Summer may mean the end of beach weather and backyard barbecues, but it doesn’t have to mean the end of beautiful color in your garden. With a bit of planning, autumn can actually be the most riotous season in your yard. But even if you didn’t plant fall-blooming varieties last year, there are still ways to welcome the rich tones of fall into your landscape.
1. Colorful Accessories
Not every pop of color in the garden needs to grow roots. Add instant seasonal appeal by arranging painted chairs on the deck or in the yard or planting seasonal annuals in fall-hued pots. A quick coat of acrylic craft paint transforms any plain clay pot into an autumn beauty. Other garden accessories such as globes, chimes and decorative flags provide splashes of color until the reds and golds of fall plants begin to appear.
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| Via Spruce Crafts |
2. Annual Celebration
Spring or fall, nothing brings fast color to the garden like annuals. Chrysanthemums are a favorite fall flower, loved for their warm hues and abundant blooms. Mums can be grown as perennials in some zones, but are typically treated like annuals. Find them in myriad shapes and sizes and in colors ranging from copper, bronze, purple, crimson and gold. Ornamental kale, dianthus, pansies, helenium, and marigolds are some other dependable choices for the fall garden.
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| Chrysanthemums |
3. Perennial Favorites
Like the start of the school year, fall perennials bring a smile to your face and a lift to your spirits. Plant asters, red spider lilies, fall crocus, Russian sage, Anise hyssop and Goldenrod to enjoy loads of brilliant color even into late fall, depending on your region. Sedum is another fall show stopper. This hardy plant comes in a variety of sizes and colors, thrives in practically any environment and even self-sows, quickly filling in trouble spots with bright splashes of color from neon green to scarlet red.
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| Goldenrod |
4. Shrub Love
The backbone of any great fall landscape is created by the colorful foliage of shrubs. For eye-popping color next fall, consider planting Virginia Sweetspire, Burning Bush, Red-Twig dogwood or Viburnum now. Don’t forget to add a few four-season shrubs to the landscape also. Shrubs like barberry, witch hazel, and spicebush provide a background for flower beds and colorful interest with blooms, berries and foliage all year long.
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| Viburnum |
Of course, not every plant will work for every site. Visit your garden center to learn more about which plants are best suited for your growing zone. As long as you plan for a mixture of annuals, perennials, and shrubs—and a colorful accessory here and there—you’ll have brilliant fall rainbow adorning your yard year after year.
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