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10 Fall Blooming Perennials and Shrubs
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Susan Martin
Don’t throw in the towel now that summer is over! Fall is one of the most beautiful seasons in the garden, especially if you are growing fall blooming perennials and shrubs like the ones on this list. You might recognize some like garden mums, but we’ll bet you will find at least a few you’ve never even considered growing for fall interest. Let’s dig in.
Garden Mums and Fall Accent Plants
Let’s kick off our list with iconic fall accent plants like garden mums, flowering kale and cabbage, ornamental peppers, celosia, pansies and more. Providing bright colors, fun shapes and textures, fall accent plants work great both in containers and landscapes. Most are annuals but if you are lucky like we have been the last few years, some mums may survive the winter where you live. Here, we paired a few with ‘Lemon Squeeze’ hardy fountain grass. With so many varieties available, you can try a new color scheme every fall!
Ornamental Grasses
Ornamental grasses, especially upright types like hardy fountain grass, switch grass, zebra grass and little bluestem, are at their best this time of year when their showy plumes and seed heads sweep the bright blue sky. Tall grasses add beautiful movement and texture to the landscape while offering shelter and seeds to help sustain birds through winter. If you have a pair of large containers, they could also make a majestic frame around your front door. Pictured is one of our favorites, ‘Desert Plains’ fountain grass. Check the individual varieties for hardiness, as it varies among species.
Coral Bells and Foamy Bells
The perfect complement to fall accent plants in containers or planted at the skirt of an ornamental grass are coral bells and foamy bells. With gorgeous foliage drenched in the rich purple, red and gold tones characteristic of the season, these mounded perennials add a bright splash of color wherever they are planted. You’ll have all winter to enjoy their semi-evergreen foliage before the new leaves sprout atop the old ones in spring. Hardy in zones 4-9, they are versatile in sun or shade but prefer some afternoon shade in the South.
Windflowers
Also known as Japanese anemones, these cheerful perennials build up their energy all season, then burst onto the scene with gorgeous bright pink blooms that last from late summer to frost. Try interspersing them amongst ornamental grasses, false indigo, panicle hydrangeas and butterfly bush in full sun to part shade locations. Pollinating bees and butterflies adore the blooms, but deer and rabbits typically leave windflowers alone. Hardy in zones 4-8.
Roses
Roses are in their prime in early summer, but cooler fall days tend to bring out a whole new flush of blooms to finish out the season. If you’re lucky, you might also see a few rose hips produced this time of year. Both blooms and hips are excellent for adding to fresh autumn bouquets, especially fragrant cultivars like At Last®rose, pictured here. We proudly offer Proven Winners ColorChoice roses which are selected for superb disease resistance, so they’ll look gorgeous all season without spraying. Most are hardy in zones 4-9, though a few will also survive winters in zone 3. Full sun is a must.
Reblooming Azaleas
For our friends in zones 6b-9, reblooming azaleas are some of the most colorful evergreen shrubs you’ll find blooming this time of year in sunny to partly sunny gardens. Though their first flush of flowers occurs in the spring, after taking a break in the summer heat you’ll find them gearing up to bloom again from late summer through fall. The refined Perfecto Mundo® series includes ten varieties, all selected for their large clusters of blooms and tremendous reblooming abilities. Pictured is Perfecto Mundo® Red.
Chokeberry
Combining both brilliant red-orange fall foliage with shiny black fruits for birds, native chokeberry shrubs are a staple in the autumn landscape. These versatile shrubs can handle just about anything you throw at them—sun, shade, wet soil, drought, even high salt levels. And with a variety of forms from low and spreading to those that can be shaped into taller hedges, there are countless uses for chokeberry in the landscape. Hardy in zones 3-9.
Camellias
Southerners await the beginning of camellia season each autumn, a sweet reward for surviving the sweltering summer. Fresh pink or white blooms pop open from rounded buds all over the handsome, leathery foliage that stays rich green year-round. Our fall blooming camellias were selected for their abundant and gorgeous blooms, a beautifully shaped canopy of evergreen foliage and an extra helping of cold hardiness. They’ve been known to survive winter in zone 6b with protection, and are reliably hardy in zones 7-9. Try them in sun or part sun as a backdrop to shorter shrubs and perennials. Pictured is Just Chill™ Double Mauve camellia.
Winterberry Holly
Let’s wrap up the list with a shrub we wouldn’t be without for our fall and winter garden – winterberry holly. Native to areas with boggy and moist soil in zones 3-9, this bright red berry producer is impossible to miss even from across the yard. Birds will spot it quickly too—this is one of their favorite food sources later in the winter after the fruit has softened. Be sure to plant at least one male winterberry holly variety for every five females to ensure good berry set. You’ll want to grow a few extra anyway so you’ll have plenty of stems to harvest for your porch pots this winter. Pictured is Berry Poppins® winterberry holly.
See more “berry” beautiful shrubs for feeding the birds this winter.
- Categories: Annual Flowers, Flowering Shrubs, Garden Perennials, Landscape Plantings
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1 thought on “10 Fall Blooming Perennials and Shrubs”
The information you have provided is valuable information to keep the garden colorful even though sunflowers,vinca,hostas, are starting to fade, I think celosis(dragon breathe) adds dramatic color as well.