bugbane 'Hillside Black Beauty' 5 ft · late August to early October
- Bush clover 5 ft · late August to early October
- Canadian burnet 5 ft · mid August to early October
- Common witch hazel 15 ft · mid October to late November · host plant
- Goldenrod 'Fireworks' 3½ ft · late August to mid October · host plant
- Grape-leaf anemone 'Robustissima' 3½ ft · mid August to mid September
- Indian grass 6 ft · late August to early October
- Indian grass 'Sioux Blue' 6 ft · late August to mid October
- Japanese anemone 'Honorine Jobert' 4 ft · late August to mid October
- Japanese fatsia 6½ ft · mid October to late November
- Korean feather reed grass 4 ft · late August to mid October
- Mahonia 'Charity' 10 ft · early November to late December
- Mahonia 'Soft Caress' 4 ft · early November to late December
- Maximilian sunflower 8 ft · early September to mid October · host plant
- Mexican bush sage 4 ft · early September to early November
- Muhly grass 'White Cloud' 4 ft · early October to early November
- New England aster 4 ft · early September to mid October · host plant
- New England aster 'Alma Pötschke' 3½ ft · late August to mid October · host plant
- Panicle hydrangea 'Tardiva' 10 ft · mid August to mid October
- Rough blazing star 3½ ft · mid August to late September
- Sasanqua camellia 8 ft · early October to mid December
- Seven-son flower 16½ ft · late August to mid September
- Showy goldenrod 4 ft · late August to mid October · host plant
- Smooth aster 'Bluebird' 3½ ft · early September to mid October · host plant
- Stiff goldenrod 4 ft · mid August to late September
- Swamp sunflower 6½ ft · late September to late October · host plant
- Sweet olive 13 ft · mid September to mid November
- Tatarian aster 'Jindai' 4 ft · early October to early November
- White snakeroot 'Chocolate' 3½ ft · mid September to mid October
- Willowleaf sunflower 'First Light' 4 ft · mid September to mid October
- Yellow waxbells 3½ ft · late August to late September