Chrysanthemums dominate garden centers and front porches in the autumn, perhaps fooling you into thinking they’re the only late season plant in town. But there are plenty of alternatives, including many perennials that will return to jazz up future falls. Here are some options if you’re ready to move on from mums.
Start by digging a little deeper into the daisy family (the same clan that brings us chrysanthemums), where you can find perennial bloomers to replace those throwaway chrysanthemums (mums are not hardy below 20 degrees Fahrenheit). Try sneezeweeds (heleniums) or perennial sunflowers (helianthus). Or go for one of the various coneflowers (rudbeckias) that stage a major show in autumn with different spins on the black-eyed Susan’s motif. Most of these will grow to two to three feet or more, so they are perfect for grouping together to create a sea of color.
Echinaceas also continue their season-long stint into autumn, and they are available in an array of hues that can be sprinkled through the garden or staged as a block of color. Asters are another favorite, available in a number of newer varieties. For an informal look, try Raydon’s Favorite, which has a lax, tall, arching growth habit and vivid blue autumn flowers. For a more upright presentation, nestle a New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae angliae) among other plants to hide its unsightly stems, which are naked around the ankles.
Or consider ornamental grasses, many of which rush up into plumes during the autumn. You can devote a display solely to their textural interplay or dot grasses throughout a garden filled with other plants that feature earlier bloom times to extend the thrill. Little bluestem, which is great at preventing erosion, sends up steel gray blades that blush orange and form wispy tufts in autumn. Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) has pink, smokelike plumes that read best when massed together. Compact prairie dropseed (Sporobolis heterolepis) forms tufts that can be used to edge a walkway, with fragrant flaxen seed heads during the fall.
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Another option is sedums, which have tidy, drought-tolerant, succulent leaves. But many sedums also burst into colorful domes of flowers in the autumn, keeping bees busy when other nectar options have faded. “Autumn Joy” is the traditional standby, but numerous spins on that theme are available in shades of yellow, pink and red. There are also versions with variegated and bronze foliage. After their flowers fade, sedums’ browning domes continue to look smart and stand strong. They are beautiful against a blanket of snow and worth leaving intact for wintering birds to peck at the seed heads.
Speaking of seed heads, Carla Hetzel, a horticulturist at Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, Pa., says they can be a source of visual interest into the fall, after blooms have faded. They’re also an excellent source of food for birds.
“Browning seed heads are quieter colors, but they give the garden architectural structure in fall,” she says. She loves false indigo (Baptisia spp.) for its plump black seeds that stick around into the autumn and contrast with the plant’s blue/green leaves. Mountain mints (Pycnanthemum spp.) also form intricate bracts and then seed heads after the flowers are long gone. Beebalms will do the same, and their stems are sufficiently strong to support the weight of foraging birds.
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Hetzel also likes the native rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), but says that any of the sea hollies (Eryngium spp.) as well as globe thistle (echinops) will retain their round orbs after the flowers have faded. Ditto for alliums.
In shadier settings, Laura Wagner, a senior product manager at Must Have Perennials (an independent breeder representative service based in Lancaster, Pa.) suggests growing hardy geraniums to fill in your fall garden. Shade-tolerant Rozanne and Azure Rush are among the varieties that will keep blooming into the autumn, particularly if you give them a midseason haircut to tidy up the foliage and prompt fresh growth.
Japanese anemones also flower in the shade and have a long blooming cycle that doesn’t kick in until late August. Try the Pretty Lady series of single and double Japanese anemones, which produce blooms for a month or two atop 24-inch stems.
Or go beyond flowers and choose plants with interesting foliage. For a shady spot, Wagner suggests Heuchera “Steel City,” which is hardy to Zone 4 and sends out pink sprays of flowers in July, but the leaves hang in with a purple, burgundy and silver sheen until snow shuts them down. Similarly, hellebores blossom in late winter, but The Rockies series was bred to produce flashy foliage throughout the growing season. Depending on the variety, their foliage is gold, silverish blue or green with white accents.
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Bluestars (amsonias) are among Hetzel’s favorite perennials for fall foliage color. Their season-long show peaks with shades of yellow and orange just before they lose their leaves. Deciduous shrubs such as viburnums, serviceberries (amelanchier, especially “Autumn Brilliance”), blueberries, witch-alder (fothergilla), and sweetspire (itea) also all end the season with shades of orange and red foliage that rivals the drama in the leaves of surrounding trees.
Fall marks the grand finale of the growing season, but that doesn’t mean it has to be all about decline. Plan for it, and fall can be fabulous and multifaceted. “We need to see the beauty in it,” Hetzel says. “We need to embrace it.”
Tovah Martin is a gardener and freelance writer in Connecticut. Find her online at tovahmartin.com.
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