Those Bloomin' Flowers: For Fall

Already there are signs of fall. But clever gardeners can sustain the bloom time by carefully selecting plants that produce abundant flowers in the fall...

Saponaria x lempergii
Item # 86590 		Saponaria lempergii
Giant Flowered Soapwort

each $5.29
3 to 6 $4.99
7 or more $4.79
Helianthus maximiliana 'Lemon Yellow'
Item # 55954 		Helianthus maximiliana 'Lemon Yellow'
Lemon Yellow Maximilian’s Sunflower

each $8.49
3 to 6 $8.29
7 or more $7.99
Salvia pitcheri 'Grandiflora'
Item # 84760 		Salvia pitcheri 'Grandiflora'
Pitcher’s Blue Sage

each $5.29
3 to 6 $4.99
7 or more $4.79
Sedum sieboldii
Item # 89270 		Sedum sieboldii
October Daphne Stonecrop

each $4.99
3 to 6 $4.79
7 or more $4.59
  • Topic: Fall Gardening
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: fall, fall gardening, gardens, fall bloomers
  • Date: August 2006

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Already there are signs of fall. Actually, one leaf on my Virginia Creeper began turning the last week of July. It’s been a strange summer; and it’s come early, that feeling of gardens folding up and going away.

But clever gardeners can sustain the bloom time by carefully selecting plants that produce abundant flowers in the fall. Just when you think everything is fading, the flowers emerge then stay around for a few more weeks. Some good fall bloomers are detailed below.

Helianthus maximiliana ‘Lemon Yellow’ (Lemon Yellow Maximilian’s Sunflower)

This tall plant puts out soft yellow daisy-like flowers and isn’t particular about the soil and grows easily in hot, full sun locations, preferably against walls or fences. Once established it is a good xeric plant and the deer and rabbits don’t like it. But butterflies do. Zones 4-9.

Helianthus maximiliana ‘Santa Fe’

This is one of the last perennials to bloom in the fall and it is certainly one of the showiest. The large golden-yellow flowers

are tightly stacked on the top 3-4 feet of the stem and the large deep green symmetrically arranged leaves make an attractive hedge many months before the plant blooms into flower. It likes any soil, including heavy clay. Rabbits and deer don’t like it, but butterflies do. Zones 4-9.

Salvia pitcheri ‘Grandiflora’ (Pitcher’s Blue Sage)

A blue-flowered prairie native, this tall lanky-and very showy flower waits to bloom until early fall. It likes a well-drained soil with not too much clay. Sometimes it gets iron deficient in alkaline soil, so work in some soil sulfur at planting time. Zones 4-9.

Other flowering perennials include:

  • Saponaria (Giant Flowered Soapwort); a groundcover, Zones 4-8
  • Solidago (Golden Torch); heat tolerant, attracts butterflies; Zones 4-9
  • Sedum (October Daphne Stonecrop); pink flowers; Zones 3-10

Now is the perfect time to plant many perennials. They’ll show their flowers this fall then be established and already to go again next fall.